Comments by AdrianT

Comment #209574 by AdrianT on July 12, 2008 at 4:35 pm

On reading this my impulse was to say... "There is a god after all!" :-)

Comment #209085 by AdrianT on July 11, 2008 at 3:01 pm

Very droll.... :-) Some things though should simply not be left to mutate of their own accord.

Since language is the best means of communication we know, without which civilisation would not have occurred, we should take our hats off to those "fusspots" who defend it against degeneration.

May I just add my irritation about Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens on a point of grammar. "None" requires the singular, since it means "not one". Yet, in End of Faith, god is not Great etc, I keep seeing "none are" instead of "none is". Gripe over!
x A.

3. Religious bigotry upheld in court

Comment #208064 by AdrianT on July 10, 2008 at 2:40 pm

In the Netherlands, regirtrars can opt out like this too. The only requirement with our Christian Democrat / Christian Union / Labour party coalition is that at least one registrar is able to marry gay couples per district.

This is where we are heading, now the Bible has been given priority over English law. It is a black day for British justice, and I think we should get mobilised more, get behind pepple like peter tatchell, the NSS and others. I take my hat off to them...
.
CCFON RELAUNCHES - SEE ALARMING VIDEO:
The Christian fanatics are mobilising very efficiently. Another organisation, headed by Andrea Williams, with 30,000 supporters, relaunched itself on July 1 - Christian Concern for our nation. See the promotional video below - I find this extremely alarming. UK fundamentalists are copying the likes of Focus on the Family, AFA and the Alliance Defense League, with the aim of creating a Christian state.

http://www.ccfon.org/view.php?id=609

4. McDonald's Makes Jesus Cry

Comment #206396 by AdrianT on July 8, 2008 at 10:32 am

I think if you just got a few of the major paper mills to offer tacit support to McDonalds (so consolidated is that particular industry), AFA would have to boycott all toilet roll brands ;-)

5. Rapture site sends unbelievers their last chance ... via email

Comment #195338 by AdrianT on June 18, 2008 at 4:43 am

they must be joking surely.... I THOUGHT IT WAS SOME KIND OF A SEND-UP, and indeed it was lol!!!!

6. Gay brains structured like those of the opposite sex

Comment #194645 by AdrianT on June 17, 2008 at 6:07 am

Cartomancer,

Some useful links for you refuting NARTH nonsense:

http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/HTML/facts_cameron.html
http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/HTML/facts_changing.html

I understand the aim of organisations like PFOX, Exodus and NARTH, is to target children with their messages about change being possible: a similar attempt to 'teach the controversy' when it comes to sex education, that we see from the Intelligent Design proponents.

NARTH also believes that it's good for gay students to be humiliated, as a way of helping them change their behaviour.

7. Behe's Empty Box

Comment #193290 by AdrianT on June 15, 2008 at 8:03 am

It is important that refutations of pseudo-science are available and easily accessible.

Simply refuting Behe's suppositions does not mean "irreducible complexity" stories about flagellum, the HIV-1 virus go away.

Only 3 months ago, one of the main Christian newspapers in the netherlands, Nederlands Dagblad, printed a silly article entitled "science says God exists", referring both to Behe's claims and about how remarkable snowflakes are, among others. (article in question is at following link:

http://www.nd.nl/Document.aspx?document=nd_artikel&vorigDocument=nd_zoekresultaten&id=109234

It really is like trying to stop weeds growing in the garden. So well done in providing a reference point that can help combat this!

8. Intelligent people 'less likely to believe in God'

Comment #192103 by AdrianT on June 12, 2008 at 12:54 pm

I must say the responses to this on the Telegraph's website are better than I expected. Clearly not every reader is a raving bible bashing nutjob anymore...

The response to this by Christopher Howse, on why believers might be ' cleverer' was poor journalism, even by the newspaper's standards:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/06/12/do1205.xml&posted=true&_requestid=790670

9. Repulsive but right

Comment #184545 by AdrianT on May 25, 2008 at 4:40 pm

I can see where the author is coming from. Yes Hitchens is a bruiser. But really, you've got to treat it like you're going into a scrum. if you're going to take on his arguments, you have to give as good as you get. light comes from heat after all.

