151. Church row evolves over fossil boy

Comment #86541 by alexmzk on November 9, 2007 at 1:48 pm

"Bits of it are being disproved by scientists every day,"

-same for the Bible. stop "teaching" the Bible.

152. The Turning of an Atheist

Comment #85046 by alexmzk on November 4, 2007 at 4:48 pm

very sad. and it must be painful for Prof. Flew's family that to refute the theists' exploitation of him, atheists must pointedly draw attention to his growing senility. very delicate ground.

153. I didn't know the FLEA CIRCUS was back in town!

Comment #84970 by alexmzk on November 4, 2007 at 11:35 am

you'd think that if the apologetics had a valid response, one book would suffice. the Bible made a pretty awful case in the first place.

154. Tests of faith over 'The Golden Compass'

Comment #83569 by alexmzk on October 30, 2007 at 12:53 pm

from the FAQ on Pullman's own website:

"Q.You have run into criticism from certain religious groups who regard you as subversive, with the Catholic Herald describing your work as 'worthy of the bonfire.' Do such emotional responses concern or upset you or does it please you to generate strong reactions?

A.I'm delighted to have brought such excitement into what must be very dull lives."

155. Tests of faith over 'The Golden Compass'

Comment #83336 by alexmzk on October 29, 2007 at 5:51 pm

"Earlier this month, he [William Donohue] called on Christians to boycott the movie because it will "seduce" parents into buying Pullman's "pro-atheist" book."

"fucktard" is not strong enough. if people were boycotting a film for being pro-catholic, there'd be outrage.
i really feel that the Dark Materials trilogy did a lot to help me feel i could actually criticise religion when i read it as a teenager. the books are not explicitly anti-Catholic, but they certainly put forward loads of philosophy that's amazing to read at that age. it's upsetting that they're removing the religious element from the film - almost like undermining Pullman's credibility by turning it into a straight-out fantasy film for kids.

156. Evolution to be taught in SA schools

Comment #82884 by alexmzk on October 28, 2007 at 5:59 am

"The video traces the origin of tiny prehistoric humans somewhere on an Indonesian island. They are depicted as short and dark-skinned people. This offended some black teachers. They said that evolution was a racist theory. It "terribly undermines black people, everything bad gets a black colour. It means blacks were apes," they said."

well, the ancestors of humanity were likely black - is this offensive? if you take offence at history, it won't change history. it's not like our ancestors were "dark-skinned" on purpose just to make modern Africans feel uncomfortable.

157. Face to faith

Comment #82882 by alexmzk on October 28, 2007 at 5:53 am

"i'd take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance anyday."

scientific wonder is not simply the wonder of looking at puzzles.

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

Comment #82630 by alexmzk on October 27, 2007 at 3:30 am

"I personally have very little religious belief. I love some religious liturgy in the same way that I love poetry, the music in a synagogue can do powerful things to me, and the enduring ritual I find moving."

she's not religious, she's just self-consciously middle-class. she seems to be making sure her point of view is not fully one thing or t'other, with the result that she misconstrues Dawkins' original point as a threat to the wellbeing of her family.

159. That's not MY God or Religion you're criticising

Comment #81882 by alexmzk on October 25, 2007 at 10:44 am

if you do not believe in God as described in the Bible - warts and all - then perhaps you are not as Christian as you thought you were? perhaps your God is some vague arbitrary construction for which you lack even the paltry evidence of Scripture to justify His(?) existence?

160. The God Delusion and Alister E McGrath

Comment #81811 by alexmzk on October 25, 2007 at 8:24 am

you have to admire his compulsion to agree with anyone he wants to please. especially when he makes the mistake of misconstruing the point, agreeing with it for a while, and then when he's told his mistake, agrees with the opposite point also.

161. Harper's Index

Comment #74878 by alexmzk on October 1, 2007 at 1:34 am

interestingly, i bought myself the Koran from Waterstones recently, and although it was firmly in the "religion" section, the back cover states it's "NON-FICTION/HISTORY". this is a copy published by Harper Collins.

162. Harper's Index

Comment #74782 by alexmzk on September 30, 2007 at 12:17 pm

how high did the Bible rank?

