Richard Bozarth, ’n ateïs, het gesê: “Christianity has fought, still fights, and will fight science to the desperate end over evolution, because evolution destroys utterly and finally the very reason Jesus’s life was supposedly made necessary. Destroy Adam and Eve and the original sin, and in the rubble you will find the sorry remains of the son of god. Take away the meaning of his death. If Jesus was not the redeemer that died for our sins, and this is what evolution means, then Christianity is nothing.”

En dit is waar. Maar wat ook waar is, is dat ateïsme niks is sonder evolusie nie. Richard Dawkins het al per geleentheid gesê dat Darwinisme dit vir hom moontlik gemaak het om ’n intellektueel vervulde ateïs te wees (“…Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist.” Uit Positive Atheism quotes Dawkins).

Die volgende kommentaar is agterop Richard Dawkins se boek The God Delusion, wat geskryf is sodat mense hulle geloof in God moet verloor:

• “… entertaining, wildly informative, splendidly written… we are elegantly cajoled, cleverly harangued into shedding ourselves of this superstitious nonsense that has bedevilled us since our first visit to Sunday school” – Rod Liddle, Sunday Times
• “A spirited and exhilarating read… Dawkins comes roaring forth in the full vigour of his powerful arguments” – Joan Bakewell, Guardian
• “Passionate, clever, funny, uplifting and above all, desperately needed” – Daily Express
• “The most stimulating thing I have read this year… One can hardly read a page without feeling that, if monotheistic fundamentalists everywhere could absorb even a tenth of it, the world would be a safer and more peaceful place” – Spectator
• “A gloriously belligerent attack on the foaming tide of superstition that is washing over the world once again, from a great scientist who has demonstrated throughout his career the power of cool, hard reason to explain life itself” – Johann Hari, Independent
• “Dawkins will delight any reader with a modicum of intelligence and intellectual regard who doesn’t need to have the human world wrapped up into a convenient and cosy package created by a shadowy super-being” – Herald Tribune
• “A rallying cry to those who want to come out as non-believers, but are not quite sure if they dare” – Daily Mail

Vir meer positiewe kommentare oor The God Delusion, kyk Bylaag A hier onder.

Dit is duidelik dat hierdie mediaredakteurs saamstem met Richard Dawkins se siening.

Nou is die vraag: Indien hierdie redakteurs ateïste is en ateïsme totaal plat sal val sonder evolusie, wat is die kans dat hierdie kwessie objektief in hulle koerante/tydskrifte sal verskyn? Geskiedenis het ook al bewys dat die media nie objektief is oor hierdie kwessie nie en dat hulle inteendeel voor in die koor is om te berig oor enige nuwe sogenaamde oorgangskakels wat ontdek is, selfs al stem die evolusioniste nie eers saam dat dit oorgangskakels is nie. National Geographic is een so ’n sondebok. Die volgende is aangehaal uit Archaeoraptor—Phony ‘feathered’ fossil:

“History of hoaxes
This wouldn’t be the first time that National Geographic, in its eagerness to proselytise for the evolutionary faith, has rushed into print with ‘evidence’ that has turned out to be a hoax or an overblown claim that was later discredited. Many years ago, the magazine had a glossy picture displaying amazing artistic licence of our supposed ancestor, the ‘missing link’ Zinjanthropus boisei or ‘Nutcracker man’, discovered by Louis Leakey. Now no evolutionist would claim that this robust australopithecine was a human ancestor—see Marvin Lubenow’s book Bones of Contention

En

“…such prejudice is openly admitted and defended by Karl Giberson, editor of Research News & Opportunities in Science and Theology:
‘If an editor chooses to publish a hostile review of a book, common politeness would suggest that the author ought to have some space to respond. But editors have a “higher calling” than common politeness, namely the editorial mission and guidelines that inform every decision as to what will be printed and what will be rejected. I have learned, since becoming the editor of Research News, common politeness is often in tension with editorial priorities … In my editorial judgment, the collection of ideas known as “scientific creationism” (which is not the same as intelligent design) lacks the credibility to justify publishing any submissions that we get from its adherents. I would go even further, in fact. The collection of creationist ideas (6,000 year old earth, no common ancestry, all the fossils laid down by Noah’s flood, Genesis creation account read literally, etc.) has been so thoroughly discredited by both scientific and religious scholarship that I think it is entirely appropriate for Research News to print material designed to move our readers away from this viewpoint. For example, we might publish a negative review of a book promoting scientific creationism … while refusing to allow the author a chance to respond. Is this an unfair bias? Or is it proper stewardship of limited editorial resources?’”

