Brain Dead

But my intention being to write something of use to those who understand, it appears to me more proper to go to the real truth of the matter than to its imagination; and many have imagined republics and principalities which have never been seen or known to exist in reality; for how we ought to live, that he who abandons what is done for what ought to be done, will rather bring about his own ruin than his preservation. -- Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

Machiavelli had been dead for more than 70 years when Giordano Bruno died. Unlike the Italian author of The Prince, however, few people know who Bruno was, what he accomplished and why he was put to death by the Inquisition. Bruno, a mathematician and natural philosopher (i.e. a natural scientist) openly opposed the Scholastic teachings of Aristotle, in favor of the cosmological theories of Copernicus – that the universe consisted of an infinite number of worlds and that the earth (including humanity) was not the centre of that universe. He published various texts and his ideas influenced later thinkers such as Leibniz and Spinoza. At the hands of the Church of Rome and the Inquisition, Bruno was burned at the stake in 1600 as a heretic.

Perhaps more to the point, what do Machiavelli's shrewd observation and Giordano Bruno's fate at the hands of the Church have to do with Bush America?

Well, let's take Terri Schiavo, for example.

The recent spectacle of "true believers", notwithstanding their apparent lack of scientific understanding, provided the world with a intellectual Inquisition all its own. Despite undisputable evidence to the contrary, Jeb Bush managed to find a quasi-neurologist in Florida who hinted that Shiavo might just be "conscious" – on some level that medical science cannot comprehend. Even Conservatives were quick to point out that such notions were simply "junk science". Several members of the Religious Right rose to the occasion – in true Inquisition form, albeit stopping short of calling for death penalties – to denounce the decision to let Terri Schiavo die a natural death. The pro-life fanatics were quick to compare the situation to Nazi Germany. Some shouted "murder". House Majority Leader Tom Delay called it "medical terrorism". Even the National Review joined in the fun, with Kathryn Jean Lopez blaming leftist feminists for not speaking out. Robert George, a member of Princeton's Council on Bioethics, also wrote in National Review that Chiavo's prior wishes, even if known, would be of no consequence, since she could not confirm her wish to die in her present state – which is a bit like saying that last wills and testaments make no sense whatsoever, since who knows what changes of heart may occur after one dies.

The absurdity of the whole situation is that it even needs to be discussed in public. One would have thought that such people and such ideas died a quite death during the Age of Reason. Unfortunately, it seems, fundamentalists – unlike old soldiers – do not simply fade away.

Indeed. Underlying all this nonsense and mystical rhetoric is the relatively recent revival of religious fundamentalism around the world, not just in the good old US of A. We are seeing Orthodox Jews talking about driving the Palestinians into the Red Sea, anti women's rights' movement in the UK violently protesting clinical abortions – not because they're paid for by taxpayers' money but because they consider "conception" the centre of the universe – and Hindu fundamentalists in India reintroducing the illegal practice of bridal dowries, which has led to increased murders of women, so that their widowed husbands can move on to the next bride and the next dowry, along the road to wealth. Perhaps the most frightening sideshow of this rebirth of spiritual Talibanism in America is "Rapture".

For the first time in our history, ideology and theology hold a monopoly of power in Washington. Theology asserts propositions that cannot be proven true; ideologues hold stoutly to a world view despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted as reality. When ideology and theology couple, their offspring are not always bad but they are always blind. And there is the danger that voters and politicians alike are oblivious to the facts.

Chicken Little, you say? Read on.

For the really die-hard skeptics, see:
this
and this
and of course this

For those who think that the influence of the Religious Right in America is minimal, I can recommend this article

We are talking about Christianizing America. We are talking about simply spreading the gospel in a political context. (Republican Strategist Paul Weyrich, 1980)

"We need to find ways to win the war" Karl Rove, President Bush's political director told a gathering of the Family Research Council in March, 2002. Family Research Council is one of the most powerful lobbying organizations of the Religious Right today. Rove wasn't talking about the war on terrorism. He was talking about the war on secular society.

The rise of the Religious Right in the Republican Party is perhaps the most important story in modern politics. The battle for "dominion" over society is being waged in all major institutions including government, the courts, schools, mainline Protestant churches and the media.

For a thorough examination of the Religious Right, check out this site: Theocracy Watch.

The bad news is:

The significance of this reversion to pre-Enlightenment times is that it is a global phenomenon. It is happening in every major religion on earth – not just in the Islam. While there are degrees of danger inherent in people and doctrinal systems that profess the "inerrancy" of their holy books, there should be no doubt what the ultimate aim of a majority of such "true believers" and systems is: the destruction of science and reason as the guiding lights of civilization.

The good news is:

If and when the Global Taliban succeed in declaring humanity brain dead, they will no doubt reinsert the feeding tubes.