Tom McDonald on the Dishonesty of the New “Cosmos” series

Last updated on: December 29, 2014 at 2:10 am by Mark Shea

Tom McDonald on the Dishonesty of the New “Cosmos” series 2014-12-29T02:10:38-07:00 Mark Shea

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The man is right, of course. Plus, he works in a Star Trek ref, so Shea approves.

It’s funny. The original Cosmos perpetuated the myth of the Christian destruction of the Library at Alexandria because Sagan, as a historian, was a good science popularizer, but a lousy historian. Apparently the creators of the reboot had that pointed out to them. But in obedience to some unspoken convention in the pop sci subculture, they felt they needed *some* kind of “War on Science by Evil Catholics” creation myth. So we get the new myth that Bruno (a purveyor of mystic woo woo of the highest order) was a “martyr to science” from the Evil Science-Hating Church of Science Hatred.

And, by the way, why does no one ever stop to ask where Bruno got his copy of Lucretius. Hint: it was not from the public library.

My hope is that having chanted its creation myth, the makers of Cosmos will get on with actually talking good science instead of crap history.

Oh. And let’s dispose of a big fat red herring: The question at issue is not “Were medievals and Renaissance types wrong to kill people they regarded as guilty of thoughtcrime?” If it comes to that, so are a lot of moderns, including atheists (we will glide over the unfortunate Himalaya range of 20th century corpses killed for thoughtcrime that dwarfs the piddling body count of the medievald Renaissance world). If you want to talk about whether it was wrong to burn a quack like Bruno, I’m happy to agree with you since I reject the death penalty.

But:

1) I’m also enough of a grown up to realize you judge people by the standards of their time and culture, not by your provincial suburban conviction that you are the measure of all things; and

2) Cosmos is supposed to be a show about the history of science, not about medieval standards of justice. So the *only* questtion that should be at issue here is whether Bruno was persecuted *for science*. He was not. If they want to make a show about how mean and crude medievals were in comparison to our enlightened culture that rips babies limb from limb, turns veterans out to freeze to death in the snow, incinerates entire cities, and racks up a body count in excess of 100 million human sacrifices to atheistic communism, they certainly can. But that’s not what Cosmos is supposed to be.

Uncategorized

Atheist Creation Myths

Previous Post

March 11, 2014

Prayer Requests

Next Post

March 12, 2014 Professional Pro-Aborts are Incredibly Creepy

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 September 2006 June 2006 July 2005 April 2005 May 2002 April 2002 0000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz