Posted: Apr 18, 2018 8:25 pm
Thommo wrote:Sendraks wrote:I agree. People feeling "entitled" to what they believe, is a bulwark against reason.
"I'm entitled to believe whatever bullshit I believe, so I can ignore whatever facts I like."
I feel ambivalent about that. People are entitled to believe whatever they like.
That doesn't mean, as Chris suggests, that it can be taught in schools. If PhD scientists really were split on questions like "is the Earth flat?", "Is the Earth 10,000 years old?", "Did humans evolve from earlier species of animal?", then there really would be a dilemma here.
But they aren't. We teach the things that are backed by an overwhelming body of evidence and supported by an overwhelming majority of relevantly qualified experts. It really is as simple as that.
I just find the power to control people over ideologies like this is a powerful tool in the hands of unscrupulous persons. As I said earlier the fundamentalist is going to use his or her reason and conclude they are right and complain about he other side. Fundamentalist does not mean low IQ. I know of a Christian high school in Northern California that boasted that their creationist based curriculum for teaching biology was accepted by the University of California system as adequate for UC preparatory education. I also know lots of the curriculum for Christian home school is also approved by lots of colleges. This is one of their selling points. State universities frequently accept these courses. Professors and scientists are very overwhelming in their support for the theory of evolution, but the general public is far less unified. I heard a quote from a news agency (please don't ask me to verify this. I heard it on the radio last year, so take in for what it is worth) that even in the UK there is strong belief in some form of creation, and the results of the survey where very disappointing to the scientific community. In the US the percentage it is no doubt higher. Scientist have a viewpoint and so do the common rank and file public. They don't always influence each other.
Thank you for the comments. This thread has gone much farther than I anticipated when I started.