re: #18 Jimmah

Dr Butthurt has no plans for a floor wax or a dessert topping, but he does make a rather exquisite ointment…

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As for Dawkins comments on Islam that you posted, I’m not a fan of Islam (or any religion) but I don’t agree with making comparative slams on one particular faith, as I think it is divisive and inevitably becomes fodder for bigots. So I don’t agree with him on that.

Now on with the W.O.R.D. :

The reason we don’t make Dawkins a pariah like Pat Condell is because he is a world class scientist who has worked tirelessly to spread the scientific message, whereas Condell is a one note bigoted ranter.

Dawkins views on religion are not exactly unique among scientists and philosophers, many of whom have either made similar points themselves in their writings or publicly supported his writing and comments on the subject.

Do we really want to make pariahs of not only Dawkins, but also Weinberg, Dennet, and Hawking, for example?

I’m not asking to make a pariah of anyone. But of that one-note bigot, Dawkins has said:

“Pat Condell is unique. Nobody can match his extraordinary blend of suavity and savagery. With his articulate intelligence he runs rings around the religious wingnuts that are the targets of his merciless humour. Thank goodness he is on our side.”

He’s also used his website to promote Condell’s materials. Has he retracted that support?

As for the views of scientists on religion, Hawking, for example, has said that he doesn’t believe in life after death, and called it a ‘fairy tale’. As far as I know he has NOT defended “Fitna”, not suggested that there is a movement afoot to impose Sharia law, or insisted that British cops won’t arrest Muslims for wifebeating. Nor has he said that ‘multiculturalism’ is code for Islam in Europe. I don’t think. If Hawking actually runs around saying all of this, I stand corrected.

If you don’t see the difference between believing religion is false, or believing that religion harms society, and what Dawkins says about Islam—all the exact same points and memes as many people who, frankly, are obnoxious paranoid Islamophobes…I don’t know what to say beyond that.

If you figure that being a famous scientist who promotes causes you find important covers a multitude of sins, that’s another thing.

If you think he’s right, but you have to have a certain intellectual stature to get away with saying it…not be a trashy conspiracy-theory believing twit like Pam Geller…that’s something else again.

But seriously, he seems to have hit every damn point in the Islam Is the Debbil Greatest Hits. And just being famous for not believing in the devil seems a thin cover for that.