Tuesday, March 25, 2008
God Etc 2
I'm sorry I know I said I wasn't going to get all ad hominem about this, but this story - Dawkins sneaks in to see terrible film about creationism shock - has weakened my resolve. On his site Dawkins devotes 3,530 words to the incident. This, I would remind you, is the holder of the Charles Simonyi Chair of the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford. Now, let me see, what if the same thing had happened to a real intellectual, say, Isaiah Berlin? Just wondered.
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A blog about, among other things, imaginary ideas - What ifs? and Imagine thats. What if photographs looked nothing like what we see with our eyes? Imagine that the Berlin Wall had never come down. What if we were the punchline of an interminable joke? All contributions welcome.
Bryan,
ReplyDeleteagainst my better judgement I have just read that article (first time for me and dickie).
Forget him, he sounds just like a loser with attitude, somewhere in his past he was probably knocked back by some vicar of Dibley type.
A pulpit occupier and no Turin Shroudist I bet.
Those who serve in the armies of organised religion see their power wane. They see, they think, science taking away the mystery and the wonder that has always been part of their territory. OTOH the scientists with their uber-rationality - but lack of tact - see eegits talking drivel and calling it science. The touchpaper is lit and away we go.
ReplyDeleteAnd scientists think they detect cynicism. Ding! "It's a changed market; let's change the product!" And so we get intelligent design.
It is a bit silly for people to pretend that ID is in any way scientific. The theory has so many holes, it is more holes than theory. Let us lay it gently to rest. Matthew Harrison Brady blubbed because they laughed at him. It will happen again, if they are not careful.
But Dawkins should stick to his knitting and leave religion to the religious.
dick dawkins is a dick dawkins is a dick dawkins is a
ReplyDeleteSeen scrawled on a wall in Oxford.
By ghostly hand?
Not me, Dickie, i employ people to do that sort of thing for me.
ReplyDeleteYou employ God!
ReplyDelete(Silence)
(I'm genuflecting before my laptop.)
I just finished Berlin's 'The First and the Last'. From what I read, he was a wonderfully reserved, old-style intellectual, hugely interested in the history of ideas and, interestingly, a staunch advocate of pluralism. Can't see him rubbing shoulders with Dawkins and his ilk.
ReplyDelete