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Comments by drive1


1. Full house captivated by atheist Dawkins' take on religion

Comment #142517 by drive1 on March 12, 2008 at 3:37 pm

Dawkins spoke about childhood indoctrination into religion. "Isn't it a remarkable coincidence, almost everyone has the same religion as their parents?"
I think Richard needs to update this part of his talk, in the light of the recent Pew Forum Survey. Here's an extract:
"More than one-quarter of American adults (28%) have left the faith in which they were raised in favor of another religion - or no religion at all. If change in affiliation from one type of Protestantism to another is included, 44% of adults have either switched religious affiliation, moved from being unaffiliated with any religion to being affiliated with a particular faith, or dropped any connection to a specific religious tradition altogether."

2. Three wise men just legend: archbishop

Comment #101428 by drive1 on December 20, 2007 at 10:59 am

Dr W has a great radio voice .. very Christopher Lee.

That aside he is, of course, on a recruitment drive at present, given the probable Anglican schism on the gay clergy issue. At least he's on the side of the tolerant.

3. ...and another FLEA...

Comment #96316 by drive1 on December 10, 2007 at 10:44 am

..in the light of Richard Dawkins' "TGD"

Yes, TGD is illuminating .. possibly to the point of being incendiary.

Suggit and see? I don't think so.

4. The art of the soluble

Comment #95721 by drive1 on December 9, 2007 at 3:31 am

It is perfectly rational to propose that the universe is indeed without purpose - that what we see is all there is.

There's your problem, Mr Tudge. You carelessly inserted the term 'purpose' and gave it a bizarre definition. This is how strawmen are created.

5. Colouring book warns kids of pedophile priests

Comment #95192 by drive1 on December 7, 2007 at 2:32 pm

Yes, Tony Blair, this is the religion you are intending to join. A wise choice, if I might say so.

6. Nurses Told to Turn Muslims' Beds to Mecca

Comment #94027 by drive1 on December 4, 2007 at 3:44 pm

I just had a vision of a rope and pulley system .. one quick tug from matron and all the beds spin in the required direction.

Yes, a quick tug from matron is the answer. Or, how about tying one end of the rope to an apostate or homosexual fellow, and heaving them out of the window? Of course you'd have to be on the first floor or higher, or the beds wouldn't be spun far enough.

ps. Goldy wins 5 stars for being sensible, which is possibly a good thing.

7. Highway to hysteria

Comment #94011 by drive1 on December 4, 2007 at 3:21 pm

Oh, won't you just think of the children?!?
http://www.midweekherald.co.uk/flatfiles/campaigns/a35/a35form.aspx

8. Highway to hysteria

Comment #94007 by drive1 on December 4, 2007 at 3:16 pm

It should be obvious, to any right-thinking Christian, that the passage actually refers to the A35 in England. This tarmac of Satan runs between Poole (a thinly disguised reference to 'poole of one's own filth') and Honiton (an anagram, in the original Greek, of the word 'strumpet'). I hesitate to provide a link to this pathway of perversion but, as any of you with strong stomachs will attest, it needs holy saving, and it needs it NOW!

http://www.freefoto.com/preview/2032-17-29?ffid=2032-17-29&k=A35

9. Atheism's Wrong Turn

Comment #93186 by drive1 on December 2, 2007 at 11:49 am

The last thing America needs is a war of attrition between two mutually exclusive, absolute systems of belief. Yet this is precisely what the new atheists appear to crave. The task for the rest of us--committed to neither dogmatic faith nor dogmatic doubt--is to make certain that combatants on both sides of the theological divide fail to get their destructive way. And thereby to ensure that liberalism prevails.

In a way, this is correct. The only force that can disable the fundamentalist religious groups (and the author recognises the danger they pose) is the majority group - liberal religious folk. To date they have a woeful record in this regard. Vociferous arguments from 'strident' atheists appears to be what it takes to rouse them. Bloody well wake up, put your houses in order, and we can all get back to living in peaceful co-existence.

10. 'Teddy' teacher jailed in Sudan

Comment #91875 by drive1 on November 29, 2007 at 1:40 pm

"The Sudanese ambassador .. said he would reflect back to Khartoum the real respect for the Islamic religion in this country,(UK)" the statement added.

I wish, as an Englishman, to disassociate myself from any such mealy-mouthed 'understanding'. Respect has to be earned. Your religion's Respect account is currently seriously overdrawn.

Oh, and I'm taking Sarah Khawad off my winter solstice card list. Splitter!

11. 'Muhammad' teddy teacher arrested

Comment #90878 by drive1 on November 26, 2007 at 2:44 pm

The most shameful part? Probably this ..

The school has been closed until January for fear of reprisals.

Reprisals!?! Against 7 year olds and a stuffed toy?!? WTF?

12. Bankrolling Ali's Asylum

Comment #90873 by drive1 on November 26, 2007 at 2:34 pm

@ BaronOchs

the paypal thing was registered with "sam@samharris.com", but this address doesn't exist, his address is "sam@samharris.org". Has this been rectified?

Yes. I just got an e-mail from Sam's web designers. I reported the problem on the 23rd.

Hello, My name is Matt Gardner, I work for Hop Studios, the company that built and maintains Samharris.org. Sam Harris forwarded [your] message to me, reporting an error with the donation system for the Ayaan Hirsi Ali Security Trust.

There was a typo in the donation system that misdirected one-time donations for preset amounts to SamHarris.com instead of SamHarris.org. Please do go ahead and cancel any payments you have made to SamHarris.com, as indicated below.

This typo has now been fixed. If you would still like to donate to the security trust you may do so here:

http://www.samharris.org/site/security_trust/

We greatly appreciate your support of Sam and Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

13. Tony Blair: Mention God and you're a 'nutter'

Comment #90411 by drive1 on November 25, 2007 at 4:07 am

Methinks the ex-PM doth protest too much. I strongly suspect these recent expressions of religious conviction are all about 'confirming his legacy' and to support his future application to become President of the EU. The continual 'leaking' of his intended conversion from one brand of delusion to another is probably designed to show the main players in the Middle East that he is (a) a man of god and (b) not settled on any particular version .. ie he's open to persuasion. It's a political ruse to get his foot in the door with as wide a range of religious leaders in the area as possible.

Whilst I don't doubt he is fervently religious, his 10 years as PM were all about stage-managed smoke and mirrors. From being photographed with sleeves rolled up and a mug of tea, to slipping into a fake 'estuary twang' when interviewed on daytime tv, and from 'spontaneous' walkabouts (to wild adulation from party juniors pretending to be a crowd of ordinary folk), to perfecting the art of lying by omission .. TB is the prince of spin. It's not something he can 'unlearn'.

14. URGENT APPEAL: Please Help Protect Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Comment #89013 by drive1 on November 19, 2007 at 1:34 pm

Rest easy, Ayaan. You asked via Sam, in all humility, for help. We are your friends and will not let you down.

15. Evolution to be taught in SA schools

Comment #82862 by drive1 on October 28, 2007 at 4:28 am

In a desperate attempt to find one redeeming feature in this article, I found this towards the end ..

Teachers of evolution will need to be well trained.

Phew! I am deliberately ignoring the fact that 'well trained' probably refers to coaching in not offending religious, cultural or racial sensibilities.

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

Comment #82637 by drive1 on October 27, 2007 at 4:13 am

while I've encouraged my kids to experience a fair bit of religious observance, I personally have very little religious belief.

What an extraordinary confession. I immediately thought Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome, with viral religious memes being deliberately introduced to defenceless children.

Extract from on-line description of the illness:
"The parent's or caregiver's own personal needs overcome his or her ability to see the child as a person with feelings and rights, possibly because the parent or caregiver may have grown up being treated like he or she wasn't a person with rights or feelings.

Other theories say that Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome is a cry for help on the part of the parent or caregiver, who may be experiencing anxiety or depression or have feelings of inadequacy as a parent or caregiver of a young child. Some may feel a sense of acknowledgement when the child's doctor confirms their caregiving skills. Or, the parent or caregiver may just enjoy the attention that the sick child - and, therefore, he or she - gets."


Just replace 'doctor' with 'priest' or 'peer group' in the above. The author is certainly getting the attention she craves. Who here would write, in a national newspaper, about their own children? It's just not cricket.

17. Ayaan Hirsi Ali at AAI 07

Comment #78725 by drive1 on October 14, 2007 at 2:14 pm

Even more impressive was the Q&A session. When she recounts her father's advice that, as an atheist, she should keep a low profile and not speak of it to anyone .. the shy smile, the reaction of the audience .. made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. What an astonishing person.

18. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams criticizes popular atheist writers

Comment #78648 by drive1 on October 14, 2007 at 4:13 am

Don't distract us from the real arguments ...
.. belief in God comes with no conditions attached

Smokescreen. The 'real arguments', from the ArchBish's point of view, are all about preventing the Anglican empire from disintegrating on his watch. With the threat of African and American schisms, this is just a case of transference. He's too intelligent to think this will really work (the faithful will be distracted, but his arguments will be ripped to shreds) .. but desperate people do desperate things.

19. The New Atheism: An Interview with Mitchell Cohen

Comment #77868 by drive1 on October 11, 2007 at 1:03 am

Ok article, I suppose. Sad to see the old Marx / Darwin / dedication mistake appearing again : http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CA/CA002_2.html

20. If Muslim doctors are intolerant, let them go

Comment #77470 by drive1 on October 9, 2007 at 11:47 am

Unfortunately, there's more to it than just religious sensibilities. We've imported a culture of ambulance-chasing lawyers, where everyone is a victim, everyone's 'rights' trump those of everyone else, and where justice and a tax-free lump sum compensation are synonymous. Sainsbury's can't sack 'em, because they'd sue. Ditto the Health Service and every other employer.

My employer has just instructed every employee to complete a detailed nationality/race/religious belief questionnaire 'to make sure we're not discriminating against any minorities'. Since the organisation is in the process of cutting the workforce by 20%, that's like asking turkeys to vote for Christmas. Naturally I've ticked the 'I do not wish to disclose this information' box. What's a middle class, middle age, heterosexual, able bodied, atheist white boy supposed to do? I suppose by failing to surrender my job that makes me a racist bigot.

21. Dawkins - what can't he be blamed for?

Comment #75731 by drive1 on October 3, 2007 at 1:56 pm

RD is The Stig

22. Dawkins - what can't he be blamed for?

Comment #75169 by drive1 on October 2, 2007 at 1:25 am

'Kubla Khan' was to contain the most profound and convincing proofs for the existence of the Prime Mover. I think we can all guess the identity of the 'person on business from Porlock' who broke Coleridge's concentration, thereby saving the Atheist movement from conceding defeat. For the time being, at any rate.

Not naming names, but - thank you, Richard.

23. Teacher: I was fired, said Bible isn't literal

Comment #73214 by drive1 on September 24, 2007 at 1:19 pm

Sceptical hats on, please people. Only Acleron has rumbled the teacher. What's the betting this is settled out of court? http://www.richarddawkins.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=24974

24. Crisis of faith in first secular school

Comment #72810 by drive1 on September 23, 2007 at 3:01 am

To be fair to the journalist, the actual paper has a 'facts' box, which hasn't been reproduced in their on-line version of the article. The 'facts' box contains pretty much the info d4m14n provides above.

25. Is 'Do Unto Others' Written Into Our Genes?

Comment #72242 by drive1 on September 20, 2007 at 3:05 pm

"Imagine visiting a town," Dr. Haidt writes, "where people wear no clothes, never bathe, have sex 'doggie style' in public, and eat raw meat by biting off pieces directly from the carcass."

Ah yes but, in its favour, Croydon does have an efficient tram system.

26. Why Christians should take Richard Dawkins seriously

Comment #72232 by drive1 on September 20, 2007 at 2:52 pm

Articles like this are good. The author almost gets it. He understands that any attempt to define god results in a static target that can be comprehensively debunked. The only god impossible to pin to the floor is the nebulous, will-o-the-wisp god of the gaps which, of course, only an elitist educated theologian can understand.

I take heart from this. The fault lines are unmistakable.

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

Comment #71524 by drive1 on September 19, 2007 at 1:16 am

The "atheistic creed, preached by dons such as Richard Dawkins" comment made me wince but, otherwise, this is encouraging.

Also worthy of note in news today in the UK is the swansong report from the Commission for Racial Equality. Although the report itself is worrying "Extremism, both political and religious, is on the rise as people become disillusioned and disconnected from each other,", the fact that the traditionally wishy-washy language of official reports has gone, is encouraging.

28. Review of Darwin's Angel

Comment #70151 by drive1 on September 14, 2007 at 8:06 am

the sheer factual inaccuracy of Christopher Hitchens's rant

For instance? Go on .. just one example would be nice for all us fact-obsessives.

29. Censoring Sir David

Comment #69711 by drive1 on September 12, 2007 at 10:41 am

TGD will be a lot shorter if it gets this sort of treatment.

