Skip to comments.
Mark Steyn: Blunt words about Muslim backwardness
National Post ^
| 6 Sep 2013
| Mark Steyn
Posted on 09/07/2013 12:20:59 PM PDT by Rummyfan
In 2010, the bestselling atheist Richard Dawkins, in the On Faith section of the Washington Post, called the pope a leering old villain in a frock perfectly suited to the evil corrupt organization and child-raping institution that is the Catholic Church. Nobody seemed to mind very much.
Three years later, in a throwaway Tweet, Professor Dawkins observed that all the worlds Muslims have fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge. They did great things in the Middle Ages, though. This time round, the old provocateur managed to get a rise out of folks. Almost every London paper ran at least one story on the controversy. The Independents Owen Jones fumed, How dare you dress your bigotry up as atheism. You are now beyond an embarrassment. The best-selling author Caitlin Moran sneered, Its time someone turned Richard Dawkins off and then on again. Somethings gone weird. The Daily Telegraphs Tom Chivers beseeched him, Please be quiet, Richard Dawkins, Im begging.
Its factually unarguable: Trinity College graduates have amassed 32 Nobel prizes, the entire Muslim world a mere 10
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalpost.com ...
TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: marksteyn; marksteynpost
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20, 21-40, 41-60, 61-78 last
To: oldbill
They did great things in the Middle Ages, though.:
In fact, most of what they did, they borrowed from the Hindus.
Exactly. Islam has offered the world nothing but death and destruction, as would befit a religion authored by satan.
61
posted on
09/07/2013 9:30:03 PM PDT
by
zeugma
(Is it evil of me to teach my bird to say "here kitty, kitty"?)
To: Dr. Sivana
The 12th century philosopher and mathematician Averroes actual did a lot of good work and was a great influence on western philosophy (in a good way). Aquinas called Averroes "the perverter" of philosophy. Also, the view that everything Aristotle ever said was unquestionably true and unsurpassable, seems to come from Averroes. That wasn't a healthy attitude for philosophy. Averroes founded the idea that there are two different kinds of truth: religious truth and truth of secular science. That's a pernicious doctrine which is seeing some revival today (think evolutionism.)
62
posted on
09/07/2013 10:19:50 PM PDT
by
Ethan Clive Osgoode
(<<== Click here to learn about Evolution!)
To: TheOldLady; Rummyfan; Howlin; riley1992; Miss Marple; Dane; sinkspur; steve; kattracks; ...
Mark Steyn ping.
Freepmail me, if you want on or off the Mark Steyn ping list.
Thanks for the ping twotone.
63
posted on
09/07/2013 11:42:26 PM PDT
by
JLS
To: Ethan Clive Osgoode
Aquinas called Averroes "the perverter" of philosophy.
Well, golly. I never claimed that he was alotogether right, after all he remained in Islam.
I'm just saying he was a serious philosopher, and has no more problems than guys like Kant, Hegel and Descartes who are considered important, if flawed, thinkers.
64
posted on
09/08/2013 12:29:54 AM PDT
by
Dr. Sivana
(There's no salvation in politics.)
To: Rummyfan
To: TBP
Don’t be jealous, but I am going to a dinner next month at the Goldwater Institute with guest speakers.. Ready... Mark Steyn and Laura Ingraham.
66
posted on
09/08/2013 9:30:40 AM PDT
by
Hildy
(Falling down is how you grow. Staying down is how you die.Oman go who so obviously killed her little)
To: JLS; Rummyfan
Thank you for the ping to this very interesting article.
The thread also contains a wealth of information.
To: IronJack
One of the earliest mathematical systems was developed by the Assyrians, who in turn taught the Babylonians, who passed it onto the Persians, the Greeks, the Egyptians and the Romans. Mathematically speaking, some of the greatest inventions came from the Greeks - for it was the Greeks who taught that a thing was not knowable unless it could be proved to be so. Also, the Greeks gave us the concept of the infinite and the infinitesimal. Babylonians gave us quadradic equations and Romans used the Babylonian/Greek discovery of PI and converted it into an architectural wonder with the arch.
The Assyrians and Babylonians had a number for "0". Centuries later the west adopted the Hindu symbol for "0". The Romans did not use "0". (MMII = 2002), but they had fractions. "0" is not as important in the evolution of society as fractions are.
Muslim contributions don't scompare on this scale.
68
posted on
09/08/2013 3:59:33 PM PDT
by
MrsEmmaPeel
(a government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take everything you have)
To: CondorFlight
The Muslims who are celebrated for preserving or transmitting and in some cases improving this knowledge were, IIRC, heretics who’d be killed by todays radicals.
69
posted on
09/08/2013 6:52:47 PM PDT
by
1010RD
(First, Do No Harm)
To: Squawk 8888
Were there comments after this? I couldn’t find them, if there were. I am curious to see what people said about Steyn’s column.
70
posted on
09/08/2013 9:54:49 PM PDT
by
Pining_4_TX
(All those who were appointed to eternal life believed. Acts 13:48)
To: PennsylvaniaMom
71
posted on
09/08/2013 10:57:06 PM PDT
by
FredZarguna
(Dental floss is too rigorous under the new standard.)
To: PennsylvaniaMom
Perhaps you prefer the more debonaire look:
72
posted on
09/08/2013 11:01:11 PM PDT
by
FredZarguna
(Dental floss is too rigorous under the new standard.)
To: PennsylvaniaMom
Every true revolutionary has a graphic [with beret, natch!]
Viva Steyn, indeed.
73
posted on
09/08/2013 11:05:30 PM PDT
by
FredZarguna
(Dental floss is too rigorous under the new standard.)
To: oldbill
And to wrap it up with “zero”. Seriously?
74
posted on
09/08/2013 11:13:01 PM PDT
by
Gene Eric
(Don't be a statist!)
To: EDINVA
No, the Hindus gave formal recognition to zero, but integers were establish long before that.
75
posted on
09/08/2013 11:13:58 PM PDT
by
Gene Eric
(Don't be a statist!)
To: Old North State
That’s right. The Arabs salvaged the remains of Alexandria, and later published the copy as the “Great Works”.
Islam was focused on war, not mathematics.
76
posted on
09/08/2013 11:16:34 PM PDT
by
Gene Eric
(Don't be a statist!)
To: Dr. Sivana
Well, golly. I never claimed that he was alotogether right, after all he remained in Islam. I'm just saying he was a serious philosopher, Nah, you said he was a great and good influence on western philosophy. Actually we were better off without Averroes. And we would be even better off if we can bury the myth that moslems contributed something significant to western thought.
77
posted on
09/10/2013 8:08:22 AM PDT
by
Ethan Clive Osgoode
(<<== Click here to learn about Evolution!)
To: Ethan Clive Osgoode
Nah, you said he was a great and good influence on western philosophy.
Yup. He created contention points that allowed the Catholic scholastics like Aquinas and Scotus to play off of. Moreover, his philosophy was tending towards pantheism (as often happens with radical monotheists, check Spinosa a few centuries later) and pretty much shows what happens to Islam if you follow it through. Perhaps I have a broader definition of words like contribute. Few of the famous philosophers, particularly in the modern era, REALLY particularly from Germany, made things any better, and yet they are worthy of study. I wouldn't include Averroes in an intro to philosophy class, but he was no dunce.
78
posted on
09/10/2013 8:16:04 AM PDT
by
Dr. Sivana
(There's no salvation in politics.)
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20, 21-40, 41-60, 61-78 last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson