Another terrifying example how religion ruins the society:
Advocates for scientific rationalism in India are pushing back against a wave of conspiracies and superstitions being promoted as legitimate science
A small but significant number of Indians believe that the mention of flying vehicles in Indian mythology is evidence that such technology was already created by their ancestors.
It’s just one of numerous fantastical ideas, fueled by a toxic mix of misinformation and brewing Indian nationalism, that have long percolated through Indian society. In the northwestern city of Jodhpur, one such theory suggests, there is ample evidence of an ancient nuclear war. And even the country’s own prime minister, Narendra Modi, has claimed that the Hindu god Ganesha — depicted as having the head of an elephant and the body of a human — provides evidence that ancient Indian doctors had mastered cosmetic surgery.
It’s a worrying mash-up of nationalism, religion, and scientific bunkum that appears to be an increasingly easy sell — and one that leaves the population both misinformed and perennially at odds with itself.
In 2014, a department that focused on research into alternative and traditional Indian medicines — including unscientific fields like homeopathy and naturopathy — was elevated in status to the level of ministry and now operates alongside the Indian Ministry of Health. And several attempts have already been made by political leaders to change parts of the national school syllabus to reflect elements of nascent pseudoscience. Earlier this year, Satya Pal Singh, Minister of State for Human Resource Development, called for Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution to be removed from textbooks. “Nobody, including our ancestors, in written or oral, have said they saw an ape turning into a man,” he reasoned publicly. “No books we have read or the tales told to us by our grandparents had such a mention.”
“The fact that we now have a whole separate Ministry of AYUSH [Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy], outside of the Ministry of Health, to focus on alternative or ancient science is concerning,” Shaikh said. “A lot of times many of these medicines are not being tested properly, and are marketed as ‘ancient science’ and assume that our ancestors must have established its efficacy.
Sule, meanwhile, is preparing a petition to fight against the introduction of a new engineering textbook that endorses the notion of pre-20th-century Indian aircraft, among other claims — including that batteries and electricity were common in ancient India. “There are people close to the current government who feel that the present curriculum for science and history is too Western-centric, and they have to take drastic measures to swing it to other extreme,” Sule said. “It is important for us to stand against any revisions which get introduced without due academic deliberations,” he said, adding that it can “brainwash a generation.”
https://undark.org/article/indian-scient...doscience/
Advocates for scientific rationalism in India are pushing back against a wave of conspiracies and superstitions being promoted as legitimate science
A small but significant number of Indians believe that the mention of flying vehicles in Indian mythology is evidence that such technology was already created by their ancestors.
It’s just one of numerous fantastical ideas, fueled by a toxic mix of misinformation and brewing Indian nationalism, that have long percolated through Indian society. In the northwestern city of Jodhpur, one such theory suggests, there is ample evidence of an ancient nuclear war. And even the country’s own prime minister, Narendra Modi, has claimed that the Hindu god Ganesha — depicted as having the head of an elephant and the body of a human — provides evidence that ancient Indian doctors had mastered cosmetic surgery.
It’s a worrying mash-up of nationalism, religion, and scientific bunkum that appears to be an increasingly easy sell — and one that leaves the population both misinformed and perennially at odds with itself.
In 2014, a department that focused on research into alternative and traditional Indian medicines — including unscientific fields like homeopathy and naturopathy — was elevated in status to the level of ministry and now operates alongside the Indian Ministry of Health. And several attempts have already been made by political leaders to change parts of the national school syllabus to reflect elements of nascent pseudoscience. Earlier this year, Satya Pal Singh, Minister of State for Human Resource Development, called for Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution to be removed from textbooks. “Nobody, including our ancestors, in written or oral, have said they saw an ape turning into a man,” he reasoned publicly. “No books we have read or the tales told to us by our grandparents had such a mention.”
“The fact that we now have a whole separate Ministry of AYUSH [Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy], outside of the Ministry of Health, to focus on alternative or ancient science is concerning,” Shaikh said. “A lot of times many of these medicines are not being tested properly, and are marketed as ‘ancient science’ and assume that our ancestors must have established its efficacy.
Sule, meanwhile, is preparing a petition to fight against the introduction of a new engineering textbook that endorses the notion of pre-20th-century Indian aircraft, among other claims — including that batteries and electricity were common in ancient India. “There are people close to the current government who feel that the present curriculum for science and history is too Western-centric, and they have to take drastic measures to swing it to other extreme,” Sule said. “It is important for us to stand against any revisions which get introduced without due academic deliberations,” he said, adding that it can “brainwash a generation.”
https://undark.org/article/indian-scient...doscience/
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