10. If God Is Dead, Who Gets His House?

Comment #165697 by AdrianT on April 22, 2008 at 3:58 am

We already have a practically atheist church in the UK - the Church of England. Aren't such services, for the few who actually go there, about showing off the new hat / keeping up appearances etc?

The whole point is, I don't need to be told what to believe, like in a church. It's not "free thinking". It's babyish, and has a Nuremberg rally ring about it.

I'm all in favour of free thinkers getting together - social events, discussions, or for practical reasons, like how to take on religious misinformation, especially in areas wehere they are in a minority, but indeed once you start making 'churches' and singing praises... you are on the road to scientology.

11. Open Letter to a victim of Ben Stein's lying propaganda

Comment #165060 by AdrianT on April 21, 2008 at 2:14 am

PS It is also worth remembering that the former chief rabbi in the UK was quite happy to endorse techniques the nazi's would use, when it suited the scriptures, and i quote (peter taqtchell has more on this I think):

After the announcement of the gay gene's discovery Emmanuel Jakobovits, the former Chief Rabbi of Britain (and reputedly Margaret Thatcher's favorite religious leader), stated to the conservative Daily Mail: "Homosexuality is a disability, and if people wish to have it eliminated before they have children… I do not see any moral objections to using genetic engineering to limit this particular trend." Marsh, the physicist, framed the rabbi's idea both more broadly and more trenchantly: "Fulfillment of [the human] potential [for holiness] depends on a continual struggle to overcome many perfectly natural human inclinations. By showing man how those natural inclinations work, science can help him in that struggle."

12. Open Letter to a victim of Ben Stein's lying propaganda

Comment #164832 by AdrianT on April 20, 2008 at 6:24 pm

Beautiful letter, maybe the reference 1 Thess 2: 14-16 would also have been a useful addition?

Frankly I should sue the fools who made this film for wanton misrepresentation. It's like the early christians who raised the angry mob that burned down the Library of Alexandria.

13. Richard Dawkins' secular army must be stopped. God is behind some of our greatest art

Comment #160688 by AdrianT on April 14, 2008 at 9:28 am

Silly article, a complete straw man. They guy clearly hasn't understood the anything PRof Dawkins has been saying.

Of course religious painting, music, architecture and literature (and for that matter, of huge importance, just south from me, Trappist beer) should be enjoyed, studied or maintained.

That's what, amongst others, English heritage is for. I'd be happy for my tax money to go towards this, at the expense of e.g. all these religious programmes on the BBC.

Just don't invoke a supernatural force in doing so. Verdi didn't need it to write the Requiem, Wagner didn't need Odin. And it seems, Mr Ravenhill does not need to believe it to enjoy it, either. The idea that the nation should maintain a superstitious belief system just to satisfy the writer's literary appetite seems quite perverse.

The whole article is a huge waste of offset ink, and my time.

14. Pastor attacks scientist's talk

Comment #154667 by AdrianT on April 3, 2008 at 2:55 pm

Why SHOULD there be a debate to placate christians? Goodness me.

Why don't we, for balance, have a Q&A session after every church service, after that nonsense at 7:50 called thought for the Day on radio 4?

15. Happy Birthday, Richard Dawkins!

Comment #150224 by AdrianT on March 26, 2008 at 3:31 pm

Happy Birthday Dude!

Thanks for all the great books and keep up the great work.

16. Add another flea to the list...

Comment #132942 by AdrianT on February 25, 2008 at 12:29 pm

The fact that the religious business needs about 30 books to tell their customers that dawkins et al are wrong, is a weakness, not a strength.

17. Are Darwin's Theories Fact or Faith Issues?

Comment #120743 by AdrianT on February 2, 2008 at 12:25 pm

I am amazed at the arrogance when Dr Simmonds whines about Myers' choice of words such as 'infantile' and 'ignorant' - too right PZ should use such words, take inspiration from Hitchens and call a spade a spade!

