Letter to the Editor: Religion spurs U.S. decline in science

By DAVE WESTER | Elroy

Forty-two percent of Americans believe that God created humans 10,000 years ago, according to a May 8 Gallup poll widely reported in the media. That poll ought to scare the heck out of all of us.

Science has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that humans have walked on the earth for about 200,000 years. That is based on independent research by many scientists who constantly review each other’s work. It is not opinion. It is scientific fact.

The 10,000-year idea has ties to religion but is not supported by science. It is most commonly held by people who are less educated, older, and more religious, according to Gallup.

These are not two competing ideas. One is scientifically true; the other is not. The fact that 42 percent of Americans believe the one that is scientifically incorrect is indicative of America’s backslide in science. The failure of many Americans to believe the overwhelming scientific evidence of man-caused climate change is yet another indication of thumbing our noses at science. Our declining faith – in science – is causing us to fall behind, while other more enlightened countries are passing us by.

A 2012 survey by the National Center for Education Statistics showed that the United States has not only slipped from the top in math, reading and science, but also we now rank below the average. China, Japan and Korea lead in all three categories. Asian religions apparently do not get in the way of scientific education.

Religion has a track record of being backwards when it comes to science. Way back in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Catholic Church chastised Copernicus and Galileo as heretics for suggesting that the earth revolved around the sun, rather than the other way around. As it turned out, of course, Copernicus and Galileo were right and the church was the heretic. The church has had egg on its face ever since. Is America headed for the same embarrassment?

In his book “Across the Pond: An Englishman’s View of America,” British author Terry Eagleton suggests that dancing around questionable beliefs in the name of political correctness is one of the differences between Americans and the British. “The idea that one should respect other people’s beliefs because they are other people’s beliefs is plainly absurd,” Eagleton wrote. “If my beliefs are errant nonsense, I expect you to have the decency to tell me so.”

The British, like the Asians, ranked well ahead of the U.S. in all major categories of the NCES survey. According to yet another Gallup poll, however, we do have them beat in religiousness.

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