That's right, kids. It's time to start beating your head against the table again. The inimitable Siger forwarded this article to me and it makes me want to stab myself in the head with staples:
Charles Darwin film 'too controversial for religious America'This is so astonishingly depressing. This wonderful nation was brought into being by some of the smartest men ever to breath - but two hundred years after the Founding Fathers left their democratic legacy, it seems the nation's taking a step backwards.
A British film about Charles Darwin has failed to find a US distributor because his theory of evolution is too controversial for American audiences, according to its producer.
By Anita Singh
Creation, starring Paul Bettany, details Darwin's "struggle between faith and reason" as he wrote On The Origin of Species. However, US distributors have resolutely passed on a film which will prove hugely divisive in a country where, according to a Gallup poll conducted in February, only 39 per cent of Americans believe in the theory of evolution. Full story here.
We don't teach our kids about the incontrovertible evidence of evolution because it offends our 'religious sensibilities.' We deny gay Americans their basic civil rights because it offends our 'religious sensibilities.' We're even arguing about giving health care to the poor because our 'religious sensibilities' apparently decry sharing our hard-earned buck with the less fortunate (I think Jesus actually preached the exact opposite.)
This driving demon of extreme evangelicalism is perhaps why America's slipped from its position as the world's most competitive economy. Maybe it's why we're the only industrialized nation in the world without universal health care. Perhaps fundamentalism is why India and China are beginning to eclipse us economically.
This obsession with medieval thinking is, just maybe, the reason why the rest of the developed world is marching inexorably forward and we're stuck resolutely where we were.
What happens to a nation which embraces extremist religion over science, humanism and reason? It becomes a hell-hole like Iran or Afghanistan. What happens to people who believe extremist religion trumps education? They become progressively more stupid as each new generation forgets what the prior generation learned.
The problem isn't Christianity - because Evangelicalism no longer even remotely resembles Christianity. The message Jesus Christ spread was simply to love your brother, something we're increasingly reluctant to do because loving your brother sounds suspiciously like 'socialism.'
Words just fail me. However much I rant, it seems impossible to adequately communicate my deep-rooted frustration with the 80 million or so Americans who believe their God-given purpose is to dismantle everything good, bright, right and sacred about this wonderful country.
It strikes me you can be a Good (Evangelical) Christian, or a Good American. I'm just increasingly losing faith that you can be both.
6 comments:
~ U.S. RELIGIOUS LEADERS HAVE BEEN 501(C3) SILENCED ~
OUR AMERICAN RELIGIOUS LEADERS SILENCE IS MORE FREIGHTENING THEN DENIAL OF HEALTH ~ CARE FOR ALL OUR POOR AMERICANS ....
~ THE LOUD LAUGH OF SATAN WAS HEARD IN THE PEOPLES HALLS OF U.S. CONGRESS AND AMERICAN RELIGIOUS LEADERS HAVE TURNED THEIR HEADS,CLOSED THEIR EYES AND SHUT THEIR EARS IN FEAR ~
THIS OLD WORLD ORDER OF ABUSE AND NEGLECT OF OUR POORER AMERICANS NEEDS ENLIGHTENED POLITICAL MINDS AND HEARTS TO VIEW GOD DIFFERENTLY THEN $$$�. NO MATTER WHAT THEIR POLITICAL PARTY AFFILIATION ???
WHEN WILL OUR WEALTHY ELITE AMERICANS ABATE THEIR ASSAULT ON POORER AMERICANS WITH THEIR MONETARY CONTROL OF OUR IVORY TOWER U.S. CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER ???
THERE ARE NOT MANY MORE DISTRACTIONS LEFT WHICH ARE AVAILABLE FOR OUR WEALTHY ELITE AMERICANS TO HIDE BEHIND IN NOT TAKING PROPER CARE OF ALL OUR AMERICANS IN A HUMANE FASHION !!!
