Agent Richard Dawkins, Job Well Done

[Aloysius]

written by an atheist in the telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/10233530/Come-in-Agent-Dawkins-your-job-is-done.html

 

 

 

What I suspect must have happened was that, some time in the late Seventies, the leaders of the world’s great religions met in secret conclave to discuss the threat posed by the march of science. Appreciating that the unravelling of the genetic code would one day enable life to be created in a test tube, thereby usurping the primary function of the Creator, they came up with a wickedly ironic plan. They would recruit the world’s leading geneticist, and run him under deep cover as a double agent for Big Religa. His brief was first to win the slavish respect of the atheist community, as he did with his meisterwork The God Delusion; and then to pretend to go so infuriatingly and offensively doolally that atheists would find the faiths he derided infinitely more appealing than their fiercest foe, and flock to them. This plot he has carried out to the letter. I would now rather spend a year in a Cistercian monastery or a madrassa than a minute listening to Richard Dawkins.

 

haha so true, so true.

[Guest]

I like Sam Harris better...

[EmilyAnn]

:hehe:

 

So very true...he is a rather excellent example that atheists can be obnoxious and bigoted too. 

[PhuturePriest]

I sometimes listen to him just for his accent and to hear the way he pronounces "evolution".

[Nihil Obstat]

I sometimes listen to him just for his accent and to hear the way he pronounces "evolution".

You should stop wasting your time and watch Doctor Who instead.

[PhuturePriest]

You should stop wasting your time and watch Doctor Who instead.

 

Nothing beats David Tenant's voice.

[EmilyAnn]

Nothing beats David Tenant's voice.

 

But do you mean his accent in Doctor Who or his real accent?

[PhuturePriest]

But do you mean his accent in Doctor Who or his real accent?

 

That's not his real accent? :sad:

 

Oh right, I just remembered he's Scottish. Scottish accents are the bee's knees, so either one is awesome, really.

[Basilisa Marie]

Watch Broadchurch. You'll hear his real accent, and it's fantastic.  I've heard they're having Peter Capaldi use his native accent, so we'll get a Scottish Doctor.  :)

 

I can't get enough of how the media is finally turning away from Dawkins worship.  

[CatholicsAreKewl]

I don't get it. The writer is mad because Dawkins pointed something out that many, including Neil deGrasse Tyson (and Neil doesn't even call himself an atheist), blame on Islam (specifically the idea that the manipulation of numbers is the work of satan). The author bashes Dawkins for making this argument... but doesn't actually counter it. 

[Selah]

I don't get it. The writer is mad because Dawkins pointed something out that many, including Neil deGrasse Tyson (and Neil doesn't even call himself an atheist), blame on Islam (specifically the idea that the manipulation of numbers is the work of satan). The author bashes Dawkins for making this argument... but doesn't actually counter it. 

 

Someone wrote a retort to it in the comments section.

[Aloysius]

FALSE.

http://thedailybanter.com/2010/08/neil-degrasse-tyson-and-the-myth-of-islamic-anti-science/

 

 

The idea that fewer Muslims have nobel prizes that whitebred elite graduates of Trinity College who had the money, means, and connections to be successful in fields of science because "Islam is teh evil" is patently ridiculous.  It'd be the same as pointing out that fewer members of the Arab world have Nobel prizes than members of "Western Civilization"... basically because Western Civilization has a dominant hegemonic nature that still affects the global balance of such things, the best and brightest of the world leave their home countries to go to the more prestigious universities of Europe and America where research is more well funded and possible.  Same basic thing is at work when we look at the number of Muslims with nobel prizes, especially since the majority of Muslims live in the Arab world.

[Apotheoun]

Who really cares about Nobel Prizes anyway? How important can they be if Obama, a man with a kill list, can be a Nobel Peace Prize winner?

[CatholicsAreKewl]

FALSE.

http://thedailybanter.com/2010/08/neil-degrasse-tyson-and-the-myth-of-islamic-anti-science/

 

 

The idea that fewer Muslims have nobel prizes that whitebred elite graduates of Trinity College who had the money, means, and connections to be successful in fields of science because "Islam is teh evil" is patently ridiculous.  It'd be the same as pointing out that fewer members of the Arab world have Nobel prizes than members of "Western Civilization"... basically because Western Civilization has a dominant hegemonic nature that still affects the global balance of such things, the best and brightest of the world leave their home countries to go to the more prestigious universities of Europe and America where research is more well funded and possible.  Same basic thing is at work when we look at the number of Muslims with nobel prizes, especially since the majority of Muslims live in the Arab world.

 

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/rel_isl_num_of_mus-religion-islam-number-of-muslim

The bolded section is incorrect. But you're right. He did provide a rebuttal. I'm interested in a more detailed explanation, which I'm sure is available. 

Edited September 25, 2013 by CatholicsAreKewl

[CatholicsAreKewl]

There is an icky attitude shared by some Muslims about modern science mostly being a product of the "West", which comes with it a sort of bitterness towards achievements that build upon the discoveries of Islamic Golden Age. I do not know if we can determine whether this mentality is a cause or result of the problem (or both). So, yes, I guess it'd be intellectually lazy to throw the Nobel prize figures up and make a conclusion solely based on that.

Enter:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3AAl-Ghazali#Criticism

Here is what i'm referring to specifically. Tyson blames a statement made by Ghazali for the lack of scientific achievement in the Muslim world after the 12th century. The Muslim responses I've seen argue that Tyson misunderstood the quote. 

 

Edited September 25, 2013 by CatholicsAreKewl