The Pentagon is mighty worried about the anti-science movement in the United States that conservative Christians are spearheading. Kids are learning that science isn’t truth, or not learning about it at all. This can be seen just in the field of cloning and stem-cell research: all the innovation is coming out of South Korea, who is kicking our ass in this field. Why? Bush and Congress figure that if God wanted us to be messing around with cloning, he’d have given Adam and Eve PCR equipment. The brain drain to the far east and Europe continues, and we collectively keep getting stupider.
The drop in would-be scientists emerging from our education system means that the U.S. is falling behind in all of science and engineering, which is poised to emerge as a major national security threat. Desperate for a solution, they’re trying something unusual: putting science into TV and movie scripts to get kids excited about science again. They’re teaching screenwriting to scientists, hoping that some of those movies will get made. The Air Force has pledged $300,000 to an annual weekend seminar, and both the Army Research Office ($50k) and the Pentagon ($25k) are funding this year’s event.
When we teach children that science is wrong, that science can’t be trusted, that faith is more important than science, we’re telling kids to avoid the sciences. That it’s not real. Worse still, when we choose to stop teaching science because they conflict with the literal translation of one religion’s beliefs, kids don’t just end up confused, but ignorant.
We’re a nation whose economic existence is increasingly premised on knowledge. When we, as a nation, surrender the manufacture and control knowledge to South Korea, China and western Europe, we have nothing. Our role in the global economy will be one of consumer, and we will become a remora nation.
ooh, those wascally hollywood liberals, trying to pollute my child’s mind with their perverted commie homo science!
So, fewer kids are taking math & science in college, and it’s all part of that vast Christian Right Wing Conspiracy, huh? Interesting perspective.
What the heck is a “Pentgon”?
Oh, no, a typo!!! The world is ending and the validity of this blog is trashed for all eternity.
I mean, c’mon. What’s more important- Waldo making a mistake, or the actual content of the entry? (yeah, I know, I know. Waldo making a mistake…)
Or it could just be an ironic typo (and we collectively keep getting stupider.) but maybe I’ve just spent too much time around English majors.
Personally, I think that it would be great to have a class in high schools on major world religions- not just the one the conservative “Christian” right feels is the one true religion. But no religion has any place in a science class. End of story.
I’m not going to debate that the sciences should not be taught (quite to the contrary, my studies have focused on the sciences). My biggest issue is that when science is taught, it is, at the very least, implied to be infallible. Science is, and always has been, “living”. Known “laws” and theories change due to new knowledge. These days, though, there seems to be less emphasis on ensuring that the truth is found in science and instead that the current theories get more verification. While some, or perhaps even many, may be true, others will likely be found otherwise; we are raising a culture where the acquisition of knowledge will stagnate.
While some will argue that older theories were based on religion, I believe it would be a bit more accurate to say that religion chose theories that fit the religion, or atheistic beliefs held theories that would counter those. The establishment of most of the geocentric ideas (that is, Earth-centered solar systems) came about mostly because of the apparent motion of the Sun around the Earth, not because the Bible or Hindi faith or some other religion said it was so. However, it persisted in the Catholic church mostly due to passages in the Bible. Likewise, most who believe that evolution is a true law do not follow a religion. Still, Charles Darwin was a Christian when he started developing his theory and even had studied theology while he attended college.
I agree that science needs to be taught and emphasized in the schools. But we must remember that these theories need to maintain at least a sense of skepticism, or our search for knowledge, not just science, will be a moot point.
My biggest issue is that when science is taught, it is, at the very least, implied to be infallible. Science is, and always has been, “living”.
If science is being taught as an absolute, as opposed to theories that are constantly revised and improved, then that’s definitely inaccurate. I never learned that the sciences were static, but it’s a shame that some children do.
Likewise, most who believe that evolution is a true law do not follow a religion.
Can you point me to any data that show that? I rather doubt that to be the case. There’s no reason why any religion and evolution need be mutually exclusive.
That last piece you quoted was conjecture. But I do think you overestimate your own belief of that as well. There may not be any reason for religion and evolution to be mutually exclusive, but I think it is plain to see that many would disagree with you on that.
I’d propose that you find some data as well, but I suspect that whatever either of us found, the other could argue that the resource is biased (as it likely would be).