don's report archive

by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.

Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

An important element of REAL wellness, the kind that embraces not just good health habits founded on the basics of vigorous exercise, sound diet, stress management and the like but an embrace of reason, exuberance and liberty, is evidence-based decision making. REAL wellness by any name is a mindset, an outlook that respects science as the best way to understand the world we live in and how things work.

As a wellness enthusiast of this ilk, it's likely that if your children returned from summer camp professing a newfound enthusiasm for witchcraft, sorcery, astrology or evil tooth fairies - or benevolent tooth fairies for that matter, just to pull a few bizarre examples out of my proverbial hat, you would not be happy about it. Isn't this true? Chances are, you wouldn't recommend such a camp to others. You certainly would not return Junior or Missy to that camp next summer. Yet, not only do most Americans stand by while their children are exposed to equally bizarre myths day in and day out, summer/spring/winter and fall - they themselves promote such beliefs. Most parents in America do this with their children from infancy to adulthood, and then continue the process by encouraging their grownup children to follow the same tradition with THEIR children -- and so it goes, generation after generation. Eventually, the strangest beliefs are established and taken literally, as biblical truths, so to speak.

Well, not SO to speak. TO speak.

Yes, Americans teach their children to believe fantastical things that defy nature, science and common sense. To appreciate how bizarre some of these things are, imagine if someone were to make the following claims: 

1. That George Washington rose from the dead or will someday, when he feels like it.
   
   
2. That someone (other than a skilled and sober wild animal trainer with a big whip and a trained, cowed menagerie) could walk into the cage of a fully-grown lion and not be torn to pieces.
   
   
3. That Pat Robertson can not only divert a hurricane (with prayer, as he once claimed) but could, if he wanted to, part the waters of the Potomac and walk on land from the Lincoln Memorial to Arlington National Cemetery.
   
   
4. That a fourth-grade student, pitted against a well-armed, highly decorated American commando on an open field could, armed only with a slingshot and stones, whup the butt of a trained Special Forces Commando.
   
   
5. That I, Donald B. Ardell, recently walked a mile on the water rather than swimming in it en route to winning my division in a triathlon. 
   
   
6. That the landmass of the seven continents, and the oceans, were created out of absolutely nothing by a god who somehow existed, even though nothing else did. Oh, and not just the land and sea on earth. Mars, too, and all the other planets AND all the suns in our solar system, and everything else throughout our entire Milky Way Galaxy, too -- and all the other galaxies, as well. All billions and billions and billions of them - and Carl Sagan and everyone else. Oh, one more thing - the god did all this in six days. 

Americans overwhelmingly teach their children to believe these things, with slight variations. Instead of the characters I mentioned in the first five examples, other characters who lived a few thousand or so years ago are featured. The sixth example is not changed at all - this is the most popular creation myth handed down through the ages.

These beliefs are imbedded in children, who promote the same tales to their children. This has been going on for thousands of years. It is not a summer camp problem, although such tales are reinforced at summer camps, as well.

I thought about all this the other day when I came across a report based upon a nationwide telephone survey of 1000 adults issued in August 2007 by a religious organization, "The Barna Group." In promotional material about the survey, Barna states that it "conducts research and produces information for the media pertaining to spiritual development and facilitates the healthy spiritual growth of leaders, children, families and Christian ministries." This does not sound like an impartial scientific research organization. It seems to me that the Barna folks have a bit of a vested interest in promoting the Christian faith. Call me a skeptic, but I have to wonder how impartial Barna might be with the data it gathers.

In any event, there is surely enough validity in the findings Barna released to warrant dismay with the rational faculties of most Americans and the extent to which most are committed to REAL wellness, as defined above. On the contrary, where fairy tales are concerned, genuine lunacy reigns. If teaching kids to believe such tales isn't a form of mental child abuse, well, it seems to come close, in my view.

According to Barna, six well-known Bible stories are accepted as literal truth by two out of three adults. Here are excerpts from the Barna telephone survey -- believe it or not, I am not making this up.

