Johann Hari: Republicans, religion and the triumph of unreason -
Johann Hari, Commentators - The Independent: "How do they train themselves to be so impervious to reality? It begins, I suspect, with religion. They are taught from a young age that it is good to have 'faith' – which is, by definition, a belief without any evidence to back it up. You don't have 'faith' that Australia exists, or that fire burns: you have evidence. You only need 'faith' to believe the untrue or unprovable. Indeed, they are taught that faith is the highest aspiration and most noble cause. Is it any surprise this then percolates into their political views? Faith-based thinking spreads and contaminates the rational."
