Now, here is a fine video on YouTube in which Hayden Planetarium director Neil Degrasse Tyson, PhD, talks about the "naming rights" of nature and science:
http://youtu.be/6oxTMUTOz0w (view above)
Without giving away the video's contents, Dr. Tyson talks about the height of Arabic science and culture, the fruits of that culture which persist today, and what happened next. It isn't so much the Islam itself, as what the practitioners of religious fundamentalism do to science and progress. In our era, it is a handful of Islamic fundamentalists who have misinterpreted the "Sword Verses" -- and the fact that some of that handful have big money behind them. We pat ourselves on our collective back, because we're not the barbarians and terrorists that they are, are we? What might say the ghosts of Chief Joseph, Geronimo, Sitting Bull and the other chiefs, along with the nameless ones who cry out but are not heard -- because history's written by the victors? We have Christians in this country who, in the absence of a 6000 light year radius universe, try to tell us that the Earth and Creation are 6000 years old. They would strike down science, if they could. Do they walk to church? Some may. Most don't -- they drive, or take other transportation -- in other words, put their faith, if you will, in science and technology. We have, apparently, forgotten the terror of the Cold War era, and forgotten that our "modern" era of terrorism and "dirty bombs" and all sorts of biological and chemical nasties was preceded by blankets laced with smallpox. No, "we're" not like "them." Look at the wars since the Great War, and the Second World War...Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan. Necessary, or arbitrary? The saber-rattling has started again. Iran will be next on the list. Oh, I don't want to see the destruction of Israel, either, but this is the same Israel which has had just as great a hand in not making peace in the Middle East. They are the one country who could lead a two-state solution, and help to bring a homeland to the Palestinians, just as a homeland was brought to them, lo, those 63 years ago. How many Jews have died unjustly? How many innocent Palestinians have died? [I do not necessarily mean Hamas, nor Hezbollah, or are they "freedom fighters?" (Just askin'.)] Is there not something written somewhere about letting the dead bury the dead? Apparently, not enough have died, on either side, for anyone to say, "Hey, let's try something different." As I once queried elsewhere, do the dead cry out for revenge, or do they cry out for peace? Perhaps, someday, hands will be held forth, not to fight, not to convert, but to accept, and to love. Perhaps we'll be shamed to it. Most likely, it will be done as a last resort, amid smoking ruins. Will we ever truly take to heart the words of Chief Joseph, and be willing to say, "(Our) hearts are tired. From where the sun now stands, (we) will fight no more, forever."
http://youtu.be/6oxTMUTOz0w (view above)
Without giving away the video's contents, Dr. Tyson talks about the height of Arabic science and culture, the fruits of that culture which persist today, and what happened next. It isn't so much the Islam itself, as what the practitioners of religious fundamentalism do to science and progress. In our era, it is a handful of Islamic fundamentalists who have misinterpreted the "Sword Verses" -- and the fact that some of that handful have big money behind them. We pat ourselves on our collective back, because we're not the barbarians and terrorists that they are, are we? What might say the ghosts of Chief Joseph, Geronimo, Sitting Bull and the other chiefs, along with the nameless ones who cry out but are not heard -- because history's written by the victors? We have Christians in this country who, in the absence of a 6000 light year radius universe, try to tell us that the Earth and Creation are 6000 years old. They would strike down science, if they could. Do they walk to church? Some may. Most don't -- they drive, or take other transportation -- in other words, put their faith, if you will, in science and technology. We have, apparently, forgotten the terror of the Cold War era, and forgotten that our "modern" era of terrorism and "dirty bombs" and all sorts of biological and chemical nasties was preceded by blankets laced with smallpox. No, "we're" not like "them." Look at the wars since the Great War, and the Second World War...Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan. Necessary, or arbitrary? The saber-rattling has started again. Iran will be next on the list. Oh, I don't want to see the destruction of Israel, either, but this is the same Israel which has had just as great a hand in not making peace in the Middle East. They are the one country who could lead a two-state solution, and help to bring a homeland to the Palestinians, just as a homeland was brought to them, lo, those 63 years ago. How many Jews have died unjustly? How many innocent Palestinians have died? [I do not necessarily mean Hamas, nor Hezbollah, or are they "freedom fighters?" (Just askin'.)] Is there not something written somewhere about letting the dead bury the dead? Apparently, not enough have died, on either side, for anyone to say, "Hey, let's try something different." As I once queried elsewhere, do the dead cry out for revenge, or do they cry out for peace? Perhaps, someday, hands will be held forth, not to fight, not to convert, but to accept, and to love. Perhaps we'll be shamed to it. Most likely, it will be done as a last resort, amid smoking ruins. Will we ever truly take to heart the words of Chief Joseph, and be willing to say, "(Our) hearts are tired. From where the sun now stands, (we) will fight no more, forever."
