And Another Thing

28 February 2009

What the temptations on the high mountain mean today

That is the temptation we are now offered. Science in all its totalitarian dogmatism, or nothing. An exclusively materialist approach to life and living. Not merely an extrusion of the spiritual but a formal denial of the existence of God, and of anything which contradicts or simply just adds to what the current scientific establishment tells us. The temptation to bow before scientism is given an extra edge by the current deification of Darwin, who finds himself, poor fellow, in the role of the anti-Christ, with his natural selection as an alternative to Christianity. Some people might argue that the survival of the fittest is a sound principle. Indeed that was the principle underpinning Hitler’s race-theory and other manifestations of social Darwinism. I believe it will lead rapidly and inevitably to the self-destruction of the human race. The crisis in the world economy, and the great war it seems likely to promote, make all these issues highly topical.

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Roderick Reilly

March 2nd, 2009 10:17pm Report this comment

Dear Sir:

I have no idea what a "quango" is, but I definitely want no part of one. I imagine that on our side of the Great Pond, our new Presdent Mugab -- er -- Obama will wish to infest us with a plague of these quangos, which I am sure are very expensive, as he has signed the largest series of spending measures in human history.

Roderick Reilly

March 2nd, 2009 10:23pm Report this comment

Oh my, upon checking the definition of "quangos," I see that we Americans have plenty of these already. Now we shall have more. Oh joy.

It appears that at least two of our American quangos are at the heart of the financial meltdown. Hmmmm . . . a quango quagmire as it were.

Jamie Jacobs

March 4th, 2009 4:18am Report this comment

I wonder if Mr. Johnson would care to critique Andrew J. Bacevich's new book "The Limits of Power; The End of American Exceptionalism." It might make a great column.

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