…and exclusive and bitter, but Anne Lamott proves that when abortion is involved even the left gets hyper-childish. Read The Rights of the Born.
Thanks to Dave at The Catholic Report for the link.
Today is the Feast of the Presentation, also known as Candlemas. In addition to the information page, we have compiled some Candlemas Prayers for your use. Happy Candlemas!
Also, Charles over at Land of Hope and Glory is back. Welcome Back Charles! Chad has already welcomed him back, but I can still second that motion!
I walked into our school library on Monday and I noticed they were selling some of their books for a dime a piece. I found some great books. I bought some collections of philosophical writings, a book on getting published, a collection of great political essays, and a book entitled Religion in America: Opposing Viewpoints, published in 1989. It is part of a larger Opposing Viewpoints series that looks at different issues from a variety of angles. The book I bought in the series deals with Religion and its relationship to national life and politics.
I have only begun reading it, but I am struck how arrogant many of the anti-religion articles are. One in particular just strikes me as ridiculous, a part of which I am going to briefly focus on here. The essay is titled "Religious Faith Will Decline" by Burnham Beckwith. The point of the essay is that religion will decline as society "progresses," something he and other atheistic idealists have been saying since the Enlightenment. Beckwith gives numerous reasons why religion will eventually die out, including scientific discovery and social reforms. However, the reason he gave that struck me as the most far-fetched is this: "the growth in the influence of very intelligent persons."
In discussing intelligence and religion, Beckwith begins with the assertion that the more intelligent people are, the less religious they are. I was looking for a reference to back up this broad assertion, or a clear definition of "intelligence," but he provides neither. Beckwith then asserts that
religion will die out because people of superior intelligence are in
positions of power in the media (TV, etc) and our educational systems, thus positively influencing the unintelligent masses.. As highly-intelligent people breed (like university professors marrying each other), future generations will be more intelligent and have no need for religion.
I couldn’t help but laugh after reading this. First, as I said above, some scientific studies and a definition of "intelligence" would be helpful. I would bet the farm that Beckwith just happens to consider himself one of these "persons of superior intelligence," so we probably only need to look to what he believes to understand superior intelligence. Second, where does he get the idea that people in the media and in our educational system are intelligent across the board? In Massachusetts, public school teachers were failing state-mandated tests because a good chunk of them were writing sentences without verbs. If superiorly intelligent individuals ran the educational system, our students would be more competitive worldwide. Trust me, I believe many educators are intelligent (I teach in a public school), but if our educational system is run by the best-and-brightest, where are the superior results? Perhaps Beckwith has higher education in mind. Having attended undergraduate and graduate schools, I have found that critical thought is often in short supply, despite claims otherwise. A recent study suggests that college graduates are unprepared for even basic intellectual tasks, like balancing a checkbook. Third, as to the media…well, if Brittany Spears is my intellectual superior and "American Idol" the embodiment of intelligence, then I prefer to stay stupid! Besides, many media types are into new-age religion, which is hardly "intelligent" as an atheist like Beckwith would define the term. Fourth, a truly intelligent individual would not allow himself to be uncritically influenced by the media or an educational system anyway, no matter how super-smart our teachers and newscasters may be. Fifth, is there evidence that academics marrying each other leads to intelligent and irreligious kids? The bigger question would be "are academics even marrying these days?" And I am not talking about being married to a career. Ok, that was a bit of a red herring, but I still would like to see evidence to back up what Beckwith says about academics.
I think the problem with Beckwith, and many atheists, is that they automatically equate atheism with "intelligence" and religiosity with "stupidity." This is simply not true: many atheists hold to their beliefs just as uncritically as do Christian fundamentalists, especially now that atheism has become more popular and accepted. Many former atheists, including Jennifer over at The Reluctant Atheist, can attest to the reality of thoughtless atheism.
I doubt religion will ever die out, but I do know one thing that has died out: the kind of uncritical modernist atheist idealism that Beckwith supports.
Cross posted to Per Christum: the Ancient and Future Catholics Blog
