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The New Atheists: Researchers Crusade against American Fundamentalists (EuroPress Alert)
Der Spiegel Online ^ | October 26, 2006 | Jörg Blech

Posted on 10/28/2006 8:46:36 PM PDT by Jacob Kell

In the United States, atheists are becoming an ostracized minority. But now evolutionary biologists are trying to turn the tables: According to their argument, religion is the source of evil. Morals and selflessness are not God-given - they are the result of evolution.

When Richard Dawkins, a zoologist at Oxford University, steps up to the altar he seems visibly pleased to see the pews in the church fully occupied. In the best Queen's English, he reads from his book: "The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully."

(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: atheism; biologist; christophobia; evolution; misotheism; religion; richarddawkins; theocracy; theophobia
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Comment #21 Removed by Moderator

To: Jacob Kell

I like the author's name "blech" -- exactly what i think of Dawkins.


22 posted on 10/28/2006 10:54:16 PM PDT by tdewey10 (Can we please take out iran's nuclear capability before they start using it?)
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To: Jacob Kell

Bookmark


23 posted on 10/28/2006 10:59:47 PM PDT by GOP Poet
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To: Dreagon
Nobody trusts a science led by partisans with agendas.

Sadly, this is not entirely true. Think of the environmental science activists like Micheal Mann and his hockey stick.

24 posted on 10/28/2006 11:00:45 PM PDT by AndyTheBear (Disastrous social experimentation is the opiate of elitist snobs.)
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To: Slings and Arrows
With no G-d, what moral axioms do they use to call religion evil?

Good point, but I'm afraid it will be missed by those that don't already get it.

People who are bad at making good moral decisions are usually the best at justifying themselves, and the least good at understanding morality. The guy quoted at the top of the article of coarse thinks he is too good for God. We are talking psychosis here. It is both fascinating and unnerving to try to talk sense about morality with someone desperately hiding from God.

25 posted on 10/28/2006 11:10:22 PM PDT by AndyTheBear (Disastrous social experimentation is the opiate of elitist snobs.)
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To: AndyTheBear
People who are bad at making good moral decisions are usually the best at justifying themselves

Too true.

I was thinking from the perspective of logic. As C. S. Lewis demonstrated in The Abolition of Man, everybody has moral axioms, whether or not they are consciously aware of it. Dawkins and Harris seem to fall firmly into the "not" category. To save myself a rant, they (as summarized in the article) blather endlessly about why a species adopts a set of behaviors, but present no reason why I, or any other individual, should adopt those behaviors.

26 posted on 10/29/2006 12:00:33 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows (Natalie Maines fears me...)
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To: Slings and Arrows
I haven't read The Abolition of Man. But I am now re-reading Mere Christianity and have recently read Pilgrim's Regress. I find myself appreciating the brilliance of C.S. Lewis more and more these days.
27 posted on 10/29/2006 12:03:52 AM PDT by AndyTheBear (Disastrous social experimentation is the opiate of elitist snobs.)
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To: Jacob Kell
Morals and selflessness are not God-given - they are the result of evolution.

Morality and all of its associated ideals are rooted entirely in the presupposition some higher power defines what is correct in human behavior.

28 posted on 10/29/2006 12:53:03 AM PDT by Sir Francis Dashwood (LET'S ROLL!)
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To: WestVirginiaRebel

Morality and all of its associated ideals are rooted entirely in the presupposition some higher power defines what is correct for human behavior.


29 posted on 10/29/2006 12:57:19 AM PDT by Sir Francis Dashwood (LET'S ROLL!)
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To: Slings and Arrows
With no G-d, what moral axioms do they use to call religion evil?

Their favorite ones, that of a condescending oligarchy of secular humanists. Looking back to the glory days of likes of Freud, Jung, Sanger, and other so-called scientists who zealously fought to deny the presence of God, our modern day Illuminati do not merely deny the existince of God, they openly hate Him and work diligently to lash out at Him. On the one hand, they worship at the altar of Charles Darwin's evolution theory, supposing man to be no more noble than apes. On the other hand, they feel it their role to enlighten man from the chains of religion as if they have some moral duty to do so.

Truly, the athiest of the day is in a moral dilemma. If one were to bonk them over the head with a large stick, they would protest, but on what grounds? If we're simply the product of evolution, then let the process play itself out, bonk 'em on the head. Survival of the fittest, baby.

30 posted on 10/29/2006 1:05:18 AM PDT by kittycatonline.com
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To: Slings and Arrows
I was thinking from the perspective of logic. As C. S. Lewis demonstrated in The Abolition of Man, everybody has moral axioms, whether or not they are consciously aware of it. Dawkins and Harris seem to fall firmly into the "not" category. To save myself a rant, they (as summarized in the article) blather endlessly about why a species adopts a set of behaviors, but present no reason why I, or any other individual, should adopt those behaviors.

