Hi. I'm back, I was away, there was a wedding, it was great, there was no religion in it. Anyway.

EdT, back to your question about Do I think all Americans are biodeniers and ignoramuses (ignorami), no, but I am beginning to notice that all biodeniers and ignorami that are actually high school and sometimes even college graduates, rather than uneducated (say, girls in places where girls aren't allowed to *be* educated) are Americans.

My twins went through public schools here and could have never learned anything and still passed every single grade.

The only reason they know basic science is not they were smart, minimally motivated, but that I jumped in and taught them reality where their school failed (like AP history explaining judaism and islam as beliefs but then claiming christianity as documented history, citing the bible as the documentation, I kid you not) because I went to French schools where you can be assumed to be christian but you certainly still learn biology in science classes, as did the moslems, atheists and animists. Religion was irrelevant although discussed in philosophy class.

I also teach here in the US at the college level and the ignorance of my public-educated student body is appalling. Absolutely bloddy appalling.

*That* is the danger of "respecting" willful ignorance. It is not a danger of faith itself, just the idea that beliefs should be treated as equal to facts. What nonsense. Time to stop it. Seriously.