Cult of ignorance

Dear editor:

We live in a universe that, according to the best available information, is 13.8 billion years old. Our Earth was formed out of the chaos of the early beginnings and the Earth is approximately 4.5 billion years old. We have evolved from the atoms distributed by the stars that exploded and made their way to Earth. We are all basically stardust. All living beings have evolved, and we, as humans, have been fortunate enough to have developed brains that enable us to control much of our destiny. We evolved as social animals and included in that evolution process was a basic desire for social connections resulting in the invention of gods, and in some cases, as in Christianity, one God.

Many various mythological books have been written and over the years, we have created the various religions that now exist. I find it incredible that anyone can consider any of these books to have valid scientific data and their historical data is often inaccurate. They reflect the evolution of a variety of cultures from the past to the present. None of these cultures, including Christianity, knew much about science, and they reflect concepts of a religious nature that do not relate to current knowledge about our universe and our world. What is sad is the harm to others that has been caused because they do not share the same beliefs.

I agree with Isaac Asimov who said, "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."

There was an old movie titled "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence," and there is a classic line in that movie. A news reporter had planned to print the true facts concerning who shot Liberty, and decided after hearing the entire story to let it stand and said, "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." Much of Western history reflects that view. Noted historian Ramon Adams wrote several books that demonstrated this as he corrected many examples of what was factually incorrect about the West.

The religious legends have been printed for several thousand years and there are many people who have ceased looking for the actual facts. They are content to exist in the cult of ignorance. Perhaps it is time for society to start relying on the facts, as shown by the actual evidence. Legends may be comforting, but we must start living in the real world. Knowledge is a wonderful thing. Science is never stagnant and new information is being gathered every day. It is up to us to keep on learning new things.

Mike Nunn

Hot Springs

Editorial on 01/26/2015

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