18. Happy Birthday Josh Timonen!

Comment #119354 by AdrianT on January 31, 2008 at 2:16 pm

Congratulations and thankyou for creating one of the most enlightening websites on the planet -

Adrian

19. Dawkins is third most prolific internet Briton

Comment #117728 by AdrianT on January 29, 2008 at 1:25 pm

Sandwiched between Lily Allen and Ozzy Ozbourne?! Sounds an interesting, if unenvious position!

congratulations!

20. George Scales, War Hero and Generous Friend of RDFRS

Comment #111452 by AdrianT on January 14, 2008 at 4:32 pm

Dear George,

You're an inspiration, we owe you a great debt.

Best wishes for a successful operation - "keep the British end up!" - and a speedy recovery!

Adrian

21. A War On Science

Comment #105564 by AdrianT on January 1, 2008 at 2:55 am

I wonder what proportion of the Discovery Institute's budget goes on research, and what goes on public relations?

Here is a link to the PR agency that helped get the DI's message to market - it has a very impressive list of past and present clients....

http://www.crcpublicrelations.com/clients.aspx

22. This deadly religious resistance to vaccinations

Comment #96820 by AdrianT on December 11, 2007 at 1:03 am

Here in Holland, there are still some calvinist reformed Christian sects believe it's sinful to accept injections. There have been serious polio outbreaks too in 1978 and 1992, and of measles in 1999. I believe up to 30 % of "Bevindelijk gereformeerde" Christians are not immunized, enough for another serious outbreak to happen.

During that outbreak of March 1971, five children died and 39 were left permanently disabled. I was reading recently about the experience of one such person, who suffered from poliio and has been left almost as immobilized as steven hawking: wheelchair-bound, breathing with the help of a ventilator, speaks with extreme difficulty and has limited arm movement.

A very moving story about her attitudes to her famliy (who after all prevented her from receiving the life saving injection in the first place). The Christian compassion of the local priest, PJ Dorsman, his words as she lay hospitalised were: "If it were not for polio, you would probably have been taken by a car accident."
(here was the link to the story, in Dutch)
http://archief.trouw.nl/artikel?REC=tr-19920924-000170623

23. ...and another FLEA...

Comment #96491 by AdrianT on December 10, 2007 at 4:04 pm

No surprise - the market for this nonsense is immense, science books are outnumbered by religious books by about 20 to one in many american bookstores. By those stats, there's probably another half dozen to come!!

A x

24. Richard Dawkins on 'Have Your Say'

Comment #95896 by AdrianT on December 9, 2007 at 12:33 pm

I was annoyed that people make complaints without having even read the book in the first place!
For example, the lady from Turkey, the first question about atheist vs agnostic, the question about the eye...

As for that Father Morris - the resident Fox News spiritual guide - amazing to hear him accuse Richard of stepping outside his area of authority! The Catholic Church does this all the time, on sex, sexuality, contraception, the point where life begins... need I go on.

25. Former Evangelical Minister Has a New Message: Jesus Hearts Darwin

Comment #95056 by AdrianT on December 7, 2007 at 9:08 am

This is great news and I wish him well in spreading the Gospel according to "St Charles"!

Actually, I hope he hangs on to his faith! Given that Americans do not trust godless people, I fear if he did become so, his message would not be heard, at all.

26. 'Expelled' Movie: The Extended Trailer

Comment #88244 by AdrianT on November 15, 2007 at 2:36 pm

Stein, go do a film about real expelled people like thousands of gays from the US military, including fluent arabic speakers. You'd find youself asking the questions to the FRC. What a total prick.

27. Fox News Discussion on 'The Golden Compass'

Comment #85881 by AdrianT on November 7, 2007 at 11:52 am

Let's be clear about this. The days of good journalists like Dan Rather are over. This is terribly biased.

Any Fox interviewee needs to get ready for a battle, and be prepared to be rude, to continue talking to the end of the sentence, and correct false statements as the opponent makes them. Christopher Hitchens is the only one whom I've seen really getting the better of Fox - his Jerry Falwell eulogy was exemplarary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doKkOSMaTk4

Atheist spokespeople really need to be like this to take on not just the media but the odeous bully Will Donohue from the Catholic League, and for these situations, Annie is not up to it at present.

Equally, I find the deference to the man in the dog collar appalling. Ugh!!!!

