American Ignorance

In 1898 Andrew Dickson White published his fine book, A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom. One might have thought that by now, the 21st century, the issues would have been pretty much settled in favor of science. They pretty much have been all around the literate world, except apparently for large numbers of American citizens who still cling to religious beliefs so primitive and magical they would be laughable if not so potentially harmful and thus important. A situation has arisen where this continuing “war” between science and theology might well have absolutely devastating effects upon the future of the earth itself.

Representative John Shimkus, Republican of Illinois, who has been a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce since 1997, has made a plea to his colleagues to make him chairman of that committee. He would then become the highest-ranking official in the House in charge of environmental and energy policy. Why is this of particular interest? He denies climate change because of his religious beliefs. He is on record as having said nothing bad can happen to the Earth unless it is preordained by God.

In an exchange during a subcommittee hearing on such matters, as reported by the Toronto Star, quoting God’s promise to Noah, he offered,

"Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though all inclinations of his heart are evil from childhood and never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.

"As long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will never cease."

Then Shimkus apparently added:

"The Earth will end only when God declares it's time to be over. Man will not destroy this Earth. This Earth will not be destroyed by a Flood," Shimkus asserted. "I do believe that God's word is infallible, unchanging, perfect."

Shimkus has at least two rivals for this chairmanship, one is not considered a serious challenger and the other is known as a “radical environmentalist.” Given the new membership in the House, which consists of a large number of Tea Party and other questionable characters it is not far-fetched to think Shimkus might actually succeed. Now, I don’t know about how others might think about this, but I think it is well past time for the U.S. to grow up and recognize that a matter as important as global warming should not be left in the hands of religious fundamentalists. I think it is amazing (to me, at least) that someone with such dogmatic religious beliefs could ever have been elected to the House in the first place, but Shimkus is not the only one. We should have to confront this problem immediately. It is no longer a “war” between science and theology, it has become a war between science and idiocy, and as such is not a war we can afford to lose as the stakes are far too high for fantasy and fairy tales. I’m not sorry to say it, people who believe in the literal truth of the bible and/or its infallibility are simply too ignorant to be allowed positions of power and authority, particularly when the survival of the planet or the species itself is at issue. Unfortunately, there is no higher authority to prevent this from happening other than the voting public that seems to prefer ignorance to knowledge, the mediocre to the more gifted, in short, people like themselves they can have a beer with (Budweiser, no doubt).

We have grown into a nation of complacent morons and have not kept up with the knowledge and skills required to compete with the rest of the industrial world. We are the only Western nation that still has such a large number of religious “true believers.” President Obama’s recent excursions into Asia and Europe have made it clear the “American Century” is over and our decline is sensed by all except, perhaps, by many here who seem to believe happy days will come again, that history always repeats itself, that it just takes time to recover, all we need is a change in policy, and so on, all little more than fantasies offering false hope and insisting nothing has changed, we’re still the superpower, the global policeman, the shining beacon on the hill, and blah, blah, anything to escape reality. For example, as someone pointed out recently, there are no jobs as successful businesses have the requisite number of employees and they do not create jobs for the sake of creating jobs. The government cannot create jobs because that would be socialism and here in the U.S. death is more desirable than socialism. Further, in an economic system in which labor is regarded merely as a commodity, and that commodity can be found much cheaper elsewhere, it will continue to be sought elsewhere.

I hate being a pessimist, a doomsayer, a bearer of bad tidings, I need someone to convince me I am wrong about all this. I would like to believe the past few decades have merely been a nightmare and we will wake up to a bright future, but try as I might I can’t.