Monkey Girl: Evolution, Education, Religion, and the Battle for America's Soul
by Edward Humes
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Book Summary Information
Author: Edward HumesEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-03-01
ISBN: 0060885491
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Book Reviews of Monkey Girl: Evolution, Education, Religion, and the Battle for America's Soul
Book Review: A sympathetic look at an American farce.
Summary: 5 Stars
There has been a spate of books decrying religion in the past few years, each having their own merits. Most, such as those by Dawkins and Hitchens, attack the justification of religious claims. They also go on to suggest that religion is a bane to both morality and rationality. This is almost certainly true.
However, what is frequently lacking in these works is an overview of the beliefs held by the religious man-in-the-street. In Edward Humes' beautifully written book, he covers the recent Intelligent Design court case in Dover, Pennsylvania, where he gives us an insight into the machinations of their elected school board officials - they firmly believe in God and yet have little or no idea about evolution and its implications. What is perhaps more curious is the fact that they seem to have no genuine interest in ID or creationism either!
It seems that in the USA there are two tiers to religious fundamentalism. There are Republican think-tanks and institutes manoeuvring behind the scenes for a return to "Christian values" and there are the church goers who swallow their rhetoric without thought or criticism: Biblical literalism = good, Darwinism = bad. Humes documents the Dover school board's attempts to press ahead with their plan to "teach the controversy" despite it being obviously contrary to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and despite their almost complete ignorance of the arguments for or against ID. Anyone against them is branded an atheist (yes, it's meant as an insult) or in one case, as the title of the book suggests, one child at the school is labelled a "monkey girl". Oddly, I do not recall anyone mentioned in the book actually claiming to be an atheist - the drama plays out entirely between the fundamentalists and the moderate Christians.
As you may know, the moderates gain a (hopefully) decisive victory, but the book shows how little the eventually ousted school board members have learned from this sad episode. After being branded liars by the judge, after having their ignorance and bigotry displayed in public, their heads are unbowed because God is on their side and therefore their agenda remains unchanged.
If you want to understand the deeply held feelings of the USA's ever expanding bible belt, this book will open your eyes. American Christian Fundamentalism - coming soon to a country near you.
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