The President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinajad has called 9-11 a “big lie” saying among others things that the number of casualties has been exaggerated and never published. Earlier he had denied the Holocaust. In both instances one is amazed by a denial of proven facts, particularly by the head of state of a country with such a rich history. Closer to home, a home school mom in Kentucky discovered that the science texts she ordered disputed Darwin’s evolution. As an individual she wasn’t able to buy textbooks issued by mainstream publishers and had to buy them through the company which caters mainly to home-schoolers who are usually Christian. While Christian activists have and are contesting evolution, the accepted view of creation in scientific circles is based on Darwinian evolution.
We now live in a world where one’s opinions and ideology can be promulgated often with greater ease than the facts that would refute them. It is no longer something only rogue leaders spout nor something fundamentalists espouse. Bending or inventing facts to suit one’s own agenda seems to be used by anyone wanting to make their point of view prevail. That places upon us a greater onus to be aware that facts do matter and cannot be misused, and an even greater responsibility to discover what those facts are.