Altered dreams

In my youth, I dreamed of the 21st Century with wonder and awe. I just knew in my heart that the land of my birth would continue to lead the world in technological innovation, and that all Americans would embrace the tenets of unlimited research, sound knowledge, and proven science.

Of course, that dream has long since been shattered, that vision of a forward-thinking America betrayed by a leader who openly rejects scientific advancement in favor of "faith based" thinking. The regressive tone which has been set in Washington continues to embolden a growing group of U.S. citizens whose mission seems to be a return to medieval fundamentalism, and the dismissal not only of proven scientific theory, but basic common sense as well.

The latest example of America's march backwards in time is reported here in the Washington Post. It seems a suburban Atlanta mother, distressed by her son's fascination with scientific descriptions of dinosaurs, is fighting yet another battle over the teaching of evolution, based on her Biblically literal contention that the Earth is only "several thousand years old." WaPo writes:

"He was really into 'Jurassic Park,' " his mother recalled. The trouble was, "we kept reading over and over that 'millions and millions of years ago, dinosaurs roamed the earth,' " Marjorie Rogers continued. "And that's where I said, 'Hmm -- wait a second.' "

Rogers soon began a quest to challenge what she sees as educators' blind faith in evolution. It evoked a groundswell of support from other residents of this affluent suburb of high-tech office parks and shopping malls, and it pushed the county school board to put warning labels on biology textbooks saying that evolution "is a theory, not a fact."

Within the relatively short span of five years, it has grown increasingly embarrassing to be called "American". Instead of representing the best of intelligent thought, that label has come to denote a nation whose progress and leadership in the world community is threatened each day by government-sanctioned religious ignorance. It's nothing short of appalling that a recent CBS poll found that 51 percent of U.S. citizens reject Darwinian theory - putting America at odds with the entire global scientific community.

And this madness shows no signs of abating.

So I guess I'll have to alter that boyhood dream, and translate my vision for the future into another language. Best brush up on your Chinese and Indian and German and Korean and Russian, America. At the rate we're falling behind, and adamantly favoring religious myth over proven science, it's a sure bet that those will be the tongues leading the way into the new millennium.