In the media (continued)

Creationism is nothing to worry about, says Blair. He told scientists that their fears about creationism were "exaggerated", though he said it should not become mainstream education. Report by George Jones in the Telegraph, 2 November 2006.

Reviews from this is north devon of Richard Dawkins's recent visit to the Queen's Theatre, Barnstaple, by Adam Wilshaw and Richard Seddon.

The winning distinction between professor Dawkins's hour-long Queen's theatre "sermon" and the kind of loopy nonsense dispatched from altars and their equivalents each week was that the former was based on reason, evidence and logic.
It was disturbing to find that while agreeing with much of the sentiment his patronising and self-satisfied delivery engendered antagonism to his proposition.

The Channel 4 TV web site Can You Believe It? reports on their series of programmes on such topics as The Doomsday Code (The American evangelical Christians' belief that the end of the world is imminent) and The Cult of the Suicide Bomber.

What's Wrong with Blasphemy?
Did you catch this excellent programme, presented by BHA Distinguished Supporter Stewart Lee on September 18 on Channel Five? If not, you can view it here.

"US evangelicals are twisting the Bible to say that beating the young is a Christian doctrine" wrote Giles Fraser in The Guardian, 8 June 2006.

The Exeter Palestine Solidarity Campaign is campaigning against Israel's treatment of Palestine. The Church of England holds investments in Caterpillar who supply bulldozers to the Israeli military and a member has written a letter to Lord Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury, detailing some of the abuses Palestinians are suffering. Both Amnesty International and War on Want are campaigning on this issue.

NSS Honorary Associate Lord Taverne contributed to the House of Lord's debate about how to encourage more understanding and less hostility between Muslims and Christians. See Hansard for 23 March 2006 (60323-18).

Tim Adams interviews Daniel Dennett in The Observer 12 March 2006.
"America's answer to Richard Dawkins ..., a man who has made it his crusade to confront what he sees as the pernicious influence of the religious right in the United States. His latest book Breaking the Spell is reviewed here.

"As challenges to the theory of evolution have become more widespread – and sometimes hostile – some natural history museums are preparing their docents to answer questions about evolution, creationism and 'intelligent design'." The Washington Post, December 26 2005. See also The Paleontological Research Institution (Affiliated with Cornell University) "U.S. public opinion, 2005: Half of Americans are creationists - up from 46 percent in 1994."

"Creationism: bad science, bad religion, bad education" says Derek Gillard, retired headmaster. "That children should be taught such nonsense is inexcusable. That taxpayers' money should be used to fund such teaching is outrageous."

2005 was the year that ID, which argues that living creatures are too complex to have evolved without the influence of an "intelligent designer", became a significant political force in the US. New Scientist 24 December 2005.

A US District Court in Pennsylvania ruled that intelligent design – which bills itself as a scientific theory and states that life shows signs of being the work of an intelligent designer – is in fact reworked creationism and is really religion in disguise. Pennsylvania science teachers will not be forced to advocate “intelligent design”. New Scientist 20 December 2005.

Bernard Crick in The Guardian on Saturday 22 October 2005 argues that "we can work together with those of all beliefs who fight against new or born-again enemies to freedom. ... We should not confuse the pinpricks of religiosity ... with the real threats to democracy, freedom and international law now posed by both Christian and Muslim fundamentalists."

One of our members has written to the Herald Express (1 October 2005) about "the controversy which has arisen in Torbay because of the council's decision to replace a permanent Christian symbol in the crematorium with a portable one".

"When they [more faith schools] arrive, British education will be divided along lines of religion and race, the two most toxic causes of strife on the planet. ... impose their selfish dogmas on a secular country which may, one day, regard faith schools as this government's most poisonous legacy." Nick Cohen, Comment in The Observer, Sunday 25 September.

Justin Cartwright on "religion's vain quest for the meaning of life" argues that we must "... acknowledge that religion is, at base, nonsense. The sooner we eliminate the idea that life has 'some cosmic, all-embracing libretto', the better."
Beyond belief, The Guardian, 13 August 2005

"Faith schools run counter to the building of an inclusive British identity." Editorial in The Observer, 31 July 2005.

"The roots of faith-based terrorism lie in the religious intolerance and militancy embedded in the history and sacred texts of all the world's religions." Oliver McTernan, The textual analysis of terrorism, The Guardian, 30 July 2005

"Praying for patients undergoing heart operations does not improve their outcomes, a study suggests." BBC News, 15 July 2005.

The church apparently does not like Harry Potter's dabbling in the occult - a case of the pot calling the kettle black? A primary school celebration of JK Rowling's blockbusting boy wizard, Harry Potter, has been cancelled after a rector claimed its organisers were "seeking to lead children into areas of evil". The Guardian, Friday 15 July 2005.

The 21st-century atheist. Not believing in God is no excuse for being virulently anti-religious or naively pro-science. Dylan Evans. The Guardian, Monday 2 May, 2005.

Flaws of faith. As religion insinuates its way into public life, secularists must unite to fight hellfire with logic. David Aaronovitch. The Observer, Sunday 26 September 2004.

Hocus Pocus has never enjoyed such high status with the middle classes. Cristina Odone's Diary. The Observer, Sunday 26 September 2004.