Promoting Science and Critical Thinking
He is also qualified, he has a degree in theology and converted to Catholicism in 2007
Side observation: A degree in theology? … Regardless of what many might think, that is almost akin to claiming you have a degree in toothology so you are qualified to do dentistry, I’d contend it is not real education.
Shall we start mocking now … oh come on now, you know this is going to be silly … right? Well, lets take a look.
One chap arguing against evolution proposed that it was crazy to even consider the possibility that we had evolved from apes, and offered as evidence the suggestion that folks should go watch “Planet of the Apes”. …<thud> … Yes, indeed, that sound you just heard consisted of many jaws hitting the floor. There is so much in that thought that is so out of whack with reality that what he was saying was not just ‘wrong’. Normally you can perhaps suggest that we did not evolve from apes, but rather that we and the apes share a common ancestor … but for fracks sake, where can you even begin when faced with somebody who thinks “Planet of the Apes” is akin to a documentary.
William Lane Craig, the American Evangelical Christian apologist, wants a public debate during his UK visit. However, the problem he faces is that nobody wants to, (You can see where this is going), so he is claiming that the atheists are scared.
Sigh! …
This month president of the British Humanist Association, Polly Toynbee, pulled out of an agreed debate at London’s Westminster Central Hall in October, saying she “hadn’t realized the nature of Mr. Lane Craig’s debating style.” (thats a polite way of saying that he is a complete kook and really likes babbling mangled pseudoscience).
Before we get into details, I think I better first introduce you to the claimant. This comes from a chap called David Klinghoffer. He works for the Discovery Institute as a … well, that does not really matter, because knowing that it is the Discovery Institute tells you all you really need to know; its basically kook central for the Intelligent Design movement.
Since it is indeed “them” you know in your heart of hearts this is going to be truly silly (it is), so here we go. He starts out with …
Westboro have posted a press release to their website (click here for a PDF of the actual press release) announcing plans to picket the funerals of those who lost their lives when Anders Breivik set off a bomb in Oslo that killed eight and then traveled to the island of Utoya to execute 69 at a youth camp. Its the usual yada-yada insanity that we all expect from them these days, I need not repeat what we are all so familiar with already (if you are indeed not familiar then lets just say that they are so extreme, they make all other kooks look quite acceptable)
The BBC reports today about a cleric who is actually an atheist …
The Rev Klaas Hendrikse can offer his congregation little hope of life after death, and he’s not the sort of man to sugar the pill.
An imposing figure in black robes and white clerical collar, Mr Hendrikse presides over the Sunday service at the Exodus Church in Gorinchem, central Holland.
It is part of the mainstream Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PKN), and the service is conventional enough, with hymns, readings from the Bible, and the Lord’s Prayer. But the message from Mr Hendrikse’s sermon seems bleak – “Make the most of life on earth, because it will probably be the only one you get”.