PS and to the list above, the Fascist regimes around the world. The fact that the current Pope Ratzinger is about to canonise a load of priests who fought alongside Franco's men, merely to irritate the current Spanish government's attempt to secularise the country, is another. Or not supporting Amnesty because it supports abortions for raped women..... the list is endless

28. Don't write off religion - it can be the key to a stable family

Comment #83116 by AdrianT on October 29, 2007 at 2:01 am

I don't think the author knows what she actually believes in, or why she believes it. She has clearly read neither Dawkins nor the Bible.

29. Debate between Michael Shermer and Dinesh D'Souza

Comment #80486 by AdrianT on October 22, 2007 at 1:14 am

Would you buy a used car off D'Souza - he's a slick talker I'll give him that!

30. Fox News Attacks 'Godless' Free Thought Radio

Comment #79518 by AdrianT on October 17, 2007 at 2:09 pm

"any publicity is good publicity" - well even if it's Fox News, it's good exposure. The reporting on Fox is just nauseating, but there again, the channel is not about helping viewers think for themselves.

Good luck to FFR, and good to see a Freethinkers' Podcast - actually, there are loads of podcasts on the i-tunes store, mostly 30min long, including a Hitchens interview (no doubt saying similar message), but loads of topics....wicked!!

I think it would be good if Richard and co did podcasts now and then too, if you want to make your message more accessible to younger audiences!

31. Debate between Christopher Hitchens and Alister McGrath

Comment #79216 by AdrianT on October 16, 2007 at 1:21 pm

I just don't follow Dr McGrath - it's a bit like an extra long edition of thought for the day here - ...wishy washy!! I don't understand how he knows about god - I guess he and CS Lewis have had the same einsteinian wonder when the sun comes up, but where does jesus et al come in to it?

Hitch came up with some wonderfully convincing arguments, clear, to the point with his powerful use of language and literary quotes.

32. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams criticizes popular atheist writers

Comment #78718 by AdrianT on October 14, 2007 at 1:36 pm

Love the logic here from Dr Williams:

If God existed before the Big Bang, he must be highly complex. Therefore God exists.

Interesting how belief in God comes with no strings attached - the same cannot be said of gay bishops! The fiasco of the split in the Anglican church over may marriage shows the lack of integrity of the church - an archbishop more concerned with keeping the church together than setting a moral example.

33. Ayaan Hirsi Ali: abandoned to fanatics

Comment #77509 by AdrianT on October 9, 2007 at 1:11 pm

Well, her liberal (VVD, not all that liberal) party colleague iron lady Rita Verdonk is ultimately responsible for Hirsi Ali's decision to leave the Netherlands, with all that full about some lies she told when she first came to the country. A disgrace. Ironically Verdonk was forced out of the parliamentary fraction herself recently....

It looks highly likely the government will indeed stop with the security according to the latest news this evening

34. Response to My Fellow 'Atheists'

Comment #77141 by AdrianT on October 8, 2007 at 2:47 pm

...in other words, Sam seems to be saying, many who don't believe in god see atheist gatherings as something resembling Star Trek conventions LOL! Oh dear, it wasn't that bad was it?!

I agree with his points though - in any case most people just want to get on with their lives but they want competent, honest, transparent, fair and rational government. Atheism is actually a very personal thing as well - for those who haven't thought about it, I can imagine it's a bit unpallatable. Keeping god out of the White House is one thing, but facing up to the fact we don't survive our death is another...some people find it a relief, others find it devastating!

35. The Saudi connection that belittles Britain

Comment #73456 by AdrianT on September 25, 2007 at 2:50 am

I fear, until we stop being dependent on Saudi oil, this kind of stuff will go on and on and on.

One other comment in the last para: are muslim moderates or muslim liberals going to attack Saudi Wahhabi influence? A big difference!! Since the governemnt is so impotent, we are crying out for a British version of Irshad Manji to change things.
(http://www.muslim-refusenik.com/aboutirshad.html)

36. Come Out!

Comment #59421 by AdrianT on July 29, 2007 at 2:36 am

Like the logo, and will definitely be seen doing gigs with it - the A fits perfectly in my case!!

37. Interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Comment #57345 by AdrianT on July 19, 2007 at 2:00 am

She makes some good points but I find her quite starry-eyed, especially about evangelicals and how you can make a fortune (Dorothy on the yellow-brick road springs to mind). Has she overdosed on episodes of the Apprentice? But I'm kind of hoping her command of English led her to phrase that bit clumsily.

Maybe she should ask all the people on Ocean Boulevard, Sta Monica, who are living out of cardboard boxes and WalMart trolleys, about the American Dream!

I wonder how long her honeymoon period with her new home will last. Nonetheless, she's a very brave woman - a great loss to the Netherlands. Frankly, she should have been awarded Orde van Oranje.

38. Review of 'Growing Up in the Universe' DVDs

Comment #50881 by AdrianT on June 20, 2007 at 9:44 am

My godson is three years old on Friday - and I bought this as a present. I know he's too young now - but I bought this to make a statement. This is such a wonderful collection, it teaches so much, I feel it has to be 'there' in anyone's library, like for some the Bible is.

Actually, I'm hoping his parents will watch it.I am sure the 'virtual reality' example will be somewhat dated when he gets round to watching it in 5 years' time, and by then it will be on a USB stick the size of a pin... that's memetic evolution for you I suppose.....!

This was the best Christmas lecture my a mile, too.

39. Debate between Richard Dawkins and Robert Winston

Comment #45706 by AdrianT on May 29, 2007 at 3:27 am

Every time an argument gets interesting, on that show, it's always ruined by Humphrys & co with those magic words "...that's all we've got time for"|!!

40. Cardinal: homosexuality a form of prostitution

Comment #39004 by AdrianT on May 9, 2007 at 5:59 pm

Reading between the lines, this is a call by the catholic church to all the thugs in Latvia to do their dirty work for them. I hope the vast majority of Latvians have more compassion, otherwise, until they grow up, the EU should show them the door.

41. Now Muslims Get Their Own Laws In Britian

Comment #36656 by AdrianT on May 2, 2007 at 12:50 am

This is crazy. Whatever the credibility of the source of this particular article, any attempt to set up Sharia or any other legal system outside that of the British judiciary must be stopped. I think though, we need to have a comment from, for instance, gay muslims on things like this.

42. The Video: Bill O'Reilly Interviews Richard Dawkins

Comment #34576 by AdrianT on April 24, 2007 at 2:55 pm

One of those 3 minute interviews in a show where they cram things in as much as possible, coupled with the interviewer's constant need to lecture the interviewee rather than just put hard questions. I guess the former problem is that most people have very small attention spans - however, I much prefer a format like jeremy paxman where richard was grilled hard, but you came away with a much better understanding of his point of view...
Still - it's good for Dawkins to go on the show, because millions more poeple will have been introduced to him for the first time. If it gets the masses to question the existence of god for the first time in their lives - that's also a very good thing indeed!

43. NEXT MONDAY: Bill O'Reilly interviews Richard Dawkins

Comment #33666 by AdrianT on April 21, 2007 at 2:00 am

I am confident that O Reilly and Dawkins will be a worthwhile interview. I personally find the opinionated, "jingoistic" / propagandist nature of Fox News distasteful; however, I think O Reilly has to put up some tough, direct questions, because his viewers - many of which steeped in religion all their lives - would only ask these in their minds. Soft questions will not make people stop and think - which is ultimately what Richard's appearance is all about.

Seeing the Sam Harris interview, there was clearly mutual respect - i see no evidence of his having been shouted down. And if O Reilly were to be disrespectful to a figure such as Dawkins, this would do his, or indeed Fox's reputation, no good at all.

I say good luck Richard - fight the good fight with all thy might on Monday!!!

44. Give us back our bones, pagans tell museums

Comment #22359 by AdrianT on February 15, 2007 at 4:36 am

This is the slippery slope! I can just see what's coming next. They'll be calling for more representation in the media - and we'll find ourselves having to choose between tuning in to 'Wake up to Wotan' or 'Thor for the Day' each morining if we're now careful. Songs of Praise would be replaced by Wiccan's World...mind you at least it would be an improvement on aled jones!