I am watching this right now.

The only assessment I can give it is "Biologist versus idiot".

Comment 603 by Tekncikal

Works just as well as the Kalam cosmological argument.

Richard, my condolences on the loss of your father.

Aw shucks, Richard. Looks like you will have to miss out on the social event of the season. Try not to cry too much.

Rabbi Sacks seems to have missed the fact that Australia is both a country and a continent. Our natural rate of population growth is also negative. We have a nett population increase only due to immigration. Religion is also a dying concept amongst the Austalian population, we have a 10% church attendance rate. Therefore, Europe is not the only continent that is becoming more secular and failing to replace the existing population through natural growth. I wrote off the rest of the article because it was just as poorly researched and argued.

And if the scientists don't heed the RCC's warning, the RCC will uh what?

For once I agree with the fuckwit.  Benny, don't inflict yourself on the British people.

 

Comment #486356 by InYourFaceNewYorker
Julie, I agree entirely.
Fortunately, Fielding has been very quite lately. As the press here reported, he couldn't be contacted for about two weeks after Robin Williams (a science reporter on national radio) told the Global Atheist Conference that Richard had said privately that Fielding had the IQ of an earthworm. Personally, I thought that the statement was an insult to earthworms.

Comment #485824 by Opisthokont:

I cannot be the only person here comparing this incident to the invented slights at the heart of Ben Stein's awful documentary. I would savour the irony if it were not so painful.

Comment #485831 by poejavlo:

Expelled!

I have to agree with you and Quine on this. Here they are running around bleating about IDiots supposedly losing their jobs because of their beliefs, yet as soon as one of their group supports evolution, he gets the sack. Of course, they won't see/admit their hypocracy on this issue.

Comment #485523 by TheLordHumungus on May 1, 2010 at 11:31 pm

Holy smokes! Richard makes that parliamentarian from Australia look like a complete and utter moron.

It's not hard to make Steve Fielding look like a moron. He does it himself every time he speaks.

Comment #485497 by Charisma on May 1, 2010 at 10:25 pm

I've just watched the whole thing... does anyone know why Richard is constantly looking up at the ceiling?

I suspects he's thinkging "Is this half wit for real?" As is shown in the full video, Richard was stunned that Fielding could be so stupid and still get elected to parliament.
I was one of several Australians who felt the need to apoligise for the poor showing off all our MPs on the program; however, Fielding was by far the worst, and they sat him right next to Richard.

While I am glad the we Australians got rid of Ken Ham, I am amazed the U.S. doesn't have some sort of law against the importation of morons.

All, after 21 years in the Australian Air Force, I can tell you that if they removed all the chaplains from the military (Australian, anyway) absolutely no one would notice. My only dealings with them were that we had to buy sacrementatl wine occasionally when I worked in logistics.

Alternative Carpark and MarkOnTheRiver, chaplains are non-combatants, they are not trained or allowed to fight. Also, they cannot take command of combat personnel.
Sillygirl, chaplains in the Australian Defence Force are not allowed to seek converts. They have to wait for people to come to them. I can assure you that reality is not like MASH. The chaplains are generally ignored by most personnel.
Most military organisations have secular counsellors and ready access to psychiatrists (comes with the fact that killing people is not natural to most people), so a lot of the 'pastoral' role of priests/ministers is the civilian world is not required in the military.

Jos,
my experience in the Australian Air Force is that very few people in our armed forces are religious; well below one percent of those I met in my 21 years of service.
It just doesn't seem to appeal to religious types here in Australia.
We had chaplains but viewed them as rather odd officers who had no relevance to what we did.

Although the Vatican is now trying to draw a line under the memo fiasco, Papal aides believe the Government’s choice of non-Catholic staff typifies the “lack of respect” being shown towards the first ever state visit by a Pontiff.

Interesting point. Does the Vatican City employ non-catholic staff to prepare for a visit by a non-catholic head of state? Bet it doesn't.

#483579 by Richard Dawkins on April 25, 2010 at 9:29 pm

Give those civil servants a medal, for services to humour.

I would have thought that a promotion to permanent secretary would be appropriate.

Here is a link to an opinion piece in 'The Age' newspaper in Melbourne. Some of the people here might like to submit comments on it.

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/evildoers-not-pope-to-blame-20100414-sdyj.html

Interesting to note what is happening here. One lot of theiests (Catholics) is blaming another lot of theists (Jews) for causing the problems the first lot created for themselves. Guess who is standing up for the second lot, the atheists.
I get it now, it's a plot to convince the Catholics that the Jews are in league with the atheists.

Richard (or should that be Deputy Dawkins), I suspect that the most likely outcome is that Benny XVI won't visit the U.K. with this threat hanging over his head. However, that in and of itself is probably a good outcome. Let's hope a few other countries do the same thing.
If it does cause Benny to stay home, it might also make a few members of the RCC reconsider their stance. After all, if he has nothing to hide, why would he be hiding?

Comment #477962 by memeweaver on April 9, 2010 at 3:26 am

Quicktime player is not essential to play MPe files. It is just there as a convenience.

Perhaps the Vatican sees this as a 'hate' campaign as it has run so many hate campaigns itself that it can see things in only one way.

Paula, another excellent article. Cutting, but dead accurate.
I hope that you can get can get it repeated in an Australian newspaper ('The Sydney Morning Herald' or 'The Age' preferrably). It would add to the discussion of this issue here.

Does this mean that insurance policies in the U.S. will have to include exemptions for "Acts of Deepak Chopra" as well?

I was going to say that I don't believe in kicking a man when he is down, but in this case it was fair.
But now Dr Williams appears to have withdrawn the kick.

"... Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? Assuming all of this is true, and who’s to say it isn’t, I’m right."

The author obviously studied theology.

Comment #475142 by protestlamb on April 1, 2010 at 4:48 am
WTF?

74. Comment #473875 by NonLocality on March 28, 2010 at 10:59 pm

It's not an argument from authority unless you actually consider yourself to be more intelligent than the likes of Isaac Newton and Henri Poincaré.

Sir Isaac Newton was anti-trinitarian, and he had to keep the fact to himself so that he didn't get burnt at the stake. Does that say something about kind and loving Christians?

9. Comment #473339 by epeeist on March 27, 2010 at 4:27 pm

Epeeist, I wouldn't be surprised if 'The Onion's' take on this issue matched the RCC's attitude word for word. Blame the victims, not the perpetrator.

I suspect that you are Australian. Is this true? Remember we forced on of our Governors-General to resign because he covered up child abuse and blamed a 14 year-old for 'leading the priest on'. Holliingworth was CoE, but to me it's the same industry, just a different company.

How is reporting the facts smearing the Pope's name? Unless, of course, he has something to hide.

Selamat Hari Ulang Tahun keenampuluh-sembilan, Bapak Richard. Saya harap ada lebih banyak lagi.

(Happy 69th birthday, Richard. I hope that you have many more.)

Kliwon

Check this one out on Pharyngula:

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/04/what_should_jesus_have_done.php