Redstate

Posted at 9:56pm on Oct. 20, 2005 The Atheist in the Foxhole

By NYSean

I read "Why I am a liberal" by bartman and was fascinated by the frank, sophisticated discussion. Like bartman, I am a liberal. He initiated a discussion on what it means to be a liberal and what it means to be a conservative. I am interested in picking your (conservative) brains about science.

I am thinking of the adage, 'there are no athiests in the foxhole when the bullets are

flying.' I think that the opposite is true of conservatives, particularly Christian conservatives: Christian conservatives have no problem calling into question the validity of

science until they are wheeled into a hospital.

The most notable manifestation (I perceive) of the incongruity between staunch conservative

politics and science is the current crusade to discuss intelligent design in science classes. As a liberal and a teacher, I find this movement is extremely disturbing.

It seems to me that you can't have it both ways: you can't support creationism, question global

warming, fight research into the potential of existing stem cell lines, etc. AND benefit

from the science that produced the operation that saves your life or that of a loved one. If

the science that has determined that we evolved through natural selection can be called

into question, why not the science that went into developing the pacemaker that Dick Cheney

had implanted to regulate his heartbeat?

As a former "buffet Catholic" (i.e. I would worship in ways that were appealing to me but ignore the rules and mandates that I found problematic), I can see the temptation in 'picking and choosing.' But, then again, I left the Church precisely because I felt that I was a fraud by participating in the parts of the Church that I enjoyed without sacrificing the things the Church told me I should.

So, my question is, how do conservatives reconcile a clear and sensible dependence on

science with political policies that disregard that science (or at least challenge it in ways that contradict the consensus view of the scientific community)?

Like bartman, I am not looking to kick the proverbial bee's nest. Nor am I out to play to base caricatures of liberals and conservatives. I am simply interested in hearing what thoughtful replublicans think of this issue (which I see through a liberal lense as unreconcilable).

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