Historians define the years when the Western World started to take seriously critical observations the Enlightenment or Age of Reason. From this time came advances in science and more democratic political systems, such as the United State of America. Despite those positives, it also brought the social upheaval of the French and Industrial Revolutions. The mixed impact continues up to present times including the exaggerated idea that only what can be observed by the senses can be true. For a society that elevates reason above the emotions of belief, it doesn’t take much to get an irrational reaction. Push back against the “received wisdom” and see the sparks fly. If there is any proposals that cannot be duplicated or more likely attested to by special authorities, those who believe are considered imbeciles or even mental cases. No one is more derided than a person of religious faith, although certain groups are hated more than others.
Having to accept the new orthodoxy of science and what is defended as facts can becoming suffocating. There needs to be a healthy amount of critical thinking, but the modern version has transformed into hubris and rigidity. Curiosity is now skepticism and neutral observation turned into arrogant triumphalism over supposed ignorance and superstition. Now that the iconoclastic promises of the Enlightenment have more or less been delivered, all that remains is an intellectual uniformity.
Modern thought is an insufferable bore. Skeptics cannot see beyond their own noses, always coming up with unimaginative explanations for things they don’t understand. If rational reason doesn’t work to their advantage then ad hominem “crazy” or “delusional”is used as a mock those who don’t give in to persuasion. Atheists are the quickest to use these tactics by calling any religious person a mental case. Despite popular opinion, religious people in the West are currently much more open minded than others. They have to be in order to survive.
As I have already said a few times, my interest in the paranormal started in grade school. There were books on ghosts, Bigfoot, and UFOs that I checked out to read. My young imagination was fascinated by the profound mysteries to ponder. To this day these subjects are of interest to me. Not everything unexplained is believable. For me the Loch Ness Monster is among what I consider completely debunked. Still, those who don’t believe anything more than what can be “programmed, categorized or easily referenced,” as Mulder from The X-Files said, will say or do whatever it takes to discredit. Leaving the possibilities of their existance open is not acceptable.
Tactics used to make claims of the unusual go away are exponentially part of an agenda to minimize, if not wipe out, religion. Ironically, the religious who are themselves under attack will use the same arguments as atheists and skeptics against those they disagree with. In this way there is no unified front against the onslaught of “rationalist” evangelists. Of course it is not a secret that the ultimate goal is not for greater human freedom from tyrants, but a new set of overlords.
Science, the byproduct of reason, has improved life for several generations. Even those who are accused of irrationality use technology. The idea of testing a theory with observation is not itself anti-religious, no matter what the critics might say. However, the philosophy that has built on the foundation of the Enlightenment forces an acceptance of EVERYTHING that is termed scientifically based. To question the “settled” arguments is equal to blasphemy. Anyone who disagrees is worthy to be mocked and shunned. Those who hold onto the concept of reason will use unreasonable means to shut up those who have other ideas. There is nothing more dangerous to the power of science and freedom than “settled science.” Politics replaces proof and evidence.
I want to go back where it all started; curiosity of the human mind. All this talk of the war between religion and science is exhausting. I want the freedom to believe openly regardless of how much “proof” or “rationality” is behind those beliefs without getting told to keep them behind closed doors. Science was supposed to be about discovery, and rationality self-reflection. Instead what remains is a reverse inquisition in the name of a godless humanism that contains no humanity.