New Target of the Religious Right: Thinking Too Much

File this under 'Reasons why unfounded belief can affect and harm others'.

America is slowly pushing itself towards a middle-eastern sense of theocracy-controlled government.

'Americaistan' is just around the corner, if things like this can pass.  It is the GOP Party manifesto for the year, and the latest thing in a series of plain disturbing events coming from the American right.  How is it that Americans are becoming so ill-trained in the skill of interpreting the world around them that they are scared of a paper cup on some string?

The republicans, realising that critical thinking and wanting evidence for stuff causes people to question the beliefs of their parents have done the most logical thing - oppose the teaching of critical thinking in schools.

We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.

Right there on page 12 of the official GOP document, nestled amongst the other madness.  Really, it's a depressing read.

Yes, higher-order thinking is out for Texans if these people get in.  The bizarre irony of effectively trying to un-evolve a whole state's worth of people to an earlier form in a country decidedly unconvinced of our evolutionary ancestry would be funny if it were not actually happening.

So, higher-order thinking is now demonized because it challenges a students 'fixed beliefs'.  Challenging a belief is bad only when you have a belief that won't stand up to being challenged (and often that means such people complain about the erosion of 'religious freedom').  Instead of using the experience to refine a belief by casting aside the stuff that plain fails to maintain it's plausibility, the solution seems to be to brick up the windows to stop the light shining in.

Putting the GOP's concern-troll sentence into other, less obfuscated words reveals a long-term plan to increase their standings: the age-old process of parents - mindlessly parroting their beliefs onto their kids during the years where their minds are thirsty sponges, soaking up information from people they trust - is being rendered less effective by those kids being taught how to think too much.  The right has cottoned onto the fact that the more edumacated these kids get, the wider their eyes will open, and learn to question those things that don't stack up with what the world around is telling them.  Ergo they become more secular, more sceptical, and are less likely to vote for religious nutjobs and the GOP/Teaparty republicans don't get in.

It's in the best interests of these parties to ruin the education of millions of kids, so that they can win elections - standing on the backs of voters trained not to think, or to question.

If there is a thin silver lining to this, these idiots have not accounted for one thing: Kids aren't stupid.  The more they get told not to look at stuff and do stuff without being given a reason why, the more likely they are to take an interest.

I can only hope that this, and the education of present-day American public is enough to stop this self-serving lunacy in it's tracks.

What is the Harm in a Little Belief?

There has been much hoo-hah about Richard Dawkins in the past week, with his polls about religious identity in the UK. I won't comment on them here other than to say their findings weren't exactly surprising to this godless heathen. I want to focus on one particular recurring criticism he faces: Though most people can understand why he goes after the fanatics, there surely isn't any harm in a moderate belief, is there?

Dawkins' own answers variously mention pre-rapture suicides and killings, and the fact that, if you are willing to take the existence of a deity on faith, you will be more likely to take an unquestioning view of other woo, such as alternative medicine or creationism. While the latter will just get you laughed at, or maybe narrow your job prospects, the former might lead to not taking the correct medicine for an avoidable illness, or taking the wrong medicine because the woo-peddlers aren't regulated and so didn't test their 'natural remedies' before encouraging you to down it.

But the clincher for me is this: If you believe one thing to be true, you are likely to force that thing onto your kids, whether they agree with it, or not. Thinking you are doing the best for your children by ensuring they grow up in the Christian faith for example, you might insist they read the bible, or maybe enroll them in a bit of Sunday school. Perhaps a visit to a local Alpha Course if they don't take the hint and keep on with their pesky reasoning.

In America, they have another choice - a whole industry devoted to setting your child on the right path.

And for those whose loving parents send them there, it is a horrifying nightmare.

A teenager has apparently spent a few years there, in the name of 'curing' his atheism:

In September 2009, after admitting to my parents that I was atheist, I was abruptly woken in the middle of the night by two strange men who subsequently threw me in a van and drove me 200 mi. to a facility that I would later find out serves the sole purpose of eliminating free thinking adolescents.

[...]

Let me give you a detailed run-down of my experience here: To start off it's a boarding school where there is literally no communication with the outside world, the people who work here can do anything they want, and the students can do absolutely nothing about it. The basic idea is that you're not allowed to leave until you believably adopt their viewpoints and push them off on others. The minimum stay at these places is a year, an ENTIRE YEAR, that means no birthday, no christmas, no thanksgiving etc.; my stay lasted 2 years. The day to day functioning of this facility is based on a very strict set of rules and regulations: you eat what they give you, do what they tell you (often just pointless things just to brand mindless submission in your brain), and believe what they tell you to believe. Consequences for not adhering to these regulations include not eating for that day, being locked in small rooms for extended periods of time and the long term consequence of an extended stay.

The skeptic in me said to keep a suspicious mind, and reddit isn't known for the integrity of its journalists. I want it to be at least partially a reactionary rant, as this is worse than I could possibly believe the effects of simple religious faith had scope to inflict.

However, this page shows just how many of these places have come and gone, apparently shut down for all sorts of gruesome reasons. This connected site profiles the still at large and those fighting to shut them down. It profiles the many legal cases brought against various WWASP organizations. Finally, there are actual House and Senate bills, brought in to regulate or shut down these institutions.

Judge the authenticity for yourself by reading the comments, some of which come from fellow survivors.

Edit: There is also a documentary in production: