Yesterday, I watched the documentary “Jesus Camp” which I found both interesting and tragic at once. Interesting because as a Canadian, we get little opportunity to see the religious right in the U.S. at full bore. Tragic because the children in the movie, most of them being home schooled were being brought up without the capacity to think critically or analytically. Rather they are taught to denigrate and be dismissive of the scientific method and science in general. Words like evolution, protoplasm and Darwin rolled off tongues with disdain and sarcasm.
As I have mentioned before, I am a new father. I believe that the most important lesson that I can pass onto my child is the desire to think critically. That certainly does not mean that I would prevent him from going to church or having strong religious beliefs if he so desired. I would want him to get there honestly. The problem that I had with the religious leaders and parents in the movie ”Jesus Camp” was that the children in that movie were never given the opportunity to think critically. They had deep religious beliefs but had not had the opportunity to come by them honestly. They were told from day one that there was only one way to think and that was to think in the way that their religion, as imparted onto them by their parents and pastors told them to. The tone of those around them implied that it was not right to ask questions and even if they did want to ask questions, their ability to do so was seriously compromised by their lack of knowledge of the scientific method.
I do not believe that the science or the scientific method are the be all and end all of human existence and I certainly do not believe that science holds the answer to everything. What I can say, however, is that I took a lot of science courses while I was in university and know that they equipped me with the tools to evaluate the world around me and fueled my curiosity to continually discover why things are the way they are. This is what I want to pass on to my son.
