1. Charles Darwin: 'Is man an ape or an angel?'

Comment #195727 by Andrew Brown on June 18, 2008 at 6:00 pm

Re comment #2

Another Science teacher here, and i find exactly the same thing to be true. One of the chemistry teachers I work with is a lovely bloke, but an out and out creationist. He and I have had some interesting discussions, and it's quite clear his rejection of the theory is based on some major misunderstandings, he has come out with "there are no transitional fossils" and "I won't belive it until I see a reptile turn into a bird". Trying to explain that this is not what evolutionary theory predicts is difficult, as he simply can't (or won't) get his brain around it "Time is your god" is another of his quotes.

Evolution as a theory is fairly simple, but it's also easily misunderstood, and it seems people tenaciously cling to those misunderstandings in order to have a reason to reject it.

2. Richard Dawkins Interview on TVOntario

Comment #181225 by Andrew Brown on May 16, 2008 at 5:09 pm

If you watch to the end the poll results to "Would we be better off without religion?" are 84% yes and 16% no.

When the numbers are revealed you can hear a little gasp of shock and horror from the religiots, but they soon recover their composure and attribute the number to Dawkins groupies. It couldn't possibly be that they were demonstrating such total ignorance and idiocy that they did Richard's work for him?

As Hitch says, instead of arguing against reigious idiocy sometimes all you can do is underline it.

3. Sue Blackmore debates Alister McGrath

Comment #149019 by Andrew Brown on March 25, 2008 at 1:17 am

Interesting to hear McGrath slagging off the talking heads in "The Root of all Evil" as being deserving of being sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

I may well be wrong here but wasn't McGrath interviewed extensively for the programme? Why wasn't he used again?

4. Richard Dawkins' US Tour begins this week

Comment #147516 by Andrew Brown on March 20, 2008 at 7:38 pm

You have got to head over to Pharyngula right now and check out what happened today. I won't spoil the surprise, but trust me you'll love it!!!

5. Cutting Edge: Baby Bible Bashers

Comment #129234 by Andrew Brown on February 18, 2008 at 10:12 pm

As the great Bill Hicks put it "Ever noticed how people who believe in creationism look really unevolved?"

Interesting how all of these kids are the products of parents who are on fire for Jesus. Couldn't possibly be a factor in the kid's preaching could it?

No my mistake it's god's holy spirit moving through them

6. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #120497 by Andrew Brown on February 1, 2008 at 8:22 pm

You remember when a zoo sold paintings by one of its orang utans for huge wodges of cash? It's like that only with a particularly untalented and dull witted orang utan.

7. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #120483 by Andrew Brown on February 1, 2008 at 7:06 pm

He doesn't make mincemeat of RD.

The fact he's a video game designer, used to conjouring whole worlds within his imagination. I think he's done the same here!!!

8. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #120482 by Andrew Brown on February 1, 2008 at 7:05 pm

Diacanu,

I figured it would be abysmal. It's like an Uwe Boll movie. You know it's going to be shite beforehand but it's only by seeing the shite in new and uninteresting ways that we know how, in this case Vox has made his own particular literary turd.

9. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #120406 by Andrew Brown on February 1, 2008 at 3:24 pm

The book's available, and by god it needs an editor!!!

He can't spell, he clearly has no understanding of statistics and he totally misrepresents the position of each horseman in turn. All this in the first twenty pages!

It takes a special time of arrogant fuckwittery to be this stupid!!!

Dawkins has to suffer the religion = child abuse horsehit.
Hitchens is a "drunk"
Harris gets particular venom over his views on Buddhism.

Oh and it's not spelt 'Encyclopedia Brittanica'

Really really amatuerish!!!

10. Sentenced to death: Afghan who dared to read about women's rights

Comment #118800 by Andrew Brown on January 31, 2008 at 2:07 am

Have just been and signed the petition and am about to write to my MP about this.

Hope all of you do the same. Maybe someone can come up with a face saving compromise Allah the merciful etc. but I don't think so, the mentality of those killing someone for reading something is totally beyond me.

Have any of those demanding blood read the "offensive" material? I don't think so. I would suspect many of them cannot even read in the first place. Yet another example of the most horrific abuse being performed by an ignorant thug with sanction from his non-existent lord.

11. The good that comes from belief

Comment #86568 by Andrew Brown on November 9, 2007 at 4:13 pm

I would love to see the actual research. Anyone smell conformation bias at all?

12. Church row evolves over fossil boy

Comment #86561 by Andrew Brown on November 9, 2007 at 4:05 pm

In reply to scottishgeologist.

