Predictably, Dinesh D’Souza had to go and comment on the Pew Study on Religion, too. He makes the same point below about people being shallow that I cited in an earlier blog post, but of course he frames his comments in a usual anti-postmodernist screed. He writes:

There are two kinds of pluralism: the kind that holds that truth does not matter, and the kind that holds that truth matters greatly but as flawed human beings our reason and experience gives us only limited access to the truth. The first kind of pluralism is deadly for religion, and is typically embraced by flaccid people who are too lazy to think or who have been seduced by postmodernist flimflam. The second kind of pluralism is the shared ground of debate between intelligent believers and unbelievers. The stakes could not be higher.

This line of thinking is so frustrating. Pluralism, especially religious pluralism, has been a central value in this country long before the French postmodern invasion. Second, just because something is pluralist doesn’t mean it’s postmodernist. Pluralism is a humanist value as much as it is a postmodernist one. Third, postmodernism doesn’t equate to anything goes. As usual D’Souza is reductive.

So, yes, we have become very shallow-minded as a country of “thinkers,” but to blame it on postmodernism is to give us college teachers way too much credit. If students still can’t distinguish between “it’s” and “its” (and that was true for LSU too), then how can I claim having taught them an understanding of postmodernism?

Of course, you might ask why I’m bothering to read D’Souza’s blog ain the first place, but I usually find him amusing.

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