Vir nog voorbeelde, kyk www.creation.com en soek vir “media” of “national geographic”.

 

Kyk ook:

• Aanhalings
• Hoekom is daar soveel wetenskaplikes wat aan evolusie glo?
• Are the secular media biased against Christianity? How can Christians counter this?
• Darwin fossil hyper-hype
• Darwinist hype and the culture war
• ‘Missing Link’ Primate Fossil Debunked
• Blowing the whistle on corruption
• Creationism, Science and Peer Review

 

Is die skepping-evolusie kwessie belangrik?

Hieronder is ’n voorbeeld hoe evolusie mense se geloof beïnvloed en hoe belangrik dit is om in staat te wees om mense antwoorde te gee op hulle vrae:

Prem Isaac is a Christian apologist who grew up across India, Nigeria, and New York City. When his keen interest in science led him to ask questions that his church could not answer, Prem became an agnostic and an evolutionist. He came to Christ in New York while pursuing his undergraduate degree, majoring in Physics and Computer Science, and is currently pursuing an M.A. in Philosophy at the Southern Evangelical Seminary in Matthews, North Carolina. Since 1998, Prem has taught New Testament and lectured on scientific apologetics at churches, college campuses and high schools in the United States and India. He is especially interested in the relationship between Christianity and science and the relevance of the Biblical doctrine of Creation to understanding Christianity.

 

Bylaag A: Positiewe kommentaar oor The God Delusion.

Die volgende kommentaar verskyn op Richard Dawkins se “The God Delusion” (uitgawe wat in 2009 op Suid-Afrika se rakke beskikbaar is/was):

 

“… entertaining, wildly informative, splendidly written… we are elegantly cajoled, cleverly harangued into shedding ourselves of this superstitious nonsense that has bedevilled us since our first visit to Sunday school”
Rod Liddle, Sunday Times

“A spirited and exhilarating read… Dawkins comes roaring forth in the full vigour of his powerful arguments”
Joan Bakewell, Guardian

“Passionate, clever, funny, uplifting and above all, desperately needed”
Daily Express

“A wonderful book…joyous, elegant, fair, engaging, and often very funny…informed throughout by an exhilarating breadth of reference and clarity of thought”
Michael Frayn

“Richard Dawkins’s The God Delusion should be read by everyone from atheist to monk. If its merciless rationalism doesn’t enrage you at some point, you probably aren’t alive”
Julian Barnes

“There is not a dull page in Richard Dawkins’s The God Delusion, a book that makes me want to cheer its clarity, intelligence and truth-telling”
Claire Tomalin

“The most stimulating thing I have read this year… One can hardly read a page without feeling that, if monotheistic fundamentalists everywhere could absorb even a tenth of it, the world would be a safer and more peaceful place”
Spectator

This is my favourite book of all time. I hope that those secure and intelligent enough to see the value of questioning their beliefs will be big and strong enough to read this book. It is a heroic and life-changing work”
Derren Brown

“A gloriously belligerent attack on the foaming tide of superstition that is washing over the world once again, from a great scientist who has demonstrated throughout his career the power of cool, hard reason to explain life itself”
Johann Hari, Independent

“A witty, erudite and very accessible polemic”
South China Morning Post

This is a brave and important book. Is it too much to hope that it will dump religious bigotry in the dustbin of history where it belongs?”
Desmond Morris

“At last, Richard Dawkins, one of the best non-fiction writers alive today, has assembled his thoughts on religion into a characteristically elegant book”
Steven Pinker

“Oh, it is so refreshing, after being told all your life that it is virtuous to be full of faith, spirit and superstition, to read such a resounding trumpet blast for truth instead. It feels like coming up for air”
Matt Ridley

“The God Delusion is written with all the clarity and elegance of which Dawkins is a master. It is so well written, in fact, that children deserve to read it as well as adults. It should have a place in every school library – especially in the library of every “faith” school”
Philip Pullman

“Dawkins will delight any reader with a modicum of intelligence and intellectual regard who doesn’t need to have the human world wrapped up into a convenient and cosy package created by a shadowy super-being”
Herald Tribune

“A rallying cry to those who want to come out as non-believers, but are not quite sure if they dare”
Daily Mail

“The God Delusion is a fascinating book…expressed in sparkling language which makes the book not only a pleasure to read but also a stimulus to thinking across this widest of spectrums”
Financial Times

