Title: Re: paleonet Genesis
Dear Paleonetters,
It's not necessary for everyone in the
world to understand evolution, but I do think that it's necessary for
everyone in the world to be taught how to engage in critical
thinking. This would likely clear up many problems.
At the moment I'm reading the late Albert Hourani's 1990 book
A History of the Arab Peoples. It, of course, discusses the
various strains of Islam. The bad news is that some of them
actively discourage critical thinking about extra-mundane topics, such
as humankind's relationship to the deity. These conservative
schools of thought are generally retrenchments that emerged in
response to earlier, more contemplative schools that encouraged
interpretation of the Koran and other Islamic religious texts.
Of course we see the same pattern within Christianity and, I think
maybe, in Judaism as well.
In any case the problem is that religious authority is
instructing the lay person to simply put certain topics off limits
from critical thinking. So even if the laity are taught critical
thinking, there is absolutely no guarantee that they will apply it
where secular humanists would wish them to.
I am not suggesting that it isn't worth teaching critical
thinking, but just to point out that you as a teacher are basically
hoping that a certain portion of your audience will embrace
heresy.
Bill
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William P. Chaisson
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Rochester
Rochester, NY 14627