163. Out of Thin Air

Comment #72975 by alexmzk on September 23, 2007 at 4:51 pm

on the website, i like "Out of Thin Air - Coming Sept 28, 2007".

is it still coming "out of thin air" if they give us a week's warning, or is the air of anticipation detrimental to their campaign? maybe i'm reading too much into it.

as an afterthought, the National Geographic article includes an interesting statistic:
"According to a Gallup poll drawn from more than a thousand telephone interviews conducted in February 2001, no less than 45 percent of responding U.S. adults agreed that "God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so."

is there a correlation between gullibility and whether or not you respond to a telephone poll?

164. Religion advances despite science (and thanks to Dawkins)

Comment #72974 by alexmzk on September 23, 2007 at 4:47 pm

"SHRILL!"

i didn't read any further.

165. Poll: Are Dawkins and Hitchens good for humanism?

Comment #72798 by alexmzk on September 23, 2007 at 2:08 am

from the age of about 13 i took a sort of Jonathon Miller style atheism of just not even bothering to assert that i didn't believe in gods.
reading the God Delusion ignited a new interest in Atheism and Humanism for me.

so yes, Richard Dawkins at least helped me onto Humanism.

166. Crisis of faith in first secular school

Comment #72795 by alexmzk on September 23, 2007 at 1:57 am

"Jim Knight, the Schools Minister, said: 'The majority of schools do not have a religious character, and are not affiliated to any faith group.""

this is twisting the point. while they're not affiliated to any faith, most British schools are openly Christian. at both primary schools i went to as a kid, and then at my high school too, we were expected to pray (in Christian terms) in all assemblies, and had to go to church to sing hymns at Christmas (we could only object to hymn-singing on religious grounds, ie, if we were of another religion, not including atheism).
if we objected to hymn-singing, they had a single classroom for any non-christians to sit in and wait til service was over. we had regular visits from an exceptionally naive minister who would give long talks about the nature of God (which would often extend into classtime). we were given Bibles in first year of high school (we were eleven!) by the Gideon Society.
it was very much a Christian type of free will - agree with us, or get shut up in another room til we're finished.

167. Row Brews Over DUP Call for Schools to Teach Creationism

Comment #72644 by alexmzk on September 22, 2007 at 4:18 am

this is a bit worryingly close to home. while it seems that faith schools are starting to fall out of favour in the US, over here in the UK, people seem to be on the brink of accepting them as a good idea.
very worrying indeed.

168. Yes, it's a Hobbit. The debate that has divided science is solved at last (sort of)

Comment #72641 by alexmzk on September 22, 2007 at 4:10 am

"There is a lot at stake. One group of people are going to be 100% wrong in what they have said, which is a situation that is rare in science," he said. "It will be a fascinating test case for science. Will the people who turn out to be wrong hold their position to the bitter end regardless of the evidence that accumulates?"


http://creationwiki.org/Main_Page

169. Why Christians should take Richard Dawkins seriously

Comment #72389 by alexmzk on September 21, 2007 at 12:38 am

the God that Mr Skinner believes in is clearly not the God of the Bible if it is truly as he describes it (or more acurately- how he fails to describe it).

170. Critical Analysis of Case for a Creator

Comment #72157 by alexmzk on September 20, 2007 at 12:46 pm

my personal favourite part is Strobel's anecdote about him smashing the toy train against the floor in an effort to find out how it worked. such an elegant analogy for his approach to science.

171. Oxford's Christian colleges 'are not suitable for school-leavers'

Comment #71540 by alexmzk on September 19, 2007 at 1:58 am

"The report will be seen as an attack on the evangelical wing of the Church of England, which draws intellectual credibility from the association of one of its colleges, Wycliffe Hall, with Oxford."

come again?

172. RELIGULOUS: A Conversation with Bill Maher and Larry Charles

Comment #69900 by alexmzk on September 13, 2007 at 5:59 am

it's got to be better than "Expelled" surely.

173. Young Muslims begin dangerous fight for the right to abandon faith

Comment #69359 by alexmzk on September 11, 2007 at 1:49 am

i've been reading articles here for a while now, but i only just signed up specifically so i could comment on this one, to express my sheer admiration for these people.
i'm reading the Koran just now, finding it very hard going. it's amazingly brave for those people to try and speak out for free will and the right to leave Islam. i hope it works.