Like "Global Cooling" this ploy was a big deal back in the 60s.
The pinko-commies just never give up.
Ah, Dawkins. The “biologist” who couldn’t begin to describe the basic chemistry of RNA? The “biologist” to whom elementary quantum physics (the regulator of all things - life or otherwise) would be a mystery. Yup, he’s gonna tell me about God. Gads, he wouldn’t last in my freshmen classes, let alone some real science stuff. Why doesn’t he stick to his basic memorization meme and leave real science to the rest of us. Actually, I don’t really think that God even gives a remote care about his thoughts... since they’re so obviously weak and ill organized.
The rants contained in them are easily refuted by those who have ears to hear.
This guy’s gonna get one hell of a shock when he finally kicks off.
More power to Dawkens and his fellow atheist evangelists!
Now go to Saudi Arabia and evangelize the heathens there please.
Dawkins is absolutely sure and so must be applying an absolute standard. Whose is it? Sigh. Thanks, Fork, for keeping us posted on the march of intellectually bankrupt thought!
Dear Editor:
Who gets to define what is good, moral, charitable, evil, etc.? You? Me? MTV? A Saddam? A Stalin?
To ancient Aztecs - cutting out the still beating heart of a human sacrifices (including children) was the highest order of good.
To a large percent of Muslims - killing, raping and enslaving infidels is the highest order of good in Islam.
To Hindus - Attacking, ignoring, prejudicing against and letting die for people in lower order castes is perfectly alright.
To certain Pacific Tribes - eating your enemy was the highest form of good.
And I could go on for pages...
The works we hold in value in the West are good works from a Christian viewpoint:
Matthew 22:37-40 — Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
And Jesus also said “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” (Luke 6:31; Luke 10:27 (affirming of Moses) and Matthew 7:12)
But by no means has this “philosophy” been accepted the world over as “good or moral.” Not by a long shot.
What makes murder inherently wrong (to Christians) is not that it feels wrong, but that a transcendent Creator to whom we are answerable commands: “Thou shalt not murder.” What makes kindness to others inherently right (to Christians) is not that human reason says so, but that God does: “Love thy neighbor as thyself; I am the Lord.”
For what is “good or evil” without God? Without any footing for moral actions - anything can be rationalized as good or evil. You can just make it up as you go along. Good actions can be whatever society thinks it is with the popular culture at the time. If that be in Nazi Germany or Pol Pot’s Cambodia or North Korea - that means doing “good” is slaughtering millions of people and sending millions more into misery. But, by their own human standards at the time in history, they were all doing good.
You grew up and live in a country founded in Judeo-Christian values, so it may seem obvious to you what is “good.” But that is due to the Judeo-Christian influences on you (even if you don’t believe in God or never have been to Church). To others without that kind of influence, doing “good” can be radically different.
Regards,
2banana
Challenge.
The IRS
After watching this clown Dawkins struggle to answer even the most basic challenges to his positions posed by Ben Stein in Expelled, I can’t believe anyone gives this guy the time of day. What passes for ‘genius’ and ‘expertise’ in the liberal world of academia is an embarrassment, for all involved.
Once again, atheists are being defined by their opponents. The only thing that all atheists have in common is an understanding that there is no proof for the existance of a god.
There are atheist jihadists, people who treat atheism as a religion, but the vast majority simply are like everyone else and live like everyone else.
This article, like “Expelled”, was timed for release around the visit of the Pope in a cynical ploy to make money off of the faithful. Contrary to the implication of the article, athism isn’t a religion and it doesn’t need churches. There is literally nothing to celebrate or worship. I am aware of no “hymns” in atheism. I assume the author meant they sang songs. People sing “take me out to the ballgame” during the seventh inning stretch. A baseball stadium isn’t a church and that song isn’t a hymn.
Religion ain’t science and atheism ain’t religion.
Whether those people believe it or not, we ALL belong to God. We are on this earth for a purpose, God’s purpose.
There are some who think they are in charge of their lives. They are. But, God still uses them.
Those of us that accept God’s will, know our purpose and do not fear “death”. We also know that the Bible requires faith. It will never be understood by closed minds and hearts.
Faith is required to unlock its meaning.
My problem is not with God but with an anthropomorphic God. We can choose to refer to God in ways that are cartoonish or in ways that reflect the true nature of the Laws of the Universe. I happen to believe that science gives us a more accurate idea about how an infinite Universe composed of matter, energy, space and time can produce sentient minds (us).
We are Christ-like in that we can discover how the Universe is constructed and appreciate the miracle of existence. All other considerations about God are metaphor projections of aspects of our own subconscious- God as just, avenger, parental, guiding, having a “plan”, etc.; these are all human attributes.
The Universe seen through a telescope is anything but human, however we are derived from it- that is the God/Christ connection. The problem with metaphor religions is that they require ministers and imams to tell us what it all means or we have personal epiphanies guided by ministers and imams which seal the fate of our minds.
The God revealed by science is a god for free beings, accessible to all as originally conceived. The laws and patterns of the Universe discoverable by sentient minds may not press us to mama’s bosom, but they sure make life more sensible and allow us to make further discoveries and advance civilization rather than trap it in a feudal hell like them Aztecs and Hindus and Islamics.
God may never be but if He is, He always will be. He can not die.
INTREP for the DOOMED
I don’t approve of atheism. It’s a particularly rigid and fundamentalist religion.
With acquittal of the officers charged in the Sean Bell trial, one is reminded again of the difference between real issues, such as the two systems of justice we have in this country and ‘media’ issues such as setting up atheist churches ( and gay marriage ).
In the usual deceitful manner of atheists, McManus neglects to disclose that of the 16.1 percent who are Religiously Unaffiliated, only 1.6 percent are atheists. 2.4 percent are Agnostic and the remaining 12.1 are ‘Nothing in Particular’.
Also, another LIE in the New York Magazine print version table of contents: ‘With anti-religion polemics toppings the book charts…’ according to the New York Times, only one of the bestsellers today is an ‘anti-religion’ book: The God Delusion, at # 12 on the NY Times Paperback Nonfiction Best Sellers. ’90 Minutes in Heaven’ is # 8.
The NY Times Nonfiction Best Sellers also include: Grace ( Eventually ), and The Reason for God.