"I don't want to be a product of my environment, i want my environment to be a product of me..."
There were several elements that factored into my ultimate choice to attend the University of Minnesota, but by far the most prominent was my desire to "pop my rochester bubble." For those of you who don't know, Rochester is a Minnesota city of about 100,000 nested in the south eastern part of the state, and home of the worldly revered Mayo Clinic. While absolutely delightful to grow up in Rochester it was and remains a conservative Midwestern town filled with immense brainpower and Republicans. I am a proud alumni of Rochester Lourdes, with a graduating class of 142, a Catholic high school where, in the midst of all the right-wing mindedness that is Rochester, Jesus Christ and eagle hockey shared center stage. By no means am i mocking or belittling my faith, rather quite the opposite my experience at Lourdes was absolutely pivotal in shaping the person i've become today (and it is my belief that I turned out alright) however the facts remain. Lourdes, being a Catholic community, I was raised with the principles that the Bible is the Word of God, abortion is murder, and the biological reductionist thinking is a one way ticket to hell. So in accordance with my past Pinker is probably the equivalent of the anti-Christ. (slight exaggeration) Hence, my decision to attend the U of M, in an effort to expose myself to another side of life (and Democrats) while semi-pursuing a degree in some field of social science (as law school looms dauntingly)
Thus, in light of my Catholic background I was very fundamentally disturbed when Steven Pinker in one fell-swoop eliminated culture, politics, and religion. Highlighted by the snide comment, “many people are sorry to ‘lose God.’” For Pinker its all in the genes, dubbing neuroscience as sovereign over all other aspects of life, a principle I have a difficult time wrapping my head around. I feel eliminating environment completely is to be blind to the world around you. Having been born into the heart of the science and medical world, an interesting paradox arises and is played out within my community, God vs science, with parents who by night preach the ways of the Bible and by day tamper with stem-cells in an on going effort to reveal scientific truth. Truth we are, at this time, not capable of understanding in its entirety. Pinker does in a sense encroach on traditional God territory, yet he is forthright, but I no longer know if the same is true for every member of my former world…?
I like your comment about parents preaching the word of God at night and working on stem-cells during the day. It really got me thinking. Also, great comment about eliminating the environment is to become blind to the world around you. Well said.
ReplyDeleteI went to a Catholic school named Benilde-St. Margaret's where they push a strong conservative ideology on everyone from parents to faculty (who are mostly Catholic). I too know all about small school drama. Every little fact was everybody's business and that impacted the culture of the school very much so. The school even hired a drug dog to inspect the school randomly.
I took the class Church history and it was very frustrating to let my teacher cram themes from the bible down my throat but that is what I signed up for going there.
All though I am not Catholic I did learn a lot about the religion when I was there. All though I don't miss bible studies, I do miss the collective energy felt when walking into a school mass.
Even though I love reading about the advances in science every week in the paper and on the internet, I also enjoy reading and learning about religion and spirituality. To me it's not God vs. science, it's accepting the best of both worlds.
There will never be a break through in science that makes most religious people stop practicing. Faith is that strong. Just look at the Jihad or a movie like Jesus Camp.
My question for you is, will there be a time when humans can completely understand scientific truth?