Nicholas Kristof in today's NYTimes: "Americans are three times as likely to believe in the Virgin Birth of Jesus (83 percent) as in evolution (28 percent). ... America is so pious that not only do 91 percent of Christians say they believe in the Virgin Birth, but so do an astonishing 47 percent of U.S. non-Christians. " What's the trend? "[M]ainline Christians are vanishing, replaced by evangelicals. Since 1960, the number of Pentecostalists has increased fourfold, while the number of Episcopalians has dropped almost in half.
The result is a gulf not only between America and the rest of the industrialized world, but a growing split at home as well. One of the most poisonous divides is the one between intellectual and religious America."
The America I grew up in was always an anti-intellectual society. Why is that? If you were to ask people, both domestically and internationally, to choose the kind of person from all of American history who best represents what the country is about, you will likely get the same answer every time: The cowboy. The cowboy is our central heroic myth. Although the western is no longer a popular theme on television or movies, the cowboy is still present every day in the media. Instead of wearing a ten-gallon hat and six-shooters, he wears a cop's badge and a 9-millimeter. Or he wears the antihero's suit and sneer.
What are the qualities of the cowboy? He's male, obviously. He's very tough, and independent. He faces a hostile world that is nonetheless rich with opportunity. He uses violence and rough justice to sort out problems. An insult directed at him must be replied to with his fist. He works hard and, crucially, he while he might enjoy music, he doesn't read much. He doesn't discuss ideas. The real world is harsh and cruel and simple. Ideas are weak and effeminate. You need enough education to learn to read and count, but not much more.
This myth of a male-dominated world in which too much education or a focus on ideas is suspect has brought American society to where it is today. When we're faced with many subtle and complicated problems, a culture infantilized to believe that reason is for pussies does the only thing it can: It turns to magical thinking.
What happens when politicians praying and mounting two-ton monuments of the 10 Commandments in courthouses doesn't work? Maybe they'll try burning a few heretics.
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