This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

James Corbett and the Danger of Ignorance

James Corbett's cause is one that concerns us all.

Last week I missed an opportunity to offer additional journalistic space to the defense of teacher James Corbett, and I’m sorry for it.

So, at the risk of mummifying my readership with ancient news, I thought I’d take this opportunity to make amends.

If you need the full story on the Corbett "scandal"—which you probably don’t—you can find it here, along with a lively and enlightening string of comments by some of Patch’s most insightful readers and contributors.

Find out what's happening in Mission Viejowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The legal side of the issue is covered very well in the comments section, along with an interesting observation by Shripathi Kamath, that Corbett and his lawyer may have missed an opportunity to identify "creationist theories" with religious speech.

This would be useful from a legal perspective since one of the angles of attack used by creationists dressed as intelligent design researchers, is that intelligent design is a competing scientific theory.

Find out what's happening in Mission Viejowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

It isn’t, of course, but more on that in a moment. 

Frankly, I don’t have much to say about the legal side of the argument, since laws are often at odds with what is good, not to mention what is true—not always, mind you. There are plenty of good laws, but when it comes to determining right from wrong, and truth from opinion, I look for magnetic north, not street signs.

Look, I am, on most days, a religious apologist. I tend to agree with the great religious scholar Mircea Eliade, who wrote that human beings are best defined by the moniker homo religiosus—religious beings.

Eliade said that a deep religious or spiritual yearning—and not exclusively our intelligence—is what defines us. Well, I believe that.

I believe in God—deeply, sincerely—although, to be fair, my God’s not particularly denominational. He’ll devour Christian and Muslim alike, shower mercy on a Buddhist as readily as an atheist. The sheer grandeur and scale of geologic, let alone cosmic time, nurtures within me an unshakable conviction that this vast clockwork spasm of a universe is divinely inspired—if not ordered.

I believe that, but—and here’s the most important thing for our discussion today—I cannot prove it.

And beyond that, no one can. No one. Not your pastor, not your father or mother, not the half-baked promotional videos you take home from church that use circular reasoning to convince you evolution is "just a theory."

On the other hand, evolution can be proved. That’s the beauty of science. It can be shown. Evolution can be observed in the lab, in the field and in the fossil record. It doesn’t matter what you believe; the data and the experiments are there to be checked and cross-checked.

And Corbett is right when he tells his students that religion (i.e., superstitious convictions about the metaphysical nature of the universe, such as mine) has no place in science. He’s right to attempt to cajole his students out of the brainwashing stupor of misplaced authority.

Someone has to. The media are all too happy to give equal time to candidates and hucksters who advertise their ignorance as if it’s some hard-won laurel, as if playing the fool is noble.

We must be vigilant against this anti-intellectualism, because there is a small but growing army of foolish prejudices garrisoned throughout this country. These prejudices are virulently ignorant and cancerous in their ambitions. 

But they are only prejudices, easily combated with education and patience.

So, thank you, James Corbett, for having the education and patience to take up the cause.

You are not alone.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?