Knowledge Is Power

I have to admit, few things bother me as much as willful ignorance. I don’t mean lack of knowledge; that’s completely understandable. It’s impossible to know everything about everything, and it would be ridiculous to claim otherwise. What sets my teeth on edge is not just a lack of interest in learning, but an actual hostility to the learning process. If there is something I don’t understand, I try to research what I can to gain knowledge. I will never understand those who wish to remain in the dark about certain things. Recently I’ve noted a couple of instances of this in the news pertaining to religion, and it troubles me more than a little.

Both the cases I’m referencing involve the Islamic faith. Recently I read a story, from several sources, indicating the Tennessee state legislature had introduced a bill to scuttle religious education in public schools. According to the sources I saw, the specific objection was regarding the discussion of Islam as one of the religions. I can only assume the objection had to do with the mere discussion of Islam. Another story I heard about dealt with a school in Boston which, in the process of teaching a religion unit, took students on a field trip to a mosque. This caused much consternation and more than a little condemnation. I find these stories quite sobering. I have always believed that knowledge is power, and that would seem to apply in these cases. Perhaps if society in general could actually get some actual, fact-based knowledge about the Islamic faith, some actual understanding might result. At the very least, maybe some would stop believing that everyone who looks and talks like they might be from the Middle East is a potential member of ISIS who wants nothing more than to blow us to Kingdom Come. Regardless, I fear that willful ignorance will continue to prevail, and in that case we all wind up losers. I hope I’m wrong, but sadly experience and observation tell me I’m not.