Separation of Church and Entertainment

Shame on you They Might Be Giants!

Isabel forwarded me the Youtube video for "Science is Real" from their new children's CD Here Comes Science. Isabel was more than a little disappointed in one of the verses:

Science is real
From the Big Bang to DNA
Science is real
From evolution to the Milky Way
I like the stories
About angels, unicorns and elves
Now I like those stories
As much as anybody else
But when I'm seeking knowledge
Either simple or abstract
The facts are with science
The facts are with science

Did you catch that buried in there? The offensive line was "I like stories / About angels, unicorns and elves."
It reads like a none-too-veiled dismissal of faith as a form of entertainment to be juxtaposed with science as a form of acquiring knowledge. As a Christian, I find it particularly disheartening to see TMBG put angels on the same level as unicorns and elves. No one has seriously believed in unicorns in over three hundred years (at least not in the "magical" sense), and while I hear there is a thriving elf-watching industry in Iceland, I don't know many institutionalized religions that promote belief in them. Angels, however, are still very much a part of Church tradition and modern theology.

The song essentially boils religion down to a nice story that you can enjoy, but that you shouldn't look to for anything "real."

Now, perhaps I am underestimating TMBG, and they are defining the real in some kind of Heideggerian metaphysical sense. The supernatural is perhaps not so much real as the extra-real. It is not "reality" or "fact" in the sense that it does not conform to repeated empirical proof the way the subject of science does. It might not be quanitfiable, observable, empirical fact...but that doesn't mean it isn't true.

And, indeed, this is where I, coming from the humanities, even get annoyed by the potshots taken at elves and unicorns. Even when stories aren't "real" or "fact," the best stories are more than enjoyment...they are true.

Maybe later I'll parody this song...

UPDATE: Parodied lyrics...

The Bible is true

From Hebrew to New Testament

The Bible is true

From Genesis to Apocalypse

I read science

About atoms, dinosaurs and stars

Now I read that science 

And trust in consensus, too

But when I'm seeking wisdom

Either divine or moral

The truth is the Bible

The truth is the Bible

The Bible is true

The Bible is true

The Bible is true

The Bible is true

From Torah to the Prophecies

The Bible is true

From Matthew, Mark, and Luke to John

And biblical allegory

Isn't just superstitious

It's more like analogy

Written for a historic context;

When a new reading is stated

In-line with Church tradition

The reading is true

The reading is true

The Bible is true

The Bible is true

The Bible is true

The Bible is true

Okay, now back to some Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2...Should I feel morally compromised that I chose not to fight on the side of the White House?