Reply #4: Yes,

[Beregond2]

there is definitely a problem in this country that derives from these issues. As you rightly point out, people need to be taught exactly what reason is and how it functions, and what qualifies as logical and what doesn't. Without that skill, how can democracy survive?

A lot of this stems from the separation of religion and science that happened in the so-called "Age of Reason." Because western religion was unwilling to adapt to the new findings of science, a truce was declared. Science was allowed free reign in the natural sciences, while moral philosophy and metaphysics were left to religion. This had the result of creating a schizophrenic split in both society at large and within individuals. Religion no longer owed any allegiance to reason, and science had no ethical or moral constraints placed upon it.

The powerful strain of anti-intellectualism in America ultimately derives from the distrust of reason engendered by religions that see their truth as being threatened by logic and evidence. The truth is, any valid religion must conform to the dictates of reason, and any valid science must serve the spiritual needs of mankind. This split has been disastrous.

BUT...it is ending. Modern physics is coming to conclusions that are anything but threatening to spirituality, if people only knew it. The question is whether there is enough time left for this new paradigm to take hold, whether people on both sides of the divide can overcome their prejudices enough to see that the quest for truth is one. There is no longer any need to say: "I can only allow logic and evidence to sway me up to a point. Anything beyond that would destroy my faith." Or: "I can't follow that line of reasoning, or look at that evidence. It might lead me to something resembling religion, and that's not science."

I used to wonder why logic was not taught in our public schools, but that is why: it would lead children to question what they hear in church, and the fundamentalist mentality can never allow that. But a functioning democracy MUST have a citizenry capable of weighing evidence and analyzing arguements, or it is just another form of tyranny.