Respeito pela opinião religiosa e respeito pela ciência

Como é vão as guerras culturais nos EUA? Vão estranhas, como sempre (ver aqui), embora, sempre com uma capacidade anormal de nos surpreender. É o caso relatado pelo blogue Bad Astronomy - e respecado pela RichardDawkins.net - em Oklahoma: One Step from Doom. Excertos:

"Specifically, the bill states: A school district shall treat a student's voluntary expression of a religious viewpoint, if any, on an otherwise permissible subject in the same manner the district treats a student's voluntary expression of a secular or other viewpoint on an otherwise permissible subject and may not discriminate against the student based on a religious viewpoint expressed by the student on an otherwise permissible subject.

It's the "otherwise permissible subject" phrase that's sticky. That can easily be interpreted as meaning tests, besides just normal classroom discussion.

For a long time, I have been disquieted by the fact that many people want to give patently ridiculous ideas as much standing as reality. One problem with this is that once you open the door to fantasy, any and all flavors of it can walk on through, as in the example above. But it also elevates fantasy to the same level as reality, and that is simply wrong. I taught a few classes back when I was a grad student. If someone had answered a question on a test saying the Earth was 6000 years old [idade da Terra segundo alguns fundamentalistas bíblicos], I would have marked it as incorrect. That's because — and sit down for this breaking news — that answer is wrong. The student could complain, they could take it to the dean, the president, the Supreme Court for all I care — I wouldn't have backed down. Wrong is wrong.

I don't care what your religious belief is, there are some things that are simple facts. An object with mass has gravity. A lump of lithium dropped into water will create heat and hydrogen gas. An accelerating charged particle will emit radiation. These are facts. It doesn't matter what you believe: reality is that which, when you go to sleep, doesn't go away."