Good to see that NASA Administrator Charles Bolder has his priorities in order.
Bolden created a firestorm after telling Al Jazeera last month that President Obama told him before he took the job that he wanted him to do three things: inspire children to learn math and science, expand international relationships and “perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science … and math and engineering.”
When you have to go back at least 600 years and primarily to the period between the 7th and 13th centuries for self-esteem you know something is wrong. Yeah self-esteem outreach will really work to overcome the fact that a country like Israel releases more patents in a year than all of the Arab world. Though the Islamic world could return to their heyday. All they have to do is copy the past and conquer countries with more scientific advancement and then take advantage of that until Islamic philosophy causes the same stagnation as before. Not surprising that some of the great figures of that so-called golden age were not exactly what you would call great Muslims believers. The late Fr. Jaki in his great book “Science & Creation, from eternal cycles to an oscillating universe.” goes into depth why science did not develop outside of Western Civilization and included a chapter on why Islamic philosophy itself prevented the scientific method from developing in Islamic culture. Pope Benedict’s famous Regensburg address included one of these reasons is the belief that God’s absolute transcendence understood in an extreme way leads to an idea that the laws of science could change because God is not bound to them.
But then again look how well concentrating on self-esteem worked out in our public educational system – oh wait. Yeah reminding the Arab world that they haven’t contributed hardly anything to science in 600 years is a great idea and one I am sure they will take well.
In other news:
Suspected Islamic militants have chopped off a Catholic professor’s hand in Kerala for allegedly insulting Islam in an exam question paper.
Professor T.J. Joseph was attacked on July 4 in while returning home from Sunday mass with his mother and sister, a Catholic nun.
Kochi inspector-general of police, B. Sandya, told ucanews.com that an Islamic extremist group is suspected of the crime and have arrested four people and impounded a vehicle. [Via Jay Anderson]
We need to get those suspected Islamic Terrorists some self-esteem stat!
Joseph was arrested in April last after the question paper set by him for the B Com II year internal exams sparked protests by Muslim outfits, which claimed it had hurt their religious sentiments. He was later suspended from the college and was out on bail when attacked.
5 comments
Is this is ploy to get us to cozy up to Muslims so that we would put our guard down and ignore that they’re out to get infidels once they’re in-charge? We see that around the world today http://divine-ripples.blogspot.com/2010/07/islam-in-secular-vs-religious-state.html
“Not surprising that some of the great figures of that so-called golden age were not exactly what you would call great Muslims believers. The late Fr. Jaki in his great book ‘Science & Creation, from eternal cycles to an oscillating universe.’ goes into depth why science did not develop outside of Western Civilization and included a chapter on why Islamic philosophy itself prevented the scientific method from developing in Islamic culture.”
Yeah, what the modern “historians” overlook, when they state that “science” developed in the Islamic world while it stagnated in the Christian world during the medieval period, is that Islam conquered most of the intellectual centers of the Christian world (the entire southern and eastern half of Christendom), and that in the north there was constant threat of barbarian invasion after the fall of the Roman empire. In spite of all this, learning in general and science in particular still managed to progress, albeit slowly, in that part of the world which remained under Christian (sometimes nominally only) control.
Uh, excuse me? We are talking about NASA–the National Aeronautical and Space Agency. *headdesk*
I wish I could say I was surprised. Frankly, the goal of NASA for a long time has had less to do with space exploration than making “good” politics and generating jobs. This is why civilian space agencies are going to get us on the moon or Mars or wherever space is viable.
BTW, is there any chance you can make it to the Catholic Writers Conference Online Aug 4-6? It’s in King of Prussia, PA, and it’s going to be great! http://www.catholicswritersconference.com. I’m hosting the panel on making the most of your blog and would love to have you on it.
Blessings,
Karina
They put moons on their flags. We put flags on the moon.
Sorry for responding to this late.
While I wholeheartedly agree that NASA’s mission doesn’t entail outreach to a *specific* group of people–though it most certainly does entail contributions too outreach and education efforts–I would like to state a disagreement on several points, not the least of which is the need for scientific collaboration with the Middle East and in particular with the Muslim world.
There are beliefs within Islam that encourage scientific investigation, just as there are within Christianity. Though Arab and Persian contributions to astronomy during the “Dark Ages” were built upon those of Classical civilizations it is important to remember both the contributions of astronomy of pre-Islamic Middle Eastern civilizations (Egypt, Babylonian, ect.) and also the vital role that Muslim astronomers and mathematicians had in studying, transcribing, and writing commentaries on classical astronomy. Their works, which made it to Europe during the Crusades and via trade, played a role in the rise of science in Europe. During the 7th-13th centuries, the Middle East had something which was lacked in Europe, prosperous cities and in some places peace. Thus cities like Baghdad become great centers of learning. Unfortunately that has been long lost, but if Islam coexisted with science then, it can coexist now. Let’s not let current situations diminish the accomplishments of those in the past. If we want to win hearts, we must respect–not agree with the wrong of course but certainly respect.
Second, engaging the Islamic world in science is vital, for the very reasons you cite. We must remember the liberalizing force (in the good sense of liberalizing, not in the 21st century US political sense) of science. The scientific revolution in Europe coincided with the return and rise of Democracy. Currently the great problem in the Middle East is not particularly Islam but the radicalization and politicization of Islam. Just as many centuries ago, there were instances when Christianity was distorted and abused by leaders for political power in a most abhorrent manner, so the same is happening in the Middle East. Science is a common language, a vital link to modernization and the improvement of the quality of life. If we seek stability in the world and care for the people of the Middle East, we will seek to establish scientific infrastructure. Indeed, I would say that collaborations between Israel and its neighbors should be a goal in international discussions. I want to emphasize that I do not think science can solve every problem, nor make it into a sort of savior for the modern world. Science alone cannot bring peace, not at all–what is needed is a full picture of truth, only part of which science investigates. However I do know that by working with the more moderate Middle Eastern countries and encouraging them to establish scientific research centers, we will be planting the seeds of change which in several generations will bear fruit.