Tuesday, March 22, 2005
For The Current Republican Party, Ignorance Truly Is Bliss.
Tristram Hunt, a visiting professor of history at Arizona State University, holds forth on the Shiavo Case and the Bush Administration's pro-Big Business attack on science. Not that the conservative right's attack on science is anything new, but the "wave" of evangelical support has introduced a truly pro-ignorance agenda into the political discourse.
From The Guardian: "Given the cultural influence of the White House, it is no surprise this disregard for science is trickling down into civil society. In some school districts, the study of evolution is now in danger of extinction. A New York Times survey revealed that not only was it being replaced in certain curricula by creationism, but even where it was on the syllabus some teachers were too afraid to teach "the E word" for fear of evangelical reaction."
"In many classrooms, the teaching of evolution is hampered by the teachers themselves - circumstantial evidence suggests that about a third of American biology teachers support the unscientific theories of "intelligent design". With the successful assault on evolution behind them, evangelicals are starting to train their sights on the earth sciences of geology and physics."
(Emphasis Added)
"More broadly, science is playing a diminishing role within public debate. America is experiencing a range of irregular weather patterns from unprecedented rainfall in California to powerful storm cycles across Florida. The suggestion that such extreme weather - along with hotter summers and wetter winters - might just have something to do with climate change is rarely entertained. Instead, the Bush administration continues to befuddle the science (despite a consensus within the US National Academy of Sciences that human activity is causing climate change), and so quietly sanctions the culture of excess."
There are groups of Christians who are realizing that God has commanded those who believe to be good stewards of his creation, so they are finally raising their voices to fight the destruction and misinformation of the current Republican majority. They take this as a moral obligation to look out for their fellow man. These are the Christians that I know, not those who choose ignorance because it poses no challenge to their faith. This kind of faith is truly weak and ultimately dangerous to all of those who suffer under it's onerous misinformation and dispensational ideology.
From The Guardian: "Given the cultural influence of the White House, it is no surprise this disregard for science is trickling down into civil society. In some school districts, the study of evolution is now in danger of extinction. A New York Times survey revealed that not only was it being replaced in certain curricula by creationism, but even where it was on the syllabus some teachers were too afraid to teach "the E word" for fear of evangelical reaction."
"In many classrooms, the teaching of evolution is hampered by the teachers themselves - circumstantial evidence suggests that about a third of American biology teachers support the unscientific theories of "intelligent design". With the successful assault on evolution behind them, evangelicals are starting to train their sights on the earth sciences of geology and physics."
(Emphasis Added)
"More broadly, science is playing a diminishing role within public debate. America is experiencing a range of irregular weather patterns from unprecedented rainfall in California to powerful storm cycles across Florida. The suggestion that such extreme weather - along with hotter summers and wetter winters - might just have something to do with climate change is rarely entertained. Instead, the Bush administration continues to befuddle the science (despite a consensus within the US National Academy of Sciences that human activity is causing climate change), and so quietly sanctions the culture of excess."
There are groups of Christians who are realizing that God has commanded those who believe to be good stewards of his creation, so they are finally raising their voices to fight the destruction and misinformation of the current Republican majority. They take this as a moral obligation to look out for their fellow man. These are the Christians that I know, not those who choose ignorance because it poses no challenge to their faith. This kind of faith is truly weak and ultimately dangerous to all of those who suffer under it's onerous misinformation and dispensational ideology.
