30. desember 2002

The honest creationist Richard Dawkins finds, to his amusement and frustration, an honest creationist: Kurt Wise, one of very few with a relevant PhD in geology from Harvard. So how can such a person combine belief in an Earth less than 10,000 years old with his knowledge of hard science? It takes blind faith, as Dr Wise himself explains in his contribution to In Six Days: Why 50 Scientists Choose to Believe in Creation. Dawkins explains and quotes: "He [Wise] went right through from Genesis 1 to Revelations 22, literally cutting out every verse that would have to go if the scientific worldview were true. At the end of this exercise, there was so little left of his Bible that . . . try as I might, and even with the benefit of intact margins throughout the pages of Scripture, I found it impossible to pick up the Bible without it being rent in two. I had to make a decision between evolution and Scripture. Either the Scripture was true and evolution was wrong or evolution was true and I must toss out the Bible. . . . It was there that night that I accepted the Word of God and rejected all that would ever counter it, including evolution. With that, in great sorrow, I tossed into the fire all my dreams and hopes in science. See what I mean about pathetic? Most revealing of all is Wise’s concluding paragraph: Although there are scientific reasons for accepting a young earth, I am a young-age creationist because that is my understanding of the Scripture. As I shared with my professors years ago when I was in college, if all the evidence in the universe turns against creationism, I would be the first to admit it, but I would still be a creationist because that is what the Word of God seems to indicate. Here I must stand. See what I mean about honest?" You can't help but sharing Richard Dawkins' frustration. Obviously, if this is the mind state of creationists, no arguments in the world will penetrate their dogmatic beliefs. Sadly, few creationists are as honest about their fanaticism as Dr Wise. 6:15:29 PM    comment []

Limits of tolerance Does tolerance mean being tolerant to those who are violently intolerant towards us? That is the question that raised the most interest at a New York interfaith conference, as Serge Schmemann in the NYT explains. I see the question most as an attempt to be amusing, even though I realise it is deadly serious. It is like the gullible who say you have to be skeptical to skepticism (huh?). Tolerance as a principle is a two way street, as I see it. And it is not a suicide pact. 1:34:34 PM    comment []

Extremists say Bush is 'too tolerant' After the 'crusade' gaffe following 9/11, President Bush has emphasised tolerance for Muslims both in the US and abroad. He has frequently visited mosques, met with Muslim leaders like Hosni Mubarak (picture) and told publicly that Islam is a religion of peace. The American administration has emphasised in an exemplary way that the US-led coalition is not at war with Islam, but with extremists who, it argues, misuses religion. Enter the other extremists. Conservative Christians like Jerry Falwell, Paul Weyrich and Franklin Graham has made every attempt to portray the war on terror as a war between the good Christianity and the evil Islam. They directly oppose Bush's agenda of avoiding to offend moderate Muslims, and provide the extremists on the Islamic side with lots of ammunition they can use to convince moderates to join their war. Having such 'friends,' Bush hardly needs enemies. 11:17:26 AM    comment []

Human cloning truth witness with a past Clonaid, a company founded by the UFO sect the Raelians, earlier announced that the first human clone is born. They also announced that they have made a science journalist, Dr. Michael A. Guillen, responsible for verifying the claims. Dr Guillen has an interesting past, not only as award winning science presenter, but also as one who very easily believes (genuinly or to cater for his audience) in claims of the paranormal. As a truth witness, he is certainly not the best candidate to convince skeptics. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. 8:11:55 AM    comment []

Virtual Occoquan A new edition is out, and a special holidays edition with lots of extra material: the best of Salon blogs the last few weeks, and a special part with selected material from the year from some bloggers. You will find my two entries about the Face of Jesus, and lots of other good articles. 7:27:04 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.01.03; 04:01:51.