Comments by Jenny Taylier

Comment #280451 by Jenny Taylier on November 7, 2008 at 2:22 pm

Now I come to think about it, people I know that are outwardly religious, are, on balance, either about the same or less nice than the others.

2. Two new fleas are discovered!

Comment #261128 by Jenny Taylier on October 6, 2008 at 1:08 pm

This is simply cashing-in on the success of Richard's book. If any of these books were an effective response, why don't the theists simply refer to it? Atheism existed before TGD - where were all these authors then?

3. Charles Darwin to receive apology from the Church of England for rejecting evolution

Comment #247412 by Jenny Taylier on September 14, 2008 at 11:53 am

What's going on? The Royal Society's Education Director suggests teaching creationism in science classes and now a director of the Church of England agrees that Darwin was right all along. Perhaps these two should swap jobs?

4. A Teacher on the Front Line as Faith and Science Clash

Comment #236445 by Jenny Taylier on August 24, 2008 at 3:50 pm

I happened to catch the outburst by Joe Morreale and I thought it , and its fate, was a kind of illustration of evolution. Joe's anti-evolutionary text was introduced into an evolutionary environment - how would it survive? The answer was not very long at all - certainly not long enough to pass its religious memes on to many of the comment audience. It reached me, but I certainly won't reproduce it. Joe may try again but he'll get short shrift again. So he'll need to propogate his religious memes in an environment that is favourable to him. So Joe, if you're reading this, you've just seen the delicious irony of selection pressure on your posting.

5. The Afterlife for Scientologists

Comment #230271 by Jenny Taylier on August 14, 2008 at 1:47 pm

but some core beliefs of Scientology are that every human being is really an immortal spiritual being known as a thetan and that the "meat bodies" we inhabit are merely vessels we shed upon death. (Members of the elite church cadre known as Sea Org, for example, sign contracts that pledge a billion years of service throughout successive lives.)

Interesting. Exchange 'gene' for 'thetan' and you have the metaphore Richard has been using for many years. The genes we share with bacteria, for example, have certainly honoured their pledge to 'a billion years of service'.

6. 'Condoms won't change HIV rates'

Comment #212118 by Jenny Taylier on July 16, 2008 at 4:17 pm

Surely the cardinal has seen the distressing news footage of bewildered young children, bereft of their parents, left to fend for themselves as AIDS rips these families apart? There is a huge body of evidence that shows condoms are effective in preventing the spread of AIDS. Does he not think that perhaps, just once, it might be worth believing the scientific evidence rather than views that support his belief?

7. Let's Get Rid of Darwinism

Comment #212074 by Jenny Taylier on July 16, 2008 at 3:09 pm

"I think his reaction would be a mix of satisfaction and astonishment."

I like the idea of bringing Darwin to the present, but part of that astonishment would surely be that despite 150 years of building the edifice of supporting evidence, half of the population refuses to believe it.

8. Science is thrilling - except in our schools

Comment #203795 by Jenny Taylier on July 3, 2008 at 3:43 pm

Great article! It's well known that the best way to learn something is by DOING it, so the requirement to conduct experiments in science should mean that kids generally do better in this subject. The fact that they don't seems to indicate teachers are missing this opportunity.

Science is also at risk of becoming a victim of what I call the 'missing generation syndrome'. Once a skill - such as teaching science well - is skipped by a generation then the knowledge chain is broken. One missing generation of good science teachers means the next generation fails to get inspired and the subject goes into rapid decline, as indicated in the article.

9. New Zealand man sells his soul to 'Hell'

Comment #203781 by Jenny Taylier on July 3, 2008 at 2:52 pm

Can I suggest Christians respond by wearing T-Shirts with the following slogan:

"We're Christians - We love our souls"

(But don't say it out loud)

10. We Urgently Need Your Help Now!!

Comment #202035 by Jenny Taylier on June 30, 2008 at 4:32 pm

Handled correctly, this could be an opportunity rather than a threat. Since the strengths of evolutionary theory so hugely outweigh its weaknesses then a well-informed teacher should easily be able to robustly defend Darwinism. If the 'weaknesses' are the old chestnuts (proteins by chance, gaps in the fossil record etc) then anyone who claims the title 'teacher' should be able to easily deal with them.

If I was a teacher then I would steer the discussion to the areas of science where there really IS controversy. Cosmology, for example, where theories are constantly being propped up by inventions such as Dark Matter and more recently Dark Energy. Or Physics where the two great theories that underpin the subject cannot be reconciled.

If it wasn't for the apparent shortage of well-informed teachers, then the science community's response to the suggestion to include a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses evolutionary theory in science classes should be: Bring it on!