How religion turned American politics against science | Kurt Andersen | Big Think

How religion turned American politics against science New videos DAILY: Join Big Think Edge for exclusive video lessons from top thinkers and doers: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the last 30 years religion has radicalized American politics and seriously harmed the perception of science, says journalist and author Kurt Andersen. This can be directly tied to the rise of the Christian Right in the 20th century. To see this, you only have to look at the response to the same question posed to Republican presidential candidates over three election cycles, from 2008 to 2016: “Do you believe in Darwinian biological evolution?“ In 2008, the majority answered yes. In 2012, there were notably less. In 2016? There was only one of 17 candidates who said he did—Jeb Bush, and even he began to backpedal as he answered. “I don’t believe all those people believed what they said,“ says Andersen, "