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#1122423
Old Viking
If we depended on scientific advance from dogmatic Christians we would never have reached the Stone Age.
2/20/2010 4:57:45 PM
#1122426
emau99
*Cough* Dark Ages *Cough*
2/20/2010 5:05:54 PM
#1122430
campbunny
Hilarious.
2/20/2010 5:18:21 PM
#1122435
David B.
How did the article on which this is a comment not get submitted?
"human sciences challenge a lot of beliefs held by many atheists"
Only in as much as science challenges a lot of beliefs held by anybody. Meaningless, but not fail.
"The modern efflorescence of evolutionarily inspired psychology and sociology tells us that the elements of religion are natural, and unavoidable, and sometimes useful"
An "ought" from an "is". Fail +1.
"So we learn at the very least that they can't be abolished."
Hasty generalisation. Fail +2.
"Religious belief is not a marker of stupidity. In this country, among the under thirties, it is most common in those with a university education. Nor is it transmitted by brainwashing."
Strawman argument . Fail +3.
"Nor has the decline of religious belief, in those countries where it has declined, resulted in a growth of scientific knowledge. If anything, the two have declined together."
Equivocation, growth in scientific knowledge is not the same thing as growth in public acceptance of science (his example). Fail +4.
"This is distressing for the atheists who believe that science and religion are natural enemies"
Very few do, particularly any who've been on the receiving end of a "bible or science" false dichotomy from some anti-evolutionist. Whether you believe in non-overlapping-magestera or not, it is a plain observation that a great number of reputable and successful scientists are not atheists. Only the worst kind of fundamentalism is completely incompatible with science. Fail +5.
"we can see from the progress of climate change denialism how helpless scientists are against the same kind of jeering and suspicious anti-intellectualism that some of them direct at religion."
Category error and a false conclusion. What anti-intellectual jeering has been directed at religion by scientists? Even Dawkins' is scrupulously intellectual in his "jeering", he may be wrong - but he is not unthinking in it. Conversely, much (but not all) of the criticism directed at climate change is
precisely that directed at evolution, and frequently from the same source. It's not science, it's not testable, it's a conspiracy, it all relies on models, there's no proven link between X and Y, it's just not true lalalalalala; those are anti-intellectual jeers. But even taking the argument at face value, it is simply wrong. The jeering has not significantly hindered climate science, each year sees more and better understanding of how the climate has, is and will vary. Fail +7.
But then, this is very much par for the course for Andrew Brown's column.
2/20/2010 5:23:04 PM
#1122452
Yeah, those stupid scientists, insisting that the earth is flat and only 6,000 years old, the sun revolves around the earth, there were once talking snakes, oh, wait......
2/20/2010 5:40:12 PM
#1122459
Berny
My irony meter just took out the neighborhood. I barely made it to the shelter in time.
2/20/2010 5:54:48 PM
#1122465
Tyler
Death from Irony Overdose award?
2/20/2010 6:09:56 PM
#1122468
Smilodon
This HAS to be a Poe. Nobody can be this freakin' stupid.
2/20/2010 6:12:25 PM
#1122490
Science and atheists are non-dogmatic.
2/20/2010 6:41:07 PM
#1122499
WMDKitty
Yeah, that's why technology advanced so much during the Dark Ages... oh, wait. IT REGRESSED!
2/20/2010 6:58:35 PM
#1122502
werewolf
Funny.
2/20/2010 6:59:46 PM
#1122519
Mike Sihl
Yes, because it was the atheists who, for around 500 years, arrested, tortured and executed those who had made advancments in the fields of science, medicine and the arts. Oh wait...
2/20/2010 7:36:01 PM
#1122531
SleepNeed
Meet the father of computer science:
His name was Alan Turing. He was an atheist. If not for him who knows how life would be today, for he also helped break the Enigma Codes during the Second World War.
There are plenty of other atheists who helped out in various aspects of life.
2/20/2010 8:03:56 PM
#1122537
TGRwulf
It it wasn't for the Christian dark ages, we could have been exploring the galaxy in person by now.
2/20/2010 8:12:10 PM
#1122540
Tolpuddle Martyr
Scientific advance was held back by
atheist dogmatists?
This man would like a word with you
2/20/2010 8:23:03 PM
#1122564
Thinking Allowed
oh...you're serious...
2/20/2010 9:27:48 PM
#1122572
louislois
Um, yeah.... You have it backwards there, friend
If it wasn't for you Christians, we'd be exploring the galaxy, and would probably have discovered cures for countless diseases by now.
2/20/2010 9:47:24 PM
#1122593
Quantum Mechanic
"Religion is all bunk."
~Edison
2/20/2010 10:40:04 PM
#1122614
JT
No, we would be in the Space age.
2/20/2010 11:38:01 PM
#1122617
DinosaurRidinJeebus
When I wake up in the morning nothing hits the spot like a bowl of irony flakes...with milk. This place is so full of lulz, that's why I love it here.
2/20/2010 11:41:34 PM
#1122634
Antichrist
Okay, that's it, hand over the computer right now! And the electric lightbulbs, all weaponry, hell just hand over all of your possessions and go live in a grass hut.
2/21/2010 12:20:32 AM
#1122652
Rallymodeller
Oh
shit! I forgot to turn off my irony met...
2/21/2010 1:55:12 AM
#1122662
Sandwich Board
@SleepNeed
That man is my hero!
2/21/2010 2:20:59 AM
#1122669
Mr. Creazil
2/21/2010 2:41:07 AM
#1122671
aaa
Why are you posting this on the internet?
2/21/2010 2:54:18 AM
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