Republicans, Religion and the Triumph of Unreason
This entry was posted on Thursday, August 20th, 2009 at 10:23 AM and filed under Philosophy, Politics, Religion. Follow comments here with the RSS 2.0 feed. Skip to the end and leave a response. Trackbacks are closed.
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“How do they train themselves to be so impervious to reality? It begins, I suspect, with religion. They are taught from a young age that it is good to have ‘faith’ – which is, by definition, a belief without any evidence to back it up. You don’t have ‘faith’ that Australia exists, or that fire burns: you have evidence. You only need ‘faith’ to believe the untrue or unprovable. Indeed, they are taught that faith is the highest aspiration and most noble cause. Is it any surprise this then percolates into their political views? Faith-based thinking spreads and contaminates the rational.”
What a bunch of hooey! This kind of “straw man” pot-shot is beneath a reporter of Hari’s calibre.
Not every Republican is a believer, and not every believer is a Republican. That is, factors that may lead to an “imperviousness to reality” may INCLUDE religion, but that does not mean religion is the reason that anyone (even Republicans) take the approach that they do. In fact, Hari’s argument is belied by the fact that, whether faith-based or not, the vast majority of Americans want health care reform, and believe that climate change is occurring and important to address.
Yes, faith and religion can and do lead to many questionable, even obnoxious, beliefs, actions and attitudes. But to suggest that all (or even most) blame be laid at its doorstep with respect to the issues being discussed – or the position being taken – is at best weak, and at worst insulting.
Peace.
Posted on 20-Aug-09 at 3:41 pm | Permalink