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Read my nose, bite my lip....,
2003-03-04 00:00:00
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The USG is
insisting
it won't...,
2003-03-04 00:00:00
Nicholas Kristof writes in regard to the 48% of Americans who are fundementalist Christians
that "mockery
of religious faith is inexcusable", but then says at the end of the column that
"Both sides need to reach out, drop the contempt and display some of the inclusive wisdom of
Einstein, who wrote in his memoir: 'Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.'"
First of all an equal proportion of Americans are rational believers that already accept, essentially,
that "science without religion is lame", but still accept science. Saying that "religion without science
is blind" to somebody who thinks the world was created 6,000
years ago is already a mockery of their religion. You can't not insult them with such comments, the whole of
human undertaking stands in direct opposition to their fundemental view of the world. The project is to try and make them
think and engage the philisophical and scientific process - but the whole project of the evangelicals
and other fundementalist religious brands is to block the capacity for such thought. To the degree that it
isn't successful is the degree to which it's possible to reach out, and more important is for
those who are willing to embrace reason to
continue working
together. Fundamentalism abroad
is considered a grievous problem that needs to be addressed - I suppose because right-wing hacks prefer fixing
other people's personality flaws before fixing their own - the problem is just as serious when a country as
powerful as the US has its policies dictated by people (like, say,
the farking president)
who watch the news just so they can place bets with
their pastor on which freshly demonized thug from the third world, or Democratic party, is the real anti-Christ.
Do we need to start
up Science Clinics that give free personality tests that are tied to demonstrations of the intrinsically
agnostic nature of the universe to lure people into rational faith? Like those Scientology guys do, but
without the pyramid schemes, the cult brainwashing, or hollywood.
:: posted by buermann @ 2003-03-04 00:00:00 CST |
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