Can't you just hear it?

"Are you the Judean People's Front?"

"F**k off, we're the People's front of Judea!"

There's only one group these bozos hate more than some one different to them and that's someone nearly the same as them!!!

And I have seen the effect of Christianity in Africa. Karl Marx's dictum of the religion being the opium of the masses is being demonstrated every day there. Sad, Sad sad

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

Comment #61785 by Andrew Brown on August 6, 2007 at 10:00 pm

PS how do you get the quotes to appear in those nice little boxes?

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

Comment #61783 by Andrew Brown on August 6, 2007 at 9:59 pm

Science cannot explain the origin of the universe. Yet it now presumes to do so and as a result it has descended into irrationality.

The most conspicuous example of this is provided by Dawkins himself, who breaks the rules of scientific evidence by seeking to claim that Darwin's theory of evolution - which sought to explain how complex organisms evolved through random natural selection - also accounts for the origin of life itself.

I'd love to see the "evidence" as to where Professor Dawkins has ever said anything so utterly ludicrous.

She really needs to go back and sit her Science GCSE all over again, as it would appear she knows the sum total of bugger all.

15. Sean Hannity with Christopher Hitchens

Comment #54791 by Andrew Brown on July 9, 2007 at 1:31 am

I banged my head on the keyboard when Hannity started wittering on about the need for a first cause and energy in the universe. Where's Neil deGrasse Tyson when you need him? This argument has been dealt with so many times. It's like saying there must be something north of the North Pole. Why is it that when semi educated simians such as Hannity start trying to sound intelligent they end up sounding even more stupid?

16. Two idiots get a forum

Comment #35806 by Andrew Brown on April 28, 2007 at 11:20 pm

Re Comment #35800.

As another from the Land of the Long whit Cloud, I also feel compelled to apologise for the moron who seems to have escaped from the asylum.

We still have some loonies left here though. Don't forget "Bishop" Brian Tamaki the self appointed leader of the Density, sorry Destiny church, who pollutes TV on a regular basis, and clogged up Queen Street with that fascist style protest a few months ago,

17. Atheism isn't the final word

Comment #32335 by Andrew Brown on April 16, 2007 at 10:36 pm

Re: Comment #32333 by BAEOZ

Totally agree with you on the pope and mother theresa. I was just wondering if there were any non religious examples of people doing what Feder percieves as the noble self sacrifice of his Christian altruists.

I think Oxfam and Medcins sans Frontieres are secular organisations as well. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

18. Atheism isn't the final word

Comment #32332 by Andrew Brown on April 16, 2007 at 10:22 pm

There are no secularist counterparts to Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa, William Wilberforce (the evangelical responsible for abolition of the British slave trade), Martin Luther King Jr., or the Christians — from France to Poland — who rescued Jews during the Holocaust.

Just off the top of my head Bob Geldof springs to mind. Can anyone think of any more?

19. The Silence That Kills

Comment #24019 by Andrew Brown on March 4, 2007 at 9:48 am

Another example here of the "religious freedom" we've brought to Iraq.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6412453.stm

Very, very sad, and this is a perfect example of religion justifying terrible acts.

20. Benny Hinn examined

Comment #19898 by Andrew Brown on January 30, 2007 at 2:26 pm

Yup. I wouldn't describe it as overzealous, more a case of wishful thinking! ;-)

21. Benny Hinn examined

Comment #19875 by Andrew Brown on January 30, 2007 at 12:02 pm

I didn't know Benny Hinn had been kicked off NZ TV. Not that I'm complaining. I know his Kiwi equivalent, Brian Tamaki, got kicked off TVNZ for being a homophobic bigot, and went straight to the willing arms of Rupert Murdoch's Prime channel.

For those outside NZ Tamaki is like Hinn, only with an unhealthy interest in homosexuality and moralising as opposed to fraudulent faith healing. Check out the story of him going on a $40,000 dollar cruise paid for by his church, which is of course a tithing institution.

22. Gershom Gorenberg on Christian Zionism

Comment #12606 by Andrew Brown on December 12, 2006 at 8:09 pm

How scary is this, and if you listen to the pastor he's nutty as a fruitcake!

Why oh why do these fruitcakes rise to such prominence?

If this guy wants Jesus to return I suggest he picks up a gun and goes to help Israel bring about Jesus's second coming. With any luck he'll get blown up by his own idiocy.

