Fundamentalist Christianity, a dangerous force when it denies rational, scientific thinking

AxisofLogic/ Featured: "Fundamentalist Christianity, a dangerous force when it denies rational, scientific thinking | By Lee Salisbury | Aug 11, 2005, 19:58

Religious leaders hate rival sources of authority. 18th Century European Enlightenment thinking with its concepts of rationalism and science provided religious authoritarianism with that rival. America’s founding fathers, products of the Enlightenment, had the audacity to effectively say to Christianity, 'worship all you want, but our Constitution does not need your influence!' Roman Catholic traditionalists and Protestant Christian bible-based fundamentalists still seethe over this rejection.

Then as now, zealous Catholics and Protestants claim to speak for God versus Enlightenment thinkers who boldly experiment with new ideas independent of Christian dogma. Today's clergy shudder if their members hear the Thomas Edison's of this world, whose invention catapulted America to prosperity, exclaim as he did that, 'religion is all bunk!'

The International Herald Tribune's June 22 edition carried an article by Peter Watson entitled 'The Price of Fundamentalism.' It made highly pessimistic observations about nations under the influence of religious fundamentalism and America's present trends.

Religious fundamentalism in Israel, the Roman Empire, China, and the Islamic world had very destructive results. Israel BCE was consumed with religious zealotry and alienated itself from its surrounding Greek and Roman civilizations. Israel's zeal for God got its reward in 70 CE. The Romans annihilated Israel.

The Roman Empire's unlikely demise came three centuries later. Edward Gibbon, author of 'The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire', blames Rome's fall in part on the ascendancy of Christianity.

Buddhist fundamentalism in China resulted in centuries of chaos until the 9th Century when the Song renaissance restored the Chinese civilization.

Islam's early success was spectacular. It produced many intellectuals and scientists until fundamentalism gained the upper hand in the late 11th Century leading to a millennium of backwardness, which still afflicts the Islamic world.

Christian fundamentalism has gained political ascendancy in America. Under President George Bush, science takes a back seat to his right wing religious ideologues. In August 2003, the Government Reform Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives assessed the treatment of science and scientists by the Bush Administration. The report, "Politics and Science in the Bush Administration" found many instances where the Administration manipulated the scientific process and distorted or suppressed scientific findings.

Former President George H.W. Bush a decade earlier stated, "Now more than ever, on issues ranging from climate change to AIDS research . . . government relies on the impartial perspective of science for guidance." The current Bush Administration has skewed this impartial perspective, generating unprecedented criticism from the scientific community and prominent Republicans who once led federal agencies. ..