The editing of the film is rather sad, actually. It's worth navigating to the original article so you can check the transcripts to see what was removed or altered. Truly the equivalent of fingers in ears and loud chanting.

30. The Rise of Atheist America

Comment #68891 by drive1 on September 9, 2007 at 3:07 am

nearly half of Americans, according to a recent Gallup poll, would be willing to vote for an atheist for president of the United States of America

Really? That's either encouraging news, or a big fat fib.

31. We need a more intelligent religion debate

Comment #68481 by drive1 on September 7, 2007 at 8:40 am

there is surely something religious in the communal ecstasy of a rave, or a pop concert, or a play, or a sporting event, or a political rally.


and then

This desire to generalise about religion is a case of intellectual cowardice.


hahahaha! Priceless.

32. Honest Mistakes or Willful Mendacity

Comment #68173 by drive1 on September 6, 2007 at 9:37 am

9th Commandment, isn't it .. Thou shalt not bear false witness? I believe I hear the faint crackle of Mr Cornwell's polyester trousers bursting into flame.

Richard, bearing in mind Mr Humphry's recent article declaring his distaste for atheistic certainty, the distressing falsehoods of Mr Cornwell, the technical failure, and the shortage of time, this listener thinks you handled the situation with admirable calmness and clarity.

However, now that apologists know that playing the man, not the ball (a classic political trick) makes 'good copy', expect more of the same. Have a chat with Hitch (or a seasoned performer like Derren Brown) and get some good 'anti-heckler' ad-libs in your armoury.

33. BBC Trust rejects Opus Dei appeal

Comment #65900 by drive1 on August 27, 2007 at 9:47 am

Ah yes .. and then there's dear Ruth Kelly, the government minister. Now, given that Opus Dei are opposed to homosexuality, you'd think it would be a bit odd to give her the role of minister for Women and Equality Issues. But this is what Tony Blair did. And then he moved her to the department of Education, where she set up Trust schools (including faith schools) with the blessing of the Conservative party (the main opposition party). Oh yeah.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Kelly

34. I'm gonna be a MOVIE STAR

Comment #65140 by drive1 on August 23, 2007 at 2:18 am

How interesting .. it appears that the umm 'pragmatic' methodologies of the political world are contaminating religious pursuits. God must be very proud of his earthly warriors (media division).

35. CNN Request for 'I-Reports' on religion

Comment #64948 by drive1 on August 22, 2007 at 1:18 pm

Can you fix the link, please (remove the %3C/blockquote%3E at the end). Ta.

36. Democratic Candidates on a Personal God

Comment #64346 by drive1 on August 19, 2007 at 5:17 pm

What on earth is going on? We've got Putin trying to resurrect the Cold War, Mugabe smashing Zimbabwe to pieces, all the US presidential candidates as bonkers as the present incumbent, the unelected PM here in the UK .. a man who sold half our gold reserves at the bottom of the market, destroyed our pension system and lied to us about tax increases .. leading in the bloody opinion polls. Political and religious factions killing each other all round the world, the climate disintegrating before our eyes, and another season of X Factor on the telly. I tell you .. I'm this close to losing it.

37. The Politics of God

Comment #64304 by drive1 on August 19, 2007 at 1:13 pm

A superb essay .. erudite, clear and insightful. And depressing. The author's ability to present the history of theological politics up to the present day, in plain language, is masterful. I read Hobbes' Leviathan at Uni .. I'm going to dig it out and read it again .. properly, this time.

38. Science and the Islamic World

Comment #62874 by drive1 on August 12, 2007 at 5:47 am

This is a superb article, admirably supported with plenty of fascinating statistics that are invaluable 'keepers'. The number of patents produced by Pakistan since 1960 (8!), the relative number of books translated by the Arab world in the past 1,000 years (fewer than Spain in just one year), the number of female students at universities in Islamic countries (higher than I would ever have guessed) and so on.

Some of the revelations are deeply troubling:

In June 2006, Nigeria's president Olusegun Obasanjo announced he will plow $5 billion of oil money into R&D.

I guess this would be the same Nigeria where Sharia Law is burgeoning and 'offences', such as homosexuality, lead to the death penalty: http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1931

But herein lies a glimmer of hope. The one factor that gives many Islamic states a disproportionate degree of power and influence is oil. A finite resource. Now that countries like the UK and the US are net importers of oil, the race is on to reduce dependence on this energy source. I doubt it'll happen in our life-times but, perhaps, our grandchildren will see a re-balancing in world affairs?

