Comments by JimmyT

Comment #187481 by JimmyT on June 2, 2008 at 8:18 am

Bugaboo

At the Hay festival a few years ago, Steve Jones gave a lecture entitled "Why Creationism is Wrong and Evolution is Right". He was definitely not sat on the fence with regard to religion in that one. It's a funny and interesting talk - it's on the Hay Festival website for download if you'd like to hear it.

2. Bible Belter

Comment #68356 by JimmyT on September 7, 2007 at 1:26 am

A small point, but doesn't death for apostasy come from the hadith, not from the koran as Richard states here?

I'm more than happy to be corrected!

JT

3. Interview with Richard Dawkins

Comment #63325 by JimmyT on August 13, 2007 at 10:47 pm

Really, anybody who says...

"Failed solar systems and natural disasters are caused by bad individual and collective Karma"
...
deserves no respect at all. I don't know whether that statement is funny or insulting. darwin2 - you actually believe that the people who died in, let's say the Kobe earthquake, didn't die because they lived near the edge of a tectonic plate but because of Karma. Good grief.

You think God kicked the whole evolution thing off and let "nature" take its course. But you also think he interferes with goings-on down here in His perfectly designed world (for example by sending out punishments in the form of tsunamis).

This skewed half-Deism of yours is simply not compatible with evolution (unless you cop out and use Gould's non-overlapping magesteria argument) because of the complexity issue nearly everbody on this site has told you about. You can't have it all. Or maybe in your irrational one-man cult you can.

It seems to me that no matter how much science discovers about evolution and the early stages of the universe, it will always be "goddidit" with you. Answer PeterK's question. I think I know what the answer will be.

4. Arrogance, dogma and why science - not faith - is the new enemy of reason

Comment #61821 by JimmyT on August 7, 2007 at 2:46 am

"There is no evidence for this whatever and no logic to it. After all, if people say God could not have created the universe because this gives rise to the question "Who created God?", it follows that if scientists say the universe started with a big bang, this prompts the further question "What created the bang?""

I stole the quote below from a talk that Mr. Dawkins did at a university in America on his TGD tour. It repeats something that everybody on this site has heard a thousand times, but it's seemingly not something Ms. Phillips has heard once.

"Complex things come into the universe late, as a consequence of slow, gradual, incremental steps. God, if he exists, would need to be an extremely complicated thing indeed. To suggest a creative intelligence at the beginning of the world, as an answer to the riddle of the first cause, you shoot yourself in the conceptual foot because you are suggesting something far, far more unlikely and complicated than that which you are arguing against. It is orders of magnitude more complicated to say a complex intelligence was there at the outset. If you have problems seeing how matter could just come into existence, try thinking about how complex intelligent matter, or complex intelligent entities of any kind, could suddenly just spring into existence."

5. CNN Debate on Koran in Toilet

Comment #60479 by JimmyT on August 2, 2007 at 3:17 am

mark1958,

I think I'm just reiterating what hungarianelephant has just said (annoyingly half way through my response!). I don't think you can equate defacing a mosque or temple wall with threatening graffiti, with disposing of a book in a toilet. What if the guy had set fire to the Koran? Or tore out all the pages and screwed them up? Or tore out half the pages? A third? Or how about simply throwing it in the bin? Are these hate crimes? Where do you draw the line? I have no problem with charging the guy with theft, I didn't mention that in my post because I thought it was self evident, but it is surely about intent. Somebody writes "Death to Jews" on a synagogue wall that should be a hate crime and incitement to murder. Somebody writes "Manchester United FC rule" on a synagogue wall, that should be a charge of criminal damage. It's my view that in no way can flushing a book down the pan be construed as incitement to cause harm to another human being. If you think that somebody flushing away a their own Koran (to take theft out of the equation) is genuinely a crime worth punishing then fine, that's your opinion (and unfortunately that of the judge as well). I happen to think that guy is using his freedom of expression (albeit not very subtly or intelligently) to make a point and to wind up people he doesn't like.

It seems your only issue is with the fact that he stole the book. Surely, this is immaterial as to whether this makes it a hate crime? Let's say he had bought it himself - what would be you opinion then?

Jim.

P.S. I've re-read my post above and it sounded more aggressive than I meant it to be. I need a coffee.

6. CNN Debate on Koran in Toilet

Comment #60423 by JimmyT on August 1, 2007 at 10:19 pm

mark1958, let's not get carried away here.

The guy put a library book down the toilet. Nobody got hurt. It was just a not-very-subtle attempt to hurt the feelings of some people he had fallen out with. If expressing hatred is a crime, most of the people on this site, including me, would be banged up for hating (strong word I know) the central views of most religions and the effect they have on the world.

He didn't burn effigies of the Muslim guys he had problems with and call for them to be killed. He didn't put a horse's head in their bed. He didn't send them a bullet in the post. All of these could quite justifiably be called intimidation and altogether more sinister. I'm sure the Muslim chaps he upset aren't laying awake at night in fear of being 'bog-washed' (as we call it in the UK).

You say that "The Origins of Species is a scientific thesis and does not represent a particular ethnic, racial, nationalist etc group". Correct, but neither does the Koran. Muslims can stop being Muslims tomorrow. You can't change your parents or where you were born, but you can change your views on life and the universe whenever you like.

I happen to "believe in Darwin" (as you put it), I've even seen a photograph of him. If you mean "Darwinism", I happen to think that evolution and natural selection are true. By flushing a copy of "Origin…" book down the pan, are you not committing the same crime against those who "know" Darwinism is true, as the student did against those who "know" the teachings of Islam are true? Both "Origin…" and the Koran are a symbol of a person's view of the world, it's just that "Darwinists" don't happen to think the book was dictated by the one and only god through an angel. For some reason, you think this means they should get less protection from the state. I happen to think I should not get any preferential treatment because of my "beliefs", and neither should anyone else.

7. Town Hall Seattle: God Is Not Great

Comment #57311 by JimmyT on July 18, 2007 at 9:38 pm

Hopefully an mp3 of this will be available soon so that I can add it to the existing 5 hours of Hitch, 3 hours of Harris, 3 hours of RD, 2 hours of Steve Jones and 1 hour of PZ already on my personal mp3 player.

I think I need to get out more...

8. Bush Vetoes Measure on Stem Cell Research

Comment #51624 by JimmyT on June 23, 2007 at 9:00 pm

Not sure how many of you have seen the Sam Harris talk on fora.tv (it's old but good)...

(http://fora.tv/fora/showthread.php?t=819)

...but he describes the "controversy" with stem cell research very well.

He says that at 3 to 5 days, the "baby" consits of 150 cells. The brain of a fly has 100,000 cells. A quote...

"If you think the needs of a collection of cells trumps that of a little girl with full body burns, you have had you ethical intuition blinded by religious metaphysics."

He also mentions that you cannot use the argument that these cells are a potential human being. Every human cell with a nucleus is a potential human being and "every time the president scratches his nose he engages in a holocaust of potential human beings".

9. Manliness is next to godliness

Comment #49232 by JimmyT on June 11, 2007 at 5:02 am

Anyone else chuckle at "are you ready to grab your sword..."?

Childish I know, but I smiled

10. 1986 Oxford Union Debate

Comment #47965 by JimmyT on June 6, 2007 at 6:39 am

Hi,

I would love to listen to these files but the links don't seem to work! Is it me or is it them?

Thanks