Historians of the American experience have spilled oceans of ink attempting to explain the heart and soul of the country, and the attempts to do so will never cease. Part of the explanation for this quest is that social and cultural development is not stagnant, and succeeding generations of scholars and activists are motivated by …

Psychologist Robert Abelson writes that the relationship we have with our beliefs shares properties of our association with physical possessions. We may hear “come to a conclusion,” “hold an idea,” “inherit” or “acquire a belief,” “attack” or “defend a point of view,” and so on.1 And, like it happens with other things that we own, …

Jennifer and Jason Reinoehl of Granger, Indiana, tried to bring about a modern version of the Scopes Trial. In 2023, the couple filed suit claiming that the teaching of evolution by their local public school in Mishawaka, Indiana, is the equivalent of teaching atheism.  According to their federal court complaint, teaching evolution to their five …

In today’s massively connected world, crackpot theories, commercial scams, and all sorts of propaganda can thrive as never before. On a daily basis, it’s hard to dig out the truth about almost any issue that’s in the news. Outright science denial shows up most prominently on the political Right, as with anti-vaccination propaganda and extreme …