• The account of the prophet Daniel surviving in the lion's den is deemed to be literally true by two-thirds of adults (65%). 
• Two out of three Americans (64%) believe that Moses literally parted the Red Sea to allow the Israelites to escape from the Egyptians.  
• Nearly two-thirds of Americans (63%) believe the young shepherd boy, David, killed the giant warrior, Goliath, with stones and a slingshot.
• The tale of the apostle Peter walking on water with Jesus? Not less than 60% of adults buy that one.  
• Sixty percent also accept as literally true the Bible description of God creating the universe in six days.
• Three out of four adults literally interpret the story of Jesus Christ rising from the dead, after being crucified and buried. Only one out of five (19%) said they did not take that story literally. The more highly educated respondents were, the less likely they were to take the story literally, although even two-thirds of college graduates (68%) believe the resurrection narrative is literally true.

There were differences in percentages who believed one story or another depending not only on educational levels, but also in accord with ethnicity, political inclinations, regions of the country and so on. Just the same, the overall percentages of Americans who believe the above stories holds steady, as described.

How did the impartial Barna scientific investigators view the results? Here are excerpts from the report entitled "Americans Continue to Wrestle with Truth."

"The survey findings suggest that Americans are continuing to wrestle with the concept of truth, the nature of God and the value of the Bible in personal decision-making... Not only do most Americans believe in the existence of God, but they believe in His power and in the miracles He performs. Holding back the seas, walking on water, rising from the dead, surviving in a lion cage, and killing a skilled and armed warrior with a sling shot are examples of God doing extraordinary things in the lives of ordinary people. These and other Bible stories inspire people to believe that their personal trust in that powerful God is warranted. Although some people may dismiss such writings as fairy tales for children, the data indicate that the typical American has adopted these accounts as the foundation of a valued faith in God."

Not satisfied with these results? Well, take comfort - neither is Barna. Their leader notes, "... people harbor a stubborn indifference toward God and His desire to have intimacy with them. In fact, a minority of the people who believe these stories to be true consistently apply the principles imbedded in these stories within their own lives. It seems that millions of Americans believe the Bible content is true, but are not willing to translate those stories into action. Sadly, for many people, the Bible has become a respected but impersonal religious history lesson that stays removed from their life."

Well, it's interesting that there are a few stubborn fellow Americans still out there. Personally, if insisting upon reason as a guide for choices about with whom one will have intimacy is being stubborn, well, that's a price some of us might choose to pay. It's also interesting to note that many respondents who said they believe these unverifiable Biblical tales don't take them so seriously as to apply them. In fact, that's a very good thing, since it seems a bit harsh to kill people for working on Sunday (Exodus 31:13), for cursing their parents (Exodus 21:17) or for committing adultery  (Leviticus 20:10).

Richard Dawkins has noted that Christianity (and Islam) teaches children that unquestioned faith is a virtue. How else can you get adults to believe these kinds of stories but to inculcate such tales into impressionable, intellectually defenseless children throughout their formative years on a near-daily basis?

Imagine trying to persuade an adult to believe any one of these bizarre stories, if he or she had not been conditioned for a lifetime to accept fantastical propositions as sacred truths, stories to be taken on faith. The accounts would be rejected as preposterous and the teller subjected to ridicule.

But, religion gets away with it because nearly everyone in America is prepped, extensively and exhaustively, to believe -- and parents who themselves were propagandized to believe such things foist it all upon their children. As Dawkins noted, "You don't have to make the case for what you believe. If somebody announces that it is part of his faith, the rest of society, whether of the same faith, or another, or of none, is obliged, by ingrained custom, to 'respect' it without question."

Americans might not actually believe these stories (and the lessons they teach) to the point of behaving accordingly, but people have been conditioned to say they believe it all, literally. So they tell the nice callers from Barna what they want to hear, and faith goes marching on. Hallelujah.

Be well. Despite the obstacles to REAL wellness, always look on the bright side of life.

(Note: This essay will be filed in the archives in the MEANING DOMAIN under the skill area of applied wellness. Additional articles related to this theme may be found there.)

(Ed. Note: Views expressed in this and other columns are those of the author and not necessarily those of the SeekWellness Editorial Board.)

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