The Verge of an Enlightenment or a Dark Age
This is a topic I have talked about often, but recently two advocates have come forward in support of two competing visions for the future. These two views represent a stark contrast from each other and we really need to think about this now. The future of humanity is being written right now and we are on the verge of either a new enlightenment or a new dark age.
First, I give you my former Senator and one of the leading candidates for President of the United States, Rick Santorum. Santorum recently came out against college education. I’m not kidding. Santorum actually said that college is bad. Santorum favors home schooling with no standards for education. This is because education has a notorious liberal and atheistic bias:
There is little doubt that Santorum wants a new dark age in which religion runs the world and education is vilified. The scary thing is that Santorum might be the Republican nominee and he might beat Obama and become the President of the United States. That crowd loved his speech and they loved the fact that he spoke out against education. So it isn’t Santorum; he is just an advocate for this point of view. The problem is already there.
On the other side of the coin is Neil deGrasse Tyson who is advocating for the future in which people are motivated toward science. While promoting his new book, he spoke to Jon Stewart on the Daily Show last week. Here is the video:
We are on the cusp of one of these two visions of the future. But we don’t have to be hapless bystanders. We can fight to help make Neil deGrasse Tyson’s view of the future a reality. It will not be an easy fight, but we have to be vocal and not only promote a scientific future, but criticize Santorum and his view. We live in an interesting time and we have a responsibility to those who come after us to give them a better future.
Related articles
- Atheism 101: Atheists can be spiritual too (examiner.com)
- Dreaming of Tomorrow (dangeroustalk.net)
- The World of Tomorrow (dangeroustalk.net)
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, anti-intellectualism, culture war, education, humanism, People of Reason, science, The Future