Neglect of social and community and family dimensions

~ Jason Schwartz

Irrational-300x222Atheist PZ Meyers responds to a post discussing why “normal” people are drawn to fundamentalism:

We’d like to believe that the triumph of secularism is inevitable — how can we fail when we’re going up against such nutty ideas? — but maybe it isn’t, if we neglect social and community and family ideals and pander only to nerdy asocial guys in tech.

We really need to wake up to the reasons normal people find value in weird religions.

I think you could substitute “rationalism” or “scientism” for secularism and this would go a long way toward improving drug treatment and policy discussion.

It really grates me when people talk about a “rational” approach to treatment and policy, as though their approaches address all relevant dimensions. It’s hubris.

Published by Jason Schwartz

I have been an addiction professional and social worker since 1994. I started blogging in 2005 as the Clinical Director at Dawn Farm. I no longer work at Dawn Farm and am now the Director of Behavioral Medicine at a community hospital, and a lecturer at Eastern Michigan University’s School of Social Work. Views expressed here are my own. Keep in mind that the field, the contexts in which the field operates, and my views have changed over time.