Found
this editorial article interesting. An excerpt:
"These past seven years might be termed a Galileo moment—a hopefully brief interlude in which the priorities of leaders shifted from a respect for science and facts (convenient or inconvenient) to one in which science was ignored—or denied—if it interfered with policies, politics, or ideology.
A similar situation occurred in 17th-century Italy. Galileo Galilei‘s support of a heliocentric universe, as proposed by Nicolas Copernicus, ran afoul of the Roman Catholic Church. Earlier, during the Renaissance, the church had embraced scientific discovery but had then returned to strict interpretations of ideology and dogma as it fought a bitter feud against Protestant reformers.
Church officials declared that the earth is the center of the universe, despite evidence to the contrary—and forced Galileo to recant his views under threat of torture.
The papacy's denial of science caused technological development in Southern Europe to languish while momentum for progress grew in the north and west."
The above may be an extreme comparison - I hope so. No matter your views on (embryonic) stem cell research, reducing funding for such basics as the FDA puts many people at risk. Time for someone who isn't scared of science to occupy the top position in the executive branch and actually lead this country and encourage, in turn, our country to lead the world instead of lag behind. We still have to wait almost a year to find out who that will be...