23. My God Problem

Comment #7145 by Andrew Brown on November 17, 2006 at 10:43 am

Other books could include

Ken Ham's guide to Paleontology

George Bush's discussion paper on the merits of Stem Cell research. (A sequel to his magnum opus "Climate change?")

Becky Fisher's guide to bringing up healthy balanced children.

And one for the Kiwis
Brian Tamaki's guide to fiscal responsibility (subtitled "Cruise through life on other people's money)

24. Hatred (of Gays) Unites Jerusalem's Feuding Faiths

Comment #5318 by Andrew Brown on November 8, 2006 at 11:07 pm

I see the source of the hostility.

ultra-orthodox men still dress in the style of 17th century Poland, with long black waistcoats and beaver-skin hats.

It's simple fashion envy!

Maybe these orthodox/fundie assholes just need a good dose of queer eye for the straight laced guy!

25. Controversial Religious Summer Camp Closed

Comment #5314 by Andrew Brown on November 8, 2006 at 9:05 pm

The best defence against these loonies is ironically publicity. They jump at the chance to show off, and then fume about how they are misrepresented. Turning a spotlight on them makes sure that they recieve the ridicule they deserve.

Long may it continue.

26. Liberty University is looking for Biology Professors

Comment #5267 by Andrew Brown on November 8, 2006 at 12:53 pm

I think I'd like to study there as a student. Be the easiest course you'd ever take.

Syllabus content.
In the beginning God created the Hevens and the Earth.

Exam.
q1 Who created the Heavens and the Earth?
q2 When did He create them?

I think I'd pass that exam without too much difficulty. As for producing students with any scientific/biological ability though, I have my doubts!

27. Liberty University is looking for Biology Professors

Comment #5099 by Andrew Brown on November 7, 2006 at 12:37 pm

Ignorant Kiwi here, but how on Earth can an organisation so uttterly ridiculous as this get accreditaion? Funding I can understand, as religion has been separating gullible fools from large amounts of cash for centuries. I would have thought however that degree courses would have to undergo some kind of peer review, and match up to a universally agreed standard such as, I don't know, reality?

Are there gullible/blind/bought fools who are allowing this group of 'semi evolved simians' (Thank you Douglas Adams) to promote such rubbish as fact. I understand the idea of freedom of speech, but anyone who seriously contends that babies are brought by the stork or that virgins can give birth (Hang on a minute!) would be laughed out of existence. These buffoons are promoting something equally ridiculous, only with a multi-million dollar budget.


A simple question really. For the future good of the planet, can we please shut down or at least shut up these institutions, as they certainly are a clear and present danger to science and to the use of reality as a guide to decision making.

28. BBC Profile - Richard Dawkins

Comment #4614 by Andrew Brown on November 4, 2006 at 8:58 pm

Not to mention crediting Darwin with inventing Survival of the Fittest.

29. Atheist firebrand

Comment #4428 by Andrew Brown on November 3, 2006 at 9:05 pm

I am an atheist and I would say that I live a very moral life. I certainly have not avoided turning to crime from fear of a vengeful deity.
The reason we care for others is not to curry favour with some bearded distant alpha male in the sky. It's because it's the right thing to do. Do unto others as you would be done by. That's why. No god son or holy ghost required.

30. Review of The God Delusion

Comment #2835 by Andrew Brown on October 24, 2006 at 1:26 am

or being an England fan

31. Photo shows the dangers of brainwashing children

Comment #2309 by Andrew Brown on October 20, 2006 at 1:53 pm

And presumably he's already being told the greatest thing he can do is die in glorious battle against the enemies of Islam.

If you've got people who think this life is just a warm up, is it any wonder they don't place much value on it?

32. Misplacing science, displacing God: the fallacies of Dawkinism

Comment #1572 by Andrew Brown on October 13, 2006 at 8:00 pm

Was it Oscar Wilde who said better to keep your mouth shut and have people think you might be an idiot than open your mouth and prove it?

I pity Mr. Caruana (If he refers to Professor Dawkins as Mr., evidently a calculated snub then his preferred title isn't worthy of use), his worldview is so narrow he cannot concieve of the idea that his personal God may not actually exist. He certainly employs the same striking oversimplifications and more than an occasional misrepresentation that he accuses Dawkins of. Defining Dawkin's view of religion as an amusing caricature is certainly an oversimplified misrepresentation. If what Dawkins alleges is inaccurate, Mr. Caruana conspicuously fails to correct him in any way whatsoever, and describing faith as an act of reason based on the logic of Thomas Aquinas seems to me ostrich behaviour at best.

Overall an articulate review but written by a blinkered and limited man.