Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Right-wing Christian activism, hypocrites, and lying
When I wrote earlier about the term "activism", I rattled off a few foundations I could think of that practice conservative/Libertarian and/or Christian activism. Well, here are two more for your perusal:
The Discovery Institute - this neat little outfit is behind all the hoopla over Intelligent Design. It's entirely a "controversy" of their own construction. This is outright distortion, and it's really quite sad that they decided to attach themselves to Christianity. If you are LYING to support your cause, and you are supposed to be a moral group, you are now hypocrites. Oh well, I guess the defendants in the Dover PA case lied several times, too. Way to show what upstanding, moral people you are.
The Thomas More Law Center. These trolls went shopping for school districts so they could stir up a "controversy" over teaching religion in school. Apparently they got the folks in Dover to bite.
I contend that the term "culture war" is bullshit. It's more like a "foundation war" - well funded conservative foundations float bullshit as fact (read _The Republican War on Science_) and then proclaim in corporate media outlets that there is a deep divide, yada yada, when it's their own construction.
Here's a funny sidenote: when looking around for some links on this, I came across this little gem from some Christian site.
LOL. Again, showing their ignorance. No one disagrees that evolution is a theory. Again, "theory" != "hunch". These people just have no clue. Well, to be correct, I should include this link that evolution is both a fact and a theory, but that's just for completion's sake. The point is that getting a school district to call evolution a theory doesn't deal a blow to scientific consensus on evolution.
I wouldn't even care about this except for the fact that Joe Sixpack takes away from the corporate media a very distorted view of the world and science in particular. I guess it's a lost cause, when 1/4 of Americans think the Sun revolves around the Earth. This link also has a quote that makes the claim that something like 20-25% of Americans are "scientifically savvy and alert". Well, based on this survey, I'd be surprised if it's that high. One thing that was promising was that only 5% of "scientists" - including those with degrees in a wide range of fields, even Comp. Sci., believed in the Creationist view.
The Discovery Institute - this neat little outfit is behind all the hoopla over Intelligent Design. It's entirely a "controversy" of their own construction. This is outright distortion, and it's really quite sad that they decided to attach themselves to Christianity. If you are LYING to support your cause, and you are supposed to be a moral group, you are now hypocrites. Oh well, I guess the defendants in the Dover PA case lied several times, too. Way to show what upstanding, moral people you are.
The Thomas More Law Center. These trolls went shopping for school districts so they could stir up a "controversy" over teaching religion in school. Apparently they got the folks in Dover to bite.
I contend that the term "culture war" is bullshit. It's more like a "foundation war" - well funded conservative foundations float bullshit as fact (read _The Republican War on Science_) and then proclaim in corporate media outlets that there is a deep divide, yada yada, when it's their own construction.
Here's a funny sidenote: when looking around for some links on this, I came across this little gem from some Christian site.
When it comes down to it, though, which do you think God cares more about? That those who act in his name got a school district to call Darwinian evolution a theory, or that the entire world now considers them perjurers?
LOL. Again, showing their ignorance. No one disagrees that evolution is a theory. Again, "theory" != "hunch". These people just have no clue. Well, to be correct, I should include this link that evolution is both a fact and a theory, but that's just for completion's sake. The point is that getting a school district to call evolution a theory doesn't deal a blow to scientific consensus on evolution.
I wouldn't even care about this except for the fact that Joe Sixpack takes away from the corporate media a very distorted view of the world and science in particular. I guess it's a lost cause, when 1/4 of Americans think the Sun revolves around the Earth. This link also has a quote that makes the claim that something like 20-25% of Americans are "scientifically savvy and alert". Well, based on this survey, I'd be surprised if it's that high. One thing that was promising was that only 5% of "scientists" - including those with degrees in a wide range of fields, even Comp. Sci., believed in the Creationist view.
# posted by Sean LeBlanc : 5:37 PM
