Rousas Rushdoony: Law and Liberty: The Flight from Knowledge

Rushdoony is absolutely correct when he discusses the a general societal flight from knowledge.  Now, many will object and say that there is a greater dissemination of knowledge today than at any time in the history of man.  The problem is that we, as human beings, have deluded ourselves into thinking that information equates to knowledge.  Sure, there is a massive outpouring of information across every technologically advanced source, but that does not mean that people are taking the process to analyze that information against their worldview in order to advance true knowledge. 
The question we must ask is what has true knowledge been replaced with.  Rushdoony offers this first quote from a Chief Justice, Frederick Moore Vinson, "nothing is more certain in modern society than the principle that there are no absolutes." Let me just add that it is reassuring to know that we have people serving on the highest court of the land that are judging the constitutionality of laws under such flexible standards as to make their ruling irrelevant.  Another replacement for knowledge is, "[that] man must renounce meaning and knowledge for the pragmatic use of things.  The goal of learning therefore is not knowledge but the power to manipulate."  We see this evident today in the education system in our country where, instead of teaching reasoned knowledge, "its negative function is to indoctrinate its subjects with a radical cynicism concerning the family, patriotism, philosophy, theology, and all things else."  When indoctrination and not education is the true aim of the government controlled school system, is it really any wonder that we continually churn out a populous incapable of applying reason that at the same time looks to reshape society under the new norms dictated by those in power. 
The church is not immune to this same charge.  "People go to church not to worship, not to submit themselves to God and to gain knowledge from God's word, but to advance themselves psychologically and socially."  The problem is that for the Christian and non-Christian alike, all of the re-education and information in the world will not allow you to escape a sovereign God that holds all of His creation in His hands.  "To deny that there is any absolute truth and absolute knowledge is to deny that there is a God who is the creator and lord of all things, and whose order and truth governs all things and is the source of all truth and knowledge...[As a result] man's purpose becomes power over other men, that control over men and things which will prove to himself that he is the god which he believes he is." And here lies the problem, because man has looked to flee from knowledge and from God in order to stake out his own claim on his creation and yet fails at every turn to escape the inescapable.  When faced with this dilemma, that he cannot escape that which he cannot control, there is no other avenue then to direct his attention to the control of that which is within his grasp.  When this happens, the control that he desires over God is now brought to bear on other men and it is at that point his lack of knowledge comes full circle as he wields information, education, law and all the tools at his control to enslave his fellow man.