Anti-science

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There have been efforts to hinder scientific progress and destroy scientific knowledge ever since the dawn of science at the end of the Middle Ages. This is generally because science obsessively seeks the truth, which ultimately empowers individuals and tends to upset existing power structures – especially those of organized religion, where the reins of power depend heavily on unquestioning belief in unprovable or patently false information.

Sometimes it is a disorganized, diffuse effort; at other times, it can be more focused and flare up into an outright war on science.

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  • 2008-05-20 /S/D/ 16 percent of US science teachers are creationist “Despite a court-ordered ban on the teaching of creationism in US schools, about one in eight high-school biology teachers still teach it as valid science, a survey reveals. And, although almost all teachers also taught evolution, those with less training in science – and especially evolutionary biology – tend to devote less class time to Darwinian principles.” ... “...a quarter of the teachers also reported spending at least some time teaching about creationism or intelligent design. Of these, 48% – about 12.5% of the total survey – said they taught it as a "valid, scientific alternative to Darwinian explanations for the origin of species".”
  • 2008-05-03 /S/D/ Ipse Dixit: Ben Stein Wants to Destroy America “When I began to read a 2002 article on Forbes.com in which Ben Stein wrote, "As a casual observer of what makes this country work and what stops it cold, I hereby offer a few suggestions on how we can ruin American competitiveness and innovation in the course of this century" I thought he was being facetious. Surely Ben Stein isn't actually suggesting we do such a thing! He loves America, right? .. Apparently not. .. He was actually giving us suggestions for what to do. And when, several years later, he realized people weren't following them, he decided to take matters into his own hands.
  • 2008-02-16 /S/D/ Survey finds faith trumps science for Florida parents “Florida parents don't have much faith in evolution. .. Only 22 percent want public schools to teach an evolution-only curriculum, while 50 percent want only faith-based theories such as creationism or intelligent design, according to a new St. Petersburg Times survey.”
  • 2006-09-18 /S/D/ Three teachers “Where do we place the blame? Where do we need to take action? (No, the answer is not to fault the existence of atheists in our society, so if that was your first thought, stop reading this page, go sit in a corner and read your Bible.) We don't have to look far; the problem is perpetuated in the same way everywhere... The problem is religion. Religion encourages ignorant people to pretend they know science and to evangelize lies for their beliefs.”
  • 2006-08-29 /S/D/ Michael Gerson and the new Republican alibi for crippling stem cell research “Seen as a smart political compromise... by who? Everyone I know saw it as a sham, a transparent attempt to put in place an effective ban on the research while keeping a few excuses handy to block criticism. The rest of the paragraph is built entirely on a false assumption, that what Bush was doing was defending "human life" (it's a tiny collection of cells, the humanity of which wasn't even accepted by religious tradition) and phrasing blastulae as "lives of the weak" is putting a ridiculous spin on it.”
  • 2006-08-26 /S/D/ Darwin's Deadly Legacy: what tripe “The opening scene was perfect. Kennedy walked onto a stage decorated with flasks and beakers and graduated cylinders full of brightly colored water. One had a small flame going under it; the graduated cylinder was bubbling. It was practically an admission that all of the science in the show was going to be fake.”
  • 2006-08-16 /S/D/ Memorizing the Way to Heaven, Verse by Verse “The children, ages 7 to 14, are full-time students, in class 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, even in the summer. But they are not studying math, science or English. Instead, they are memorizing all 6,200 verses in the Koran, a task that usually takes two to three years. .. The students who finish memorizing the Koran earn the title hafiz, an exalted accomplishment in the Muslim world that is relatively rare in the United States. A hafiz plays an important role during Ramadan, when the entire Koran must be recited over 30 days to mosque members. But becoming a hafiz is also believed to bring rewards in the hereafter, guaranteeing the person entrance to heaven, along with 10 other people of his choosing, provided he does not forget the verses and continues to practice Islam. .. “It’s almost like a bank account for the afterlife,” said Zawar Ahmed, 11, who recently became a hafiz through the Muslim Center and brought in sweets for his classmates to celebrate.” If nothing else, this takes these kids out of classes where they might accidentally gain a real education, and working to get them positions of importance where their ignorance will be the most damaging; this "school", this entire practice, is anti-science and anti-education.

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