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Invincible Ignorance

In the fine and fantastic logic of the medieval church,
the term invincible ignorance referred to circumstances
beyond the control of people that left them hopelessly ignorant,
and that, in some cases, was a fine thing! For instance,
if a person, never in his life, had ever heard that Jesus
was available to save his ordinary, miserable arse,
then God could not hold him responsible for not being a Christian.
See? Hopelessly ignorant; not to be held responsible!

The doctrine of invincible ignorance is being put to new use.
Here! Let me count a few of the ways:

A Daily Kos/Research poll found that 28% of Republicans
do not believe that Barack Obama was born in the United States.
Another 30% are "not sure". That his birth certificate is on file,
and that a Hawaiian newspaper, at the time of his birth, noted it
is entirely beside the point. They don't believe it!

Charles M. Blow, in a N.Y. Times op ed tells more:

Last summer, a Gallup poll said that six of every ten Republicans
believe that humans were created about ten thousand years ago,
in their present form. In spite of mountains of evidence for
the universe being 13 or 14 billion years old, of the earth being
about 4.6 billion years old, and human life being millions of years old,
some people actually believe, in spite of all the facts,
that God created the earth and everything on it about the time
of the last glaciation over North America; maybe even later.

There is a reason why only six percent of scientists
call themselves Republican. Invincible ignorance
is not a scientific virtue. It is a political fact.

It is a fact that the universe is incredibly old.
It is a fact that life in that universe has evolved.
It is a fact that Barack Obama was born in Hawaii.
And invincible ignorance is a fact.

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