Marco Rubio is “not a scientist, man.”
Thank goodness for that.
Recently, the senator was asked how old he thought Earth was. He said it was one of “the great mysteries.”
As it happens, it isn’t.
Unfortunately, a great number of religious fundamentalists disagree with him for the wrong reasons. According to Gallup, 46 percent of Americans believe humans were created sometime within the last 10,000 years. That percentage is slightly higher today than it was 30 years ago.
This is frightening.
Saying humans were created within the last 10,000 years is tantamount to saying the sun goes around the Earth. To scientists, there is no question that the Earth, and all of the life on its surface, is the product of processes that have been running for a very, very long time.
It baffles me that someone, especially an elected official, could believe this stuff.
As a senator, such ignorance could very well be destructive.
Are we really such prideful people that so many of us don’t have it in our hearts to question our beliefs? I have a somewhat hostile sentimentality toward unquestioned dogma.
One can be terribly mistaken in his or her beliefs, no matter how much he or she wants to believe in something. We’ve all been there.
Why is it, then, that for matters most important and eternal that people seem to be the least willing to question themselves very strongly?
I think Bill Nye was right to say “you should question your beliefs” if they conflict with what the data shows.
If it’s a fundamental doctrine of your religion that Apollo drives a chariot across the sky, then it’s probably time to question your faith. If there’s ever a problem with religious fundamentalism, it comes as a consequence of the fundamentals of the religion.
I’m not sure if there’s any shortcut to knowledge. Knowledge has to be built from the ground up, bit by painstaking bit, observation by observation.
This is how a sure foundation is built.
With enough observations, creation is eventually possible. With our understandings of the world, we have built complex machines to peer across the universe, connect us all over the Internet and even toast bread.
Unfortunately, to paraphrase Carl Sagan, people accept the products of science but reject its methods.
Recently, Israel and Hamas agreed to a cease-fire. I doubt it will last, though. It is the religious prerogative of Hamas to fight the Jews.
The Hamas Charter, also called the Hamas Covenant, says things like, “The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.”
Is there any question that these people are motivated by their religion at least in some small part?
Is there any question that if these people were to question their faith more frequently and fervently, their beliefs might be at least a little different?
If we were to all take the time to sincerely question ourselves, especially about the things we hold most dearly, what kind of people would we be? If we were to make more of an effort to relieve ourselves of our cognitive dissonance, what kind of a world would we live in?
The world would almost certainly be a different — probably even a better — place. Only good can come from wanting to know the truth.
To believe in lies, or anything less than truth, isn’t as desirable, I think.
Brandon Lee Gagne is an anthropology senior at UF. His columns usually apperas on Thursdays. You can contact him via opinions@alligator.org.
