{"id":499,"date":"2010-02-19T13:30:56","date_gmt":"2010-02-19T13:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/apagansblog\/2010\/02\/american-power-breeds-ignorance.html"},"modified":"2010-02-19T13:30:56","modified_gmt":"2010-02-19T13:30:56","slug":"american-power-breeds-ignorance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2010\/02\/american-power-breeds-ignorance.html","title":{"rendered":"American Power Breeds Ignorance"},"content":{"rendered":"

The “war” between certain kinds of religion and science is
\ncontinuing unabated.  <\/span>The village
\natheists such as Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris use this kind of thing to
\nlambast religion in general, just as Christian Fundamentalists give all kinds
\nof Christianity a bad name.  <\/span>In
\nfact the war between religion and science is entirely a function of a certain
\nkind of religion, one that claims revealed scriptures are infallible, seeking
\nto preserve ignorance when all the evidence suggests otherwise.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n    In Utah there has even been a serious
\nsuggestion to abolish the senior year of high school <\/a>to ‘save money.’ This would really put Utah’s kids first in line for being rejected for college.  The GI Bill made it possible after WWII for millions of returning GIs to go to
\ncollege.  <\/span>It helped lay the
\ngroundwork for the prosperity that followed.  <\/span>The mentality evident in Utah is the exact opposite, and
\nwill have the opposite effect.  <\/span>America
\nis sliding into a society where public debate and discussion is dominated by
\nthe most willfully ignorant citizens, as anyone who has paid attention to the
\nhealth care debate cannot help but notice.<\/p>\n

Deeply ignorant individuals are
\nclaiming that the record snows in the midAtlantic states somehow rebut global
\nwarming, never mentioning the unheralded warmth that has forced Vancouver to
\nprovide artificial snow for the Olympics and the even more disturbing evidence
\nthat the snows might be a result of global warming<\/a>.    <\/span><\/span>(For one thing, warm water evaporates more into the atmosphere, where it
\nfalls as rain or snow.)  <\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the overwhelming belief by qualified scientists that
\nglobal warming is happening, and the possibility that this winter’s record snow
\nin the east might be a sign of what’s to come, the denialists oppose<\/i><\/a> additional research<\/a> on the issue.  <\/span>I can only assume that most fear their
\nfantasies will be ever more completely exposed for the drivel that they
\nare.  <\/span>Better not to look. 
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Now a recent report indicates that
\nTexans are growing progressively more ignorant of basic science as each year
\npasses.   <\/span>For example, 30% of Texans
\nbelieve human beings lived simultaneously with dinosaurs<\/a>.  <\/span>Fpor them, the Flintstones might be a kind of documentary.  Another 30% “don’t know.”  <\/span>That is 60% of the allegedly sentient population of a state evidencing
\nignorance I would not have expected in a 6th<\/sup> grader.  <\/span>Of course we know how all or nearly all
\nvote…<\/p>\n

The German philosopher Friedrich
\nNietzsche, with whom I often disagree, nevertheless made a penetrating
\nobservation when he wrote in Twilight of the Idols<\/i><\/a>,
\n  <\/span>“One pays heavily for coming
\nto power: power makes <\/span>stupid. . . . <\/i>politics
\nswallows up all serious concerns for really spiritual matters. <\/span>Deutschland,
\nDeutschland<\/i> <\/span>\u00fcber alles<\/i> – I fear that was the end of German philosophy.”<\/span><\/p>\n

I think future historians and
\nphilosophers and theologians may make a similar observation about 21st<\/sup>
\ncentury America.  <\/span>Many Americans
\nbecame so besotted with a sense of their power over the rest of the world that
\nthey forgot they were born with minds to think, let alone hearts to love.  <\/span>Ego and wishful thinking and fear of
\nexploring the boundaries of their ignorance have taken the place of thinking
\nand learning.  <\/span>They embraced Power
\nin three fateful forms:<\/p>\n

1. A religion that elevates power
\nabove all other values.<\/p>\n

2. A way of relating with people
\nunlike themselves that elevates power above all other values.<\/p>\n

3. An approach to politics that
\nelevates power above all other values. 
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

If Human history demonstrates
\nanything, it is that such large scale willful stupidity is a quick and
\nguaranteed way to lose power.<\/u><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The “war” between certain kinds of religion and science is continuing unabated.  The village atheists such as Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris use this kind of thing to lambast religion in general, just as Christian Fundamentalists give all kinds of Christianity a bad name.  In fact the war between religion and science is entirely a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9,108],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs","category-social-and-political-theory","category-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\nAmerican Power Breeds Ignorance - A Pagan's Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2010\/02\/american-power-breeds-ignorance.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"American Power Breeds Ignorance - 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