RALPH NADER ATTEMPTED TO EDUCATE AMERICAN VOTERS ABOUT U.S. CORPORATE POWER IN AMERICA AND HOW THEY CONTROL OUR CONGRESSIONAL PEOPLE THROUGH THEIR POCKET BOOK (POLITICAL DONATIONS). * WITHOUT THE DOUGH $$$ THESE U.S. CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS OF THE FREE WORLD DO NOT GET RE~ELECTED TO CONGRESS.*TO STAY IN POLITICAL OFFICE IN AMERICA,ONE HAS TO BARTER YOUR VOTES IN CONGRESS AND REPRESENT POWER INTERESTS IN RETURN FOR THE BUCK$.
POORER AMERICANS HAVE NEVER HAD THE $$$ LOBBY TO INFLUENCE THIS CORRUPT POLITICAL CONCEPT (of horse trading political votes for political contributions) TO ACHIEVE PROPER HEALTH ~CARE OR LEGAL REPRESENTATION FOR ALL OUR MIDDLE ~ CLASS AND WORKING POOR AMERICANS.
lawyersforpooreramericans@yahoo.com
(424-247-2013)
You know, it's a good thing that you marked this post as irrational, or else I would have thought you were serious.
We don't deny gays any basic rights. We're debating if we should extend them the right to marry, but that's something different.
We are one of the most generous countries in the world. US charitable spending, per capita, is more than double the European average. There's a difference between voluntary charity and the government taking money at the point of the gun. Indeed, the latter often takes from the poor to give to the rich (or at least, well-connected).
The funny thing is that, since evolution doesn't work on human timescales, it's pretty much the one bit of science that _can_ be ignored without ill effect.
And I love the idea that the "rest of the developed world is marching inexorably forward and we're stuck resolutely where we were".
From 2005 to 2007, three quarters of new drugs were first introduced in the US. (This is according to the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development.)
When it comes to Mars rovers, the score is US 3, rest-of-world nought.
We've sent space probes to all the planets, and a couple of kinda-planets, like Pluto, Ceres, and Vesta. No other country had done that.
Most people don't remember how, a mere two decades ago, the idea of having a box that sits in your car and tells you exactly where you are would be science fiction. But now it's GPS, and GPS was made in the USA.
The Tesla Roadster, the first all-electric sports car: A US thing.
Google. Facebook. Yahoo!. Youtube. Windows Live. Wikipedia. Blogger. You have to get to the eighth largest website before you find one that wasn't founded in the US. And it's Baidu.com, an Chinese search engine, not something from Europe.
When it comes to the ranking of the top worldwide universities, the US has the top three, and 17 of the top 20.
And I think the reason for this is that the US has a tradition of idealogical freedom. I have a right to be wrong. And that means people can question the status quo, and come up with new ideas, and keep the US on top of the world when it comes to innovation.
And we do that while maintaing a religious pluralism that works in practice, one where people are free to worship what they wish without imposing their beliefs on others.
There's a reason why the British film is getting no distribution... it's because it's a boring period piece. US film distributors don't shy away from controversy, they relish it. There have been plenty of movies about evolution, including Inherit the Wind. And there have been far more controversial movies release.
No, the reason Creation lacks distribution is because the distributors don't think they'll make their money back. We don't have a socialist film board deciding what we _should_ watch, and subsidizing distribution. So movies have to make money. If nobody's going to see a movie, the distributor won't bother distributing it.
Of course, the filmmaker isn't going to admit this, so he'll try to blame it on someone else. And, well, you seem to have bought his spin: hook, line, and stinker.
Here's a review of Creation, calling it "Flat, dull, and painful to sit through".
This review claims "Darwin the scientist is reduced to a brooding, whimpering intellectual parody who wouldn’t be so out of place in a Woody Allen movie."
Sounds like a real blockbuster to me.
Oh, and Anonymous spammer-guy: Try hitting your caps-lock key.
Tom, brilliant stuff. I'm rather floored.
thanx for this nice blog and please let me take a copy to my site
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It's nice to know we're so loved. :-)
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