Issue 46
News: Root of all Evil, A rebuttal to an Answers in Genesis article.
For those of you people who don't know, "Answers in Genesis" is a site which seeks to prove that the Bible can be taken literally as fact. Recently, there was an article on the site wherein they review (Critically) a documentary on Religion by Richard Dawkins entitled The Root of all Evil. I doubt that it has been aired in the States, but I know it is on Google Video if you take the time to find and watch it. Anyway, it is mentioned that Dawkins constantly confuses operational science with Origins Science, with the former being tested and the latter not, although it has been tested and, despite everything the fundementