Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: metacognative
Maybe you'll try to figure out why someone else's belief sytem upsets your world.

What upsets me is that I share 99.9% of my genome with a worm like you. When are you going to retract your libelous accusation about Dan Dennett, which you admit you can't corroborate?

623 posted on 01/30/2005 2:49:40 PM PST by Right Wing Professor (Evolve or die!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 618 | View Replies ]


To: Right Wing Professor

a quick google got this: go goggle.

Dennett portrayed Darwinism as "a universal solvent,
capable of cutting right to the heart of everything in
sight" -- and particularly effective in dissolving religious
beliefs. The most ardent creationist could not have said
it with more conviction, but Dennett's agreement with them
ended there. He despised creationists, arguing that "there
are no forces on this planet more dangerous to us all than
the fanaticisms of fundamentalism." Displaying a degree
of intolerance more characteristic of a fanatic Fundamentalist
than an academic philosopher, he called for "caging" those
who would deliberately misinform children about the natural
world, just as one would cage a threatening wild animal.
"The message is clear," he wrote: "those who will not accomodate,
who will not temper, who insist on keeping only the purest
and wildest strain of their heritage alive, we will be obliged,
reluctantly, to cage or disarm, and we will do our best to
disable the memes [traditions] they fight for." With the
bravado of a man unmindful that only 11 percent of the
public shared his enthusiasm for naturalistic evolution, he
warned parents that if they insisted on teaching their
children "falsehoods -- that the Earth is flat, that 'Man' is
not a product of evolution by natural selection -- then
you must expect, at the very least, that those of us who
have freedom of speech will feel free to describe your
teachings as the spreading of falsehoods, and will attempt
to demonstrate this to your children at our earliest
opportunity." Those who resisted conversion to
Dennett's scientific fundamentalism would be subject
to "quarantine."


630 posted on 01/30/2005 2:58:01 PM PST by metacognative (follow the gravy...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 623 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson