Conservative Christians: Living in a World Where Facts Can’t Exist.

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A new Gallup poll has revealed that far too many Americans live in a world where religious belief trumps science and objective facts.  On the political right one hears much moaning and carrying on about America's decline yet no one in that political realm is willing to look at what may be a root source of the problem, especially with globalization and increased scientific and research competition: too many American's embrace ignorance while our competition does not. And where is the embrace of ignorance strongest?  You guessed it, among the Christofascists and their political whore in the Republican Party.  Be it global warming, gay conversion, or a host of other issues, these people cling to myths that they need to satisfy their disturbed psyches and reject knowledge and science.  Eventually, the consequences are going to seriously catch up with us - if they haven't already.  A column in the New York Times looks at the frightening level of religious based ignorance that continues to predominate in America.  Here are highlights:

I am both shocked and fascinated by Americans’ religious literalism.  One Gallup report issued last week found that 42 percent of Americans believe “God created humans in their present form 10,000 years ago.”

It’s not only that Americans are more religious — Christian, in particular — but that for many, their beliefs in their religious text — the Bible, in particular — are literal.

As Gallup pointed out in a report issued last Wednesday, nearly a third of Americans continue to believe that the Bible “is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for word.”

Furthermore, nearly half believe that it is “the inspired word of God but not everything in it should be taken literally.”

About a fifth of Americans said they believe the Bible is “an ancient book of fables, legends, history, and moral precepts recorded by man.”

Now, I don’t seek to deny anyone the right to believe as he or she chooses.

What worries me is that some Americans seem to live in a world where facts can’t exist.

Facts such as the idea that the world is ancient, and that all living things evolved and some — like dinosaurs — became extinct. Facts like the proven warming of the world. Facts like the very real possibility that such warming could cause a catastrophic sea-level rise.

How does America remain a world leader in an increasingly technological, science-based world, when so many of our citizens — and even our leaders, including Republicans who might run for president — deny basic science?

Americans, particularly political leaders, who choose religious piety must also create an intellectual framework in which things of faith that exist without proof can make space for truths for which there is proof.

Religious fundamentalism at the expense of basic scientific facts threatens to obscure America’s beacon of light with a bank of fog.

Fundamentalist religion - be it Christian or Muslim - is a blight on humanity.