An Inconvenient Truth Banned

By Carl Golden

I can't say that I was shocked when I heard the news that Al Gore's documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, has been banned from classrooms in Federal Way, WA, because the Hardisons -- a couple of misguided fundamentalist Christian parents -- do not want their daughter exposed to Mr. Gore's troublesome message. After all, the literalist tradition of American Christian fundamentalism is notorious for cultivating small-minded, ignorant people who have made it thier business to pull the nation back into the Dark Ages. God forbid that this world-class documentary may actually cause the young Miss Hardison to think. What a travesty that would be. No, I am not shocked, but I am irritated and disturbed.

The irritation arises from the fundamentalist Christian couple, Frosty and Gayla Hardison, who made the original complaint via e-mail to the school. They have no business complaining about Mr. Gore's film and the facts about Global Warming that it presents because they do not know what they are talking about. In fact, they have made a point of not knowing. They have trussed up ignorance with religious clothing and made an idol of it. So, why should we take anything they have to say on the subject seriously? If they want to criticize the message of An Inconvenient Truth and the science behind the message, then they should first do their home work. They should ask questions, study the facts, and seek understanding about the phenomenon with an open mind. This is what reasonable people do.

Of course, there is the catch -- the Hardisons and most fundamentalist Christians have neither open minds nor are they reasonable. Having grown up in America, I am all too familiar with the Hardison's brand of religious lunacy. Fundamentalist Christians are infamous for attacking reason, reasonable principles, reasonable people, reasonable institutions, and reasonable causes. The Hardison's misguided crusade is just another irritating attack in the same vein. Fortunately, for them (and unfortunately for us), they are American citizens whose right to free speech is inalienable. So be it. I would not have it any other way. They are free to speak their minds (deluded as they are). Usually, such nonsense is ignored by our society -- no harm, no foul.

However, the exclusion of Mr. Gore's film from a public school district is more than just another testament to the droning idiocy of America's religious right. It is a failure of a public institution to protect the public from unreasonable people making unreasonable demands. It is one thing to tolerate the fundamentalist Christians; it is another to accommodate their wishes to the detriment of the public, especially when the subject matter is as important as global climate change.

I am disturbed that the Federal Way School Board and David Larson, a lawyer and school board member, decided to promote the ban last Tuesday night, claiming that the documentary should have been presented with an opposing view that would have provided balance to Al Gore's message. I am alarmed that on the heels of the ban, school board members adopted a three-point policy, which requires, among other things, that teachers who show the movie must present a credible and legitimate view that opposes the perspective of Global Warming. Apparently, Mr. Gore's bonafide facts about the increase in carbon-based gasses in our atmosphere and the corresponding increase in average global temperatures, which are well documented and researched climatic phenomena, should be countered with other facts. What other facts? The problem with this policy is that there are no credible and legitimate facts that oppose the scientifically founded view of Global Warming, and the idea of presenting a biblically-based counter argument as suggested by Mr. Hardison, who believes that the Earth is 14,000 years old and that in the end times everything is supposed to burn up because the Bible says so, is just absurd.

It is worse than absurd because requiring students to listen to ridiculous "Book of Revelations"-based arguments in a serious venue will cause some confusion and a general erosion of respect for teachers, as well as academic and religious institutions amongst the student population. (Of course, we already have a problem with respect in our nation's schools, so this may be a moot point.)

By accommodating and institutionalizing the Hardison's irrational complaint, Mr. Larson legitimized it. What was he thinking? It is one thing to give the Hardisons a tolerant ear out of respect for their parental concern and constitutional rights, but it is quite another to institutionalize a district wide ban because the Hardisons have a problem with exposing their child to the truth. Evidently, Mr. Larson is misguided too, and he has no place on a school board, except for sitting in the corner reserved for dunces. His decision blasted another hole in the United States' weakening cultural dike that is holding back an ugly deluge of religious, social, and intellectual ignorance and intolerance.

Fortunately, most Americans are not fundamentalist Christians, but the ranks of fundamentalists are growing in number and influence. This is not good news. Think about the sacking and burning of the great Library of Alexandria, the Dark Ages, the Salem Witch Trials, Hitler's Third Reich, or the McCarthy Era. America is great because we built our society upon rational principles of human enlightenment, and we defended our society from both external and internal threats to our intellectual and religious freedom. Our public institutions are the fundamental bulwark to these threats, and we are greatly dependent upon them to maintain and protect our moral and intellectual integrity. What is happening in the schools of Federal Way, WA, is just wrong and un-American. The members of the Federal Way School Board need to do right by Americans, not American fundamentalists. Rescind the ban.