 

En op http://richarddawkins.net/godDelusionReviews

 

“Passionate religious irrationality too often poses serious obstacles to human betterment. To oppose it effectively, the world needs equally passionate rationalists unafraid to challenge long accepted beliefs. Richard Dawkins so stands out through the cutting intelligence of The God Delusion.”
James D. Watson, Nobel Prizewinner, Co-discoverer of the DNA Molecule

“At last, Richard Dawkins, one of the best nonfiction writers alive today, has assembled his thoughts on religion into a characteristically elegant book. The God Delusion puts the lie to the lazy and soothing platitudes that people embrace to escape the responsibility of thinking seriously about religious belief. If you think that science is just another religion, that religion is about our higher values, or that scientists are just as dogmatic as believers, then read this book, and see if you can counter Dawkins’ arguments—they are passionately stated, and poetically expressed, but are rooted in reason and evidence.”
Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor, Harvard University, author of The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, and The Blank Slate

“Oh, it’s so refreshing, after being told all your life that it is virtuous to be full of faith, sprit and superstition, to read such a resounding trumpet blast for truth instead. It feels like coming up for air.”
Matt Ridley, author of `Genome’ and `Francis Crick’.

“I’ve read this with pleasure and satisfaction. Dawkins is a great rationalist, but he is also a good man. History has seen a number of supreme rationalists who weren’t good at all. He gives human sympathies and emotions their proper value, which is one of the things that lends his criticisms of religion such force, because many religious leaders in the world today – certainly the loudest ones – are men who, it’s obvious to anyone but their deranged followers, are willing to sanction vicious cruelty in the service of their faith. Dawkins hits them hard, with all the power that reason can wield, demolishing their preposterous attempts to prove the existence of God, or their presumptuous claims that religion is the only basis of morality, or that their holy books are literally true.”
“The God Delusion is written with all the clarity and elegance of which Dawkins is a master. It is so well written, in fact, that children deserve to read it as well as adults. It should have a place in every school library — especially in the library of every ‘faith’ school. Naturally, it won’t. But with any luck, the teachers in these ridiculous establishments will ban it from their shelves, and thus draw the attention of the intelligent pupils in their care to something that might be interesting as well as true.”
Philip Pullman, author of the children’s trilogy His Dark Materials.

“Richard Dawkins is smart, compassionate, knowledgeable, and true like ice, like fire. But, that doesn’t scare a guy like me. As soon as he says something wrong, I’m going to rip him apart. He just hasn’t said anything really wrong yet. If this book doesn’t change the world — we’re all screwed.”
Penn Jillette (Penn & Teller)

“I took the first 115 pages of The God Delusion on a short vacation, thinking this would be some heavy reading I might dip into. I’m normally a VERY slow reader. I burned through every page I’d brought, and kicked myself for not bringing more. You are the one author alive who could make an atheist polemic into a riot of vacation fun and a real page-turner.”
P.S. There are numerous passages that made me laugh aloud. What a delight.
If there were a God, and he read this, he’d wish he were dead.”
Teller (Penn&Teller)

“If this book doesn’t change the world — we’re all screwed.”<http://richarddawkins.net/godDelusion>
Penn (Penn & Teller)

“This is my favourite book of all time. In an age of violent religious fundamentalism from both East and West, we should be embarrassed to hear proud talk of blind faith. I hope that those secure and intelligent enough to see the value of questioning their beliefs will be big and strong enough to read this book. It is a heroic and life-changing work.
Derren Brown (British illusionist, conjurer and caricature artist)

“…an invitation to explore an exhilarating new view of what it means to be human and alive now… I see this as a book for a new millennium, one in which we may be released from lives dominated by the supernatural and the metaphysical.”
Brian Eno

“In this book Dawkins with lucid simplicity exposes the intellectual poverty of the stratagems used by the propagators of fundamentalist religious ideas. . . . Unless the majority of ‘believers’ can reach some rapprochement with the rational arguments in this book and recognize the true humanity and spirituality implicit in them, the tightening grip of irrational mystical belief will not only extinguish the Enlightenment but also, in this age of monstrous weapons, the whole human race.”
Sir Harry Kroto, Nobel Prizewinner

“A wonderful book – a passionate and vital advocacy which is also joyous, elegant, fair, engaging, and often very funny, and which is informed throughout by an exhilarating breadth of reference and clarity of thought.”
Michael Frayn