| Description |
1 online resource (x, 243 pages) |
| Physical Medium |
polychrome |
| Description |
text file |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
Preface -- Introduction. Paranoid-style politics -- Updating Hofstadter's theory -- The paranoid style in American evangelicalism -- The Christan Right within the American evangelical elite -- The Christian Right's paranoid science agenda -- The Christian Right's war on reality -- 1. Fear of a Darwinist Culture : The Intelligent Design Movement. Protestantism and Enlightenment "faith" in science -- Intelligent design takes flight -- Phillip E. Johnson's paranoid vision. Stage 1 : Laying the foundation ; Stage 2 : A fully paranoid worldview ; Stage 3 : Reaching new audiences ; Stage 4 : Twenty-first-century optimism ; Stage 5 : Intelligent design in the post-9/11 era ; Stage 6 : Engaging the new atheism ; Conclusion : Intelligent design's paranoid foundation -- Reaching for scientific credibility -- Intelligent design on a cosmic scale -- Intelligent design and its critics -- Intelligent design's atheist "frenemies" -- The Dover Trial -- Intelligent design goes Hollywood -- The continued battle over public school curricula -- Intelligent design's identity crisis. Division of labor ; Discursive tacking ; Distinguishing between supposed primary and secondary missions ; Conclusion : Even worse than a Trojan Horse -- Reality check : How secular is the academy? -- Unmasking "theistic realism" -- Fair-weather postmodernists -- Conclusion -- 2. Sex, Sin, and Science : The Persistence of the Ex-Gay Movement. Psychiatry and homosexuality -- The formation of NARTH -- Ex-gay ministries -- The evangelical embrace of "change" -- The ex-gay literature : Religious and scientific arguments. Countering the use of science by Christians who affirm homosexuality ; The Bible as a source of data on sexuality ; Scientific proof that homosexuality is contrary to God's will ; Rejecting mainstream psychiatry and psychology -- The ex-gay movement's identity dilemma. Division of labor ; Distinguishing between supposed primary and secondary missions -- Managing failure -- Selective skepticism of psychological theories -- Creationist assumptions -- Lies, damn lies, and statistics -- Conclusion -- 3. "Our Way or a Brave New World" : Christian Right Bioethics. Stem cell research : Basic issues -- From abortion to embryonic stem cells -- Arguments against embryonic stem cell research and cloning -- The dangers of eugenics and transhumanism -- Euthanasia's slippery slope -- Why the slippery slope is slippery logic -- Is Oregon the new Netherlands? And is the Netherlands as bad as the Christian Right claims? -- Moral hypocrisy -- Conclusion -- 4. Seeing Red Over Green Evangelicals : The Crusade Against Environmentalism. American evangelics and the environment in the twentieth century -- The battle for the evangelical center -- Explaining the evangelical climate change fault line -- The Cornwall Alliance : Core beliefs before the Green Dragon. Dominion theology ; God designed and sustains the Earth ; Fighting climate change will hurt the poor ; Climate change skepticism -- The Cornucopian connection -- Enter the Green Dragon -- Assessing the evangelical rank and file -- The impossible defense of dominion theology -- Still more fair-weather postmodernists -- Beisner's "total" fabrication -- Conclusion -- Conclusion. The Purpose-Driven Life of unreality -- The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind revisited -- Looking forward -- Notes -- References -- Index -- About the Author. |
| Summary |
Explores the Christian Right's fierce opposition to science, explaining how and why its leaders came to see scientific truths as their enemy. For decades, the Christian Right's high-profile clashes with science have made national headlines. From attempts to ban the teaching of evolution in public schools to climate change denial, efforts to "cure" gay people, and opposition to stem cell research, the Christian Right has battled against science. How did this hostility begin and, more importantly, why has it endured? Antony Alumkal provides a comprehensive background on the war on science--how it developed and why it will continue to endure. Drawing upon Richard Hofstadter's influential 1965 essay "The Paranoid Style in American Politics," Antony Alumkal argues that the Christian Right adopts a similar paranoid style in their approach to science. Alumkal demonstrates that Christian Right leaders see conspiracies within the scientific establishment, with scientists not only peddling fraudulent information, but actively concealing their true motives from the American public and threatening to destroy the moral foundation of society. By rejecting science, Christian Right leaders create their own alternative reality, one that does not challenge their literal reading of the Bible. While Alumkal recognizes the many evangelicals who oppose the Christian Right's agenda, he also highlights the consequences of the war on reality - both for the evangelical community and the broader American public |
| Local Note |
eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America |
| Subject |
Religion and science.
|
|
Religion and science. |
|
Christian conservatism.
|
|
Christian conservatism. |
|
Religious right -- United States -- Attitudes.
|
|
Religious right. |
|
United States. |
|
Modernist-fundamentalist controversy -- Social aspects -- United States.
|
|
Modernist-fundamentalist controversy. |
|
Social aspects. |
|
Conspiracy theories -- United States -- Religious aspects -- Evangelicalism.
|
|
Conspiracy theories. |
|
Evangelicalism. |
|
Creationism -- Social aspects -- United States.
|
|
Intelligent design (Teleology) -- Religious aspects -- Evangelicalism -- United States -- History.
|
|
Intelligent design (Teleology) |
|
History. |
|
Ex-gay movement -- United States -- Religious aspects -- Evangelicalism -- History.
|
|
Ex-gay movement. |
|
Bioethics -- United States -- Religious aspects -- Evangelicalism -- History.
|
|
Bioethics. |
|
Anti-environmentalism -- United States -- Religious aspects -- Evangelicalism -- History.
|
|
Anti-environmentalism. |
|
RELIGION -- Christian Life -- Social Issues. |
|
RELIGION -- Christianity -- General. |
|
Creationism. |
|
RELIGION -- Religion, Politics & State. |
|
Ex-gay movement. |
| Other Form: |
Print version: Alumkal, Antony William, 1969- Paranoid science. New York : NYU Press, 2017 9781479827138 (DLC) 2016047742 (OCoLC)961160480 |
| ISBN |
9781479866250 (electronic book) |
|
1479866253 (electronic book) |
|
9781479827138 (hardcover ; alkaline paper) |
|
1479827134 (hardcover ; alkaline paper) |
|
