You are correct, it is most definitely a symptom of the right-wing's attempts to eliminate science education - and indeed, public education - altogether. They're "not materialists" - which they dubiously equate with Marxism - meaning, in effect, that they don't believe there's any such thing as objective reality or truth. Straight from the horse's (Irving Kristol, the "Godfather of Neoconservatism") mouth:"All I want to do," he told his AEI audience, "is break the bonds of Darwinian materialism which at the moment restrict our imagination. For the moment that's enough."From Reason.com - hardly a liberal rag: http://www.reason.com/news/printer/30329.html And people wonder why the right seems so deluded...Kristol and his criminal brethren have waged a decades-long campaign to stamp out "materialistic" - scientific, in other words - thinking, resulting in nearly two full generations comprised largely of dumbed-down, easily manipulable zombies who have no capacity to think objectively, critically, logically, or scientifically. They've created, with help from the likes of Rupert Murdoch and lots of high-moneyed charlatans in the clergy, a huge contingent of the public which has been trained to cognitively tune out anything they don't like to hear or which upsets their existing beliefs - which is largely why talking to one of these people about politics, religion, current events or really anything of substance, often feels like beating your head against a brick wall.Meanwhile, those who've undergone the first iteration of lobotomizing neo-con brainwashing can now be reliably counted upon to scold, harass, threaten, intimidate, and cajole teachers and administrators who dare to be so rude as to insist their students actually have a right to acquire at least a basic understanding of the workings of the natural world.Of course, defenders of rationality have largely been unable to grasp the reasons behind America's slow descent into the barbarism of fundamentalist Christianity. Such defenders must wake up to these facts, and respond in kind. The key is NOT to be intimidated by their ranting and raving - they're all bark, no bite. Everyday rationalists must educate themselves about not only the science of evolution (I'll throw in climatology and cosmology as well, because those are equally high-priority targets of the anti-science crowd), but on the common misconceptions and rationalizations for denial of the pertinent facts. We must then insist on sound science eduction every bit as passionately and tirelessly as they fight to destroy it. If we do this, I have no doubt that we will eventually win out, with religion eventually winding up precisely where in belongs - on the ash heap of history - for we have the facts on our side. This is a very serious issue; other western societies have fallen when they turned away from scientific values and instead sought false comfort in the siren's song of religious myth. There is no reason to believe our inevitable fate will be any different if we continue on our present path. Of course, we'll all end up switching places with the Indians and Chinese long before that happens, which should provide an impetus for even the most devout believers to support science education - we all know how they feel 'bout dem commie Chinamen.