I've not read Abolition of Man, but I am a big fan of Lewis, too.

And, from the piece:

But now evolutionary biologists are trying to turn the tables: According to their argument, religion is the source of evil. Morals and selflessness are not God-given - they are the result of evolution.

Turning the tables? That's rich. There's always been a certain anti-God strain in some of those who push evolution as the answer to how we came to be. I wasn't gifted with an intellect designed for understanding complex science, but that said, that also makes it impossible for me to accept evolution as fact, because my lack of understanding requires a leap of faith. And, if I'm going to make any leap of faith, it'll be with God.

Here's a piece by Tom Wolfe that I found a while back, that's pretty good.

31 posted on 10/29/2006 1:23:16 AM PDT by AlbionGirl
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To: metmom
The ultimate irony; evolution gave rise to the very morals it denies.

Well, we transcended Communism, perhaps one day we will also transcend evolution.

32 posted on 10/29/2006 2:26:08 AM PST by justa-hairyape
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To: justa-hairyape; VadeRetro; PatrickHenry
Everything is the result of mindless, directionless, pointless Darwinian evolution according to Dawkins.

Religious believers will have the last laugh, if for no other reason than they will still be around, merrily reproducing, long after the liberal atheist evolutionists have extincted themselves through contraception, abortion, gay marriage, and euthanasia.

The hilarious irony of it all is, Dawkins and his ilk who reverence Darwinian evolution with greater fervor than the children of Israel reverenced Jehovah, are slated for annihilation by their own Darwinian god. In strict obedience to his edicts they are strangling themselves with their own hands and leaving the field to the religious infidels they detest.

33 posted on 10/29/2006 2:35:12 AM PST by JCEccles
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To: dr_lew
Anyway, I'm pretty sure most carnivores strive to kill their prey before they eat them, as they are a lot more cooperative as a meal when dead.

Actually, unless you are 'designed' or 'evolved' as a carrion eater, most uncivilized carnivores prefer their prey to be alive when eaten. Dead animals tend to go sour very fast. Lots of bad bacteria and other disease organisms proliferate in a dead carcass. FYI - I eat meat killed professionally and cooked of course. However, sushi is fairly decent if fresh.

34 posted on 10/29/2006 2:35:44 AM PST by justa-hairyape
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To: JCEccles
In strict obedience to his edicts they are strangling themselves with their own hands and leaving the field to the religious infidels they detest.

That is what they are best at, unfortunately. While working in Hollywood I once heard an old hippie say to someone he had not seen in a couple of decades, 'Wow, you are still alive ?'.

The ancient City-States in Greece learned similar lessons long before the single god religions appeared. The story goes that the Thebans actually fielded a fighting force comprised of all gay men (called the Theban Sacred Band). The theory was that gay men would fight stronger if their gay lover was fighting next to them. Unfortunately for the gay 'Sacred Band', the bisexual Macedonian Alexander the Great slaughtered them all in one battle. A marble lion statue still stands at Chaeronea where the Sacred Band are buried. Apparently, some lessons take thousands of years to be learnt.

35 posted on 10/29/2006 2:57:01 AM PST by justa-hairyape
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To: Jacob Kell

"Religion is the source of evil"

- Karl Marx


36 posted on 10/29/2006 3:55:58 AM PST by RoadTest ( He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. -Rev. 3:6)
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To: metmom

Rom. 1:21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools.


37 posted on 10/29/2006 4:19:55 AM PST by WKB (I Refuse To Have A Battle Of Wits With An Unarmed Person.)
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To: Jacob Kell

Postmodernism is the latest in a long line of absurdities."

Quote:

"...Freudianism says that all beliefs and behaviors flow out of certain psychosexual complexes ...all beliefs except, of course, Freudianism, and all behaviors except, of course, the behavior of expounding Freudianism.

Evolutionism says that all characteristics, including the development of thinking brains, are selected naturally to favor survival...not necessarily the apprehension of truth; this belief suggests that the very organ which conceives of evolution is oriented to produce useful theories, but not necessarily true ones. And radical postmodernism rejects the universal truthfulness of every other belief while assuming its own position as the
only universally true one."

By Professor McLaren


38 posted on 10/29/2006 6:29:57 AM PST by Richbee
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To: gidget7
"According to their argument, religion is the source of evil. Morals and selflessness are not God-given - they are the result of evolution. "

Ok, let's see here... If religion is the source of evil, and morals and selfishness are a result of evolution (morals being blamed on religion) then evolution must be the source of evil. I got it.

39 posted on 10/29/2006 7:26:42 AM PST by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: JCEccles

Great post.


40 posted on 10/29/2006 7:30:24 AM PST by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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