39. Why Richard Dawkins is right on alternative medicine - but not when it comes to religion

Comment #62514 by drive1 on August 10, 2007 at 2:45 am

BMMcArdle asks:

What planet is this guy from?

He's from planet Privilege, where religion appears to be treated like a family tradition or hobby. He's part of the moderate defensive circle, so accurately described by Sam Harris, protecting the extremists.

Collecting cultural and intellectual cachet by virtue of one's relatives or acquaintances is not a bad thing in itself. But wisdom and insight is rarely accrued by osmosis. To claim that religion "..devotes itself principally to instructing its adherents in how to behave well in their dealings with others" is, simply, wrong. That's what most people may wish religion was for. That's not the reality of it.

40. Curriculum for Baptist School

Comment #62405 by drive1 on August 9, 2007 at 4:07 pm

PE: Leap for Jesus
RE: More Jesus, plus some other minor religions that are clearly crazy and wrong
Lunch Break: Scoff for Heaven
Geography: Yup, the Flood really happened.
Music: No penis shaped woodwind instruments and no rock music.
Choir Practice: compulsory pederasty
Sex Ed': Don't. Just don't!
Biology: dissect a worm and watch its soul fly free.
Those poor kids.

41. New age therapies cause 'retreat from reason'

Comment #61526 by drive1 on August 5, 2007 at 2:53 pm

. Organised religion, particularly in its fundamentalist form, is a clear and present danger to peace. If that isn't true, then I apologise for being a bit of a drama-queen; I'm overstating the case and am guilty of "misunderestimating" (copyright Dubya Inc). But if it is true, then where's the merit in attacking sugar pills, distilled water and flim-flam?

I'm not for one moment defending this stuff. It's cruel, deluded and unscientific. But no amount of tantric chanting, crystal waving or angel counting is going to start WWIII. A high profile, religiously motivated assassination in Palestine, Saudi, Iraq or Pakistan easily could. That's my point .. plus my obsessive need to play devil's advocate whenever a red herring is waved and the pussy cats start mewing in unison. There's a bigger fish to fry. The bbq is already fired up, RD has his apron on, and the Hitch has already gutted our lunch. This isn't the time to hoover the carpet.

42. New age therapies cause 'retreat from reason'

Comment #61486 by drive1 on August 5, 2007 at 10:49 am

I can't see why stating out loud that their claims are bogus is a bad idea.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the impression I get is that the god/no god debate is losing impetus, with both sides firmly entrenched. The people we should be reaching out to are in the middle ground. They likely have vague notions of god / Gaia / auras etc .. they just haven't thought it through. If we say 'there is no god; oh, and by the way, all that other stuff you think might have something going for it is tosh too', I'm not sure the tide will go our way.

We don't give stuff credence because we don't mention it. We're looking to win hearts and minds, are we not? Alienating people will give us an easy victory. But it'll be Pyrrhic, nonetheless.

Possibly.

43. New age therapies cause 'retreat from reason'

Comment #61479 by drive1 on August 5, 2007 at 10:21 am

Dr Benway wrote: By criticizing popular but unfounded claims in medicine and other areas, I think we clarify the nature of our complaint against religion. Religious people frequently pretend that our beef with religion is due to .. some .. irrational hatred of something most of the world embraces. There's no better way to counter this accusation than by taking on unreason generally.

As a general principle, one should pick one's battles carefully. The majority of religious people I know do not espouse new age therapy, crystal healing, fairies, or even Gaia theories. All we'll do is convince a separate section of society that we're a bunch of dogmatic, hectoring know-it-alls.

By its very nature, homeopathy and related areas are all capable of being judged using scientific methodology. The approach should be empirical, nothing else. In attacking religion we use very different tools, such as humour, logic and lit'crit'. I honestly think we're in danger of getting too cocky and losing the passion and humour which we can concentrate on a 'one-issue' campaign. When the feminism movement started gaining momentum, they didn't diversify into saving gay whales, or some other project. Instead they concentrated on the key areas of opposition, breaking them down one by one. Hopefully we're smart enough not to try and reinvent the wheel.

44. New age therapies cause 'retreat from reason'

Comment #61449 by drive1 on August 5, 2007 at 7:42 am

I'm not sure about this strategy at all. I appreciate that RD's role is in educating the public about science generally. But by starting battles on various fronts, there's a very real risk that the charges of 'intolerance' and 'lack of intellectual curiosity' will stick. Religion is a huge thing to fight .. can we really afford to dilute our efforts?

