U.S. Fertile Ground for Irrational Thinking?
Reading on the Frame Problem about yet another attempt of sneaking ID into classroom reminded me of a discussion I watched yesterday. Akeel Bilgrami, a philosopher at Columbia University, raised an interesting question during an interview on the Humanist Perspective (a show put together by the Center for Inquiry; also see this comment for another link): What is it about the US that makes it such a fertile ground for things like creationism, ID, and other non-scientific nonsense? New Zealand supports evolution. In Europe, evolution is not under attack (as far as I know). So, there might be something rather unique about the US. Bilgrami suggested that a possible reason might be the lack of any social democratic tradition in the U.S. (he mentioned unions in particular that were not offering a secular community). The attitudes that have prevented such things as universal health care might tie in there as well.
Bilgrami calls on us to investigate questions like this rather than spending our time to point out irrational thinking (he says it’s very obvious that ideas of God are irrational). Religion bashing doesn’t get us anywhere. We need to start looking at the needs met by religion and religious institutions. I think answering these questions is an important next steps in making secular humanism a viable option in the U.S..
Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart have written about religion in Europe and contrasted it with the US. They touch on similar themes as Bilgrami.
Thanks for that Rachel. CFI have now contacted me so I should be able to get the interview directly.
I wish I could link to it, Ken! Unfortunately, I have not found a transcript nor a video clip online (yet)… I did email CFI to find out if they transcribed it. I’ll you posted!
Can you give a direct link to the Bilgrami interview, Rachel. It sounds interesting.
I have heard suggestions that the US situation is also tied up with the specific separation of Church & State. Also, with the lower level of social support (security) in the US (Mathew Chapman’s talk at the AAI convention – Darwin descendent at AAI Convention). Michael Ruse Video1 Video2) also has an interesting lecture on the evolution of religious attitudes towards science and evolution. He suggests the specific US situation is a remnant of the civil war.
The Humanist Perspective is a fascinating show. Probably the best offering on public access after NASA TV. And the fact that it’s usually sandwiched in between hyper-religious programming makes for a deliciously sharp relief. This page has information on what cities air the program, if you want to see more than the limited selections in your link, but nothing on which channels to watch:
http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=main&page=media