Antiscience Beliefs Jeopardize U.S. Democracy
For Scientific American, Shawn Lawrence Otto investigates the roots of the “antiscience” movement in American politics. Otto finds that religious fundamentalism in the mid-19th century played a significant role in this process of scientific “denialism.” In the 20th century, just as science’s public presence was beginning to decline in the 1940s, “the voice of religious fundamentalism was resurging,” Otto notes.