Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Here is an interesting statistic from the print edition of National Review for August 23:
As the number of Americans saying they have no religion rises—from 9 percent to 14 percent over [the] last decade—National Opinion Research Center says Protestants are on verge of losing majority status.
I shall refrain from speculating on duke deangelo beuchamplain’s and the monseigneur cuencxote’s thoughts on this statistic.
But speaking of religion and doing violence to the English language, here is Johann Sebastian Kerry again, as quoted in said issue of National Review:
John Kerry asked, “What if we have a president who believes in
science, so we can unleash the wonders of discovery like stem-
cell research to treat illness and save millions of lives?”
Wait a minute—so science is a religion now?
Ok, so I knew that already and am not surprised at the humble faith of its converts. But what really caught my attention was another confusion of means and ends. Apparently, to his mind, stem-cell research itself is a ‘wonder of discovery’—but I thought stem-cell research was purported to be a means to the end of such ‘wondrous discoveries’ as the cures to diseases, etc.
Apparently, the diligent editors of National Review are fellow travelers on this road with me, since they caught Mr. Kerry’s inappropriate use of an adversative. To wit:
“We value an America that controls its own destiny because it’s
finally and forever independent of Mideast oil,” said Kerry.
“What does it mean for our economy and our national security
when we have only 3 percent of the world’s oil reserves, yet we
rely on foreign countries for 53 percent of what we consume?”
What’s that “yet” doing there? Wouldn’t one expect those
numbers to vary inversely? If we had 100 percent of the world’s
oil, we would import none of it, and vice versa.
As the number of Americans saying they have no religion rises—from 9 percent to 14 percent over [the] last decade—National Opinion Research Center says Protestants are on verge of losing majority status.
I shall refrain from speculating on duke deangelo beuchamplain’s and the monseigneur cuencxote’s thoughts on this statistic.
But speaking of religion and doing violence to the English language, here is Johann Sebastian Kerry again, as quoted in said issue of National Review:
John Kerry asked, “What if we have a president who believes in
science, so we can unleash the wonders of discovery like stem-
cell research to treat illness and save millions of lives?”
Wait a minute—so science is a religion now?
Ok, so I knew that already and am not surprised at the humble faith of its converts. But what really caught my attention was another confusion of means and ends. Apparently, to his mind, stem-cell research itself is a ‘wonder of discovery’—but I thought stem-cell research was purported to be a means to the end of such ‘wondrous discoveries’ as the cures to diseases, etc.
Apparently, the diligent editors of National Review are fellow travelers on this road with me, since they caught Mr. Kerry’s inappropriate use of an adversative. To wit:
“We value an America that controls its own destiny because it’s
finally and forever independent of Mideast oil,” said Kerry.
“What does it mean for our economy and our national security
when we have only 3 percent of the world’s oil reserves, yet we
rely on foreign countries for 53 percent of what we consume?”
What’s that “yet” doing there? Wouldn’t one expect those
numbers to vary inversely? If we had 100 percent of the world’s
oil, we would import none of it, and vice versa.
