The Truth About Belly Buttons

Could we Americans really be that uninformed? Of course the logical question then becomes compared with whom? And, uninformed about what? I first wrote an article on this back in 2005, the really “dark” days.

In 2005 I came across an article in the Kansas City Star that reported that many scientific researchers felt assaulted by various groups and individuals, regarding such topics as stem cell research, evolution, global warming, genetics, and a host of scientific activities. In 2008 we well know that researchers had every reason to feel "assaulted."

History, however, has demonstrated that scientific thinking has always held on by the slimmest of threads. Brief periods have shined with critical thought, facilitated new inquiries, and encouraged learning as an end in itself.

A few examples would include Greece in the 4th and 5th century B.C., the approximately 400 years that the Arab world and Baghdad were the center of learning (coming to an end by the middle of the 13th century), and Europe in the 18th century, the period known as the Enlightenment.

Scientific thinking is analytic and objective. Above all, it's frequently difficult. On the other hand, revelation, the prophetic voice, and a belief in the "rightness" of ones own words and thoughts are much easier and requires little or no training. It's subjective and does not require that the views of others need to be considered. Science, at its best, does respect thoughtful, diverse opinions.

Back in 2005 a number of polls and surveys pointed out that Americans were remarkably ignorant when it came to basic knowledge, at least compared with residents of other "developed" countries. Two Gallup polls stated that nearly 50 percent of those polled did not believe in the theory of evolution or didn’t know what it was. The percentage in Europe and Japan was under 30 percent.

A National Geographic survey published in 2003 pointed out that only 17 percent of those Americans surveyed could locate the country of Afghanistan on a map. This survey was done after U.S. soldiers had been there close to a year, some of whom were killed in combat.

Do you remember the Time-Life books, the series about Ancient Rome, the Middle Ages, the Age of Reason, and so forth? While looking up some information (in 2005) about Greece in the fifth century, I compared the book published in 1965 and the one published in 1997.

In the 1997 edition I was told that "Zeus was the all-important god of the sky and weather." In the 1965 edition I learned that "at the center of the Greek outlook lay an unshakable belief in the worth of the individual man." The 1997 version might have been written for the average eighth grader. The 1965 version was written for literate adults.

Some 83 percent of Americans supposedly believed in the "virgin birth" in 2005, and 68 percent believed in the devil. In 2008 we learned from a Baylor University study that nearly two-thirds of Americans believe they have a guardian angel—a real one.

Our knowledge of world history, as well as our own history, was and is at best pathetic. American high school students consistently perform poorly on math and science tests compared with the rest of the world.

Anti-intellectualism has been a recurrent theme throughout the history of the United States, but it seems noticeably virulent in America today. Remember when the President, claimed publicly he didn’t read newspapers. His wife later said that he did read newspapers. Perhaps political success, more and more in the U.S., necessitates the increasing need to pander to the uninformed.

Politicians at all levels still sneer at "those self-appointed intellectuals." The former chairman of the U.S. Senate's Environmental and Public Works Committee (James Inhofe) once said that global warming was the "greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people." The voters of Oklahoma apparently still like Senator Inhofe regardless of his ignorance. Maybe he’s got “good” earmarks.

Ah well, as always, in the final analysis what is the important question? Did Adam and Eve have navels--belly buttons? Martin Gardner, writer and debunker of nonsense science, suggests this is not a "trivial" question. If these two poster children of creationism didn't have navels, they couldn't have been perfect human beings. But if they did in fact have navels, well, would this suggest a birth they supposedly never experienced. Weighty matters to be considered.

This topic has been debated ever since the Book of Genesis was written. Ponderous treatises have been published over the centuries arguing for or against belly buttons. Paintings from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance show "with and without." In one form or another we are still debating these questions in the twenty-first century.

Scientists believe the average vertebrate species exists for 2 to 5 million years. Homo sapiens have only been around some 200,000 years. It seems inconceivable that we'll ever approach the two million milestone. I suspect that as long as we're infatuated with our own self-importance on the planet, magic in its various forms will hold sway for most of us.

We'll likely destroy ourselves before long, in geologic time--I hope, but we can wish that evolution in its serendipitous way will come up with something better to replace us on planet earth. In the meantime be happy, have some fun ... and fervently hope the spark of scientific inquiry remains alive somewhere. I've got an appointment with my urine therapist. To be updated in 2012.