On a more scientific note, is it not the case that a number of medical break-throughs have resulted from studying folklore or ancient practices? Do not the rain forests yield amazing, unimagined, chemicals? If we lump all unresearched stuff together and attack it, is it not possible we'll make a mistake? And if we say 'well, idea X might be worthy of more research but idea Y, albeit similar, clearly isn't', then isn't the message a bit piecemeal? Let us not become victims of our very own dihydrogen monoxide knee-jerk error.

45. Yellowstone's Wolves Save Its Aspens

Comment #61442 by drive1 on August 5, 2007 at 7:10 am

Fear is fascinating .. it's more than risk evaluation. I live in an area where there are a lot of domestic cats. Watching the different strategies of the birds that feed in my back garden is absorbing, particularly when a new cat appears in the neighbourhood. It must be very difficult for scientists to factor in such apparently subjective motives and drivers.

Having said that, surely the most parsimonious explanation for the thriving aspen is that prayers on their behalf are simply more fervent than those made on behalf of the elk '¬)

46. The Flea Circus Invites a Newcomer!

Comment #60669 by drive1 on August 2, 2007 at 4:21 pm

Somewhat off-topic (apologies) but I was browsing David's church site and found something rather alarming in the current newsletter. It appears that the church is losing ministers faster than it can recruit them. If I understand correctly this is largely due to 'stress related illness'.

Reading between the lines, I guess a large element of the stress must relate to finances. Elsewhere in the newsletter, the bean counters report pension deficits, underpaid staff, no money for all the community initiatives you'd like to fund etc etc. All of this at a time of falling church attendances and income.

In the light of this, I shall endeavour to find a copy of David's book and purchase it and would urge everyone to do the same. I mean, someone's got to help. Can't leave it to the church to look after their own. This was the report writer's answer to the problem of ministers falling sick : "My own view is that the current situation requires prayer, sympathy, grace and above all an appreciation of the love of Christ".

I didn't get my morality from any religious text, but I know the right thing to do when I see it.

Later: ok .. book ordered from Amazon (not available yet, though.) It'd better not delay the delivery of the heavy metal cd's I ordered at the same time, mind.

47. The Flea Circus Invites a Newcomer!

Comment #60227 by drive1 on August 1, 2007 at 10:50 am

I'm in favour of anything that gets people visiting book stores. In my local store, the religion section is towards the back of the shop, and consists of 3 shelves of books. To get to it you have to pass the 'popular science' section .. a dozen shelves of books. The science books tend to have really snappy titles too .. with sexy words like chaos, time, cosmos, bang and penguin. The devil, it seems, has all the good books. Yay! Or should that be Muwahahaha?

48. The hitch in Hitchens' thinking

Comment #58898 by drive1 on July 26, 2007 at 3:09 pm

#58881 by the_assayer : thanks for posting that. Very powerful and puts things in perspective.

49. The hitch in Hitchens' thinking

Comment #58731 by drive1 on July 26, 2007 at 2:18 am

I'm ok with this article. The smaller and more nebulous the definition of 'god', and the more gap-dependent it becomes, the more schisms we'll see. I'm all in favour of the religious redefining their god in this way. It's the thin end of the wedge in the general move from theism to deism. Chris 'Honey, I shrunk our god' Hedges is to be encouraged.

50. Response to the God Delusion

Comment #57961 by drive1 on July 22, 2007 at 4:25 pm

On the positive side, he does use plain English. But it's the usual fare, with the speaker misunderstanding the 'god of the gaps' argument, claiming RD lacks humility, and that belief in the christian god is not 'evidence free' (yup, he refers to the Bible for the evidence). Love the bit at the end of part 1 where he correctly states that RD's position is that we can not conclusively prove god doesn't exist. But, of course, the rev is convinced god does exist (in part 3 he refers, several times, to the 'historical truth' of the resurrection of JC). Yet he doesn't see the irony of stating a scientist with an open mind lacks humility but a total believer, with no 'evidence' beyond a compendium of ancient texts, has humility.

Part 3 is just total testes. Sadly, despite talking at length about the 'writer' of Genesis, he doesn't offer us a name. All I learned from this section is that when JC came back to life, he wasn't wearing a dinner plate on his head. I do worry about the symbolism of green curtains, though.

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