Sunday, April 24, 2011

Don't try to tell 'em stuff about the moon that isn't in their bible. They won't like it.

Report: Bill Nye “The Science Guy” Exposed as Godless, Soulless Blasphemer in Texas  JONATHAN TURLEY:


Nye ran afoul of the faithful by remarking that it is not true that the moon generates its own light as opposed to reflecting light. This contradicted Genesis 1:16, which says quite clearly (if only Nye bothered to read it) that “God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.” Fortunately, there were educated people in the audience who proceeded to boo Nye and walk out. One woman with three children reportedly screamed “We believe in God!” while storming out.
This is old stuff from back in 2009, but I missed it the first time around. The ThinkAtheist post is here. Caught my eye today via Friendfeed's m9m.

It's easy to mock the buffoonery documented here, but there's a sad, tragic aspect to this that is, perhaps, easy to overlook. The woman who screamed "We believe in God!" and stormed out had three children with her. I worry for those kids. Soaked in fear and ignorance, their intellectual curiosity quite probably stunted, one fears what kind of adults they'll develop into.

Who knows? Hopefully there's a rebellious streak in them and they'll see the environment they were raised in for what it is. I'm not saying they're doomed to grow into ignorant bigots as a result of a fundamentalist upbringing, but I am saying they're not getting a fair chance. Sure, if we asked them then, or now, or if we asked them ten years from now, they might thank their parents for their religious upbringing. But imagine those kids had been born in Pakistan, and they were raised as Muslims, or born in Israel and raised as Jews ... don't you think it's easy to imagine the same kids, indoctrinated with different ideology, would do the same in those contexts? Of course it is, because kids are born and raised in the religion of their parents all over the world and we see the results every day. Religious indoctrination, perpetrated on individuals on a daily basis, almost from the moment of their birth, is quite effective.

People who don't acknowledge that the moon reflects the light of the sun, who don't acknowledge the power of theory of evolution to explain the development and diversity of life on earth, are wrong. Attempting to force kids to believe things that are plainly wrong, as a parent whose responsibility it is to protect them, and give them the tools they need to make in the world, is also wrong. But dare to say it, dare to insist the schools we educate our children in not traffic in mystical mumbo-jumbo, and watch how quickly those parents make themselves into victims and claim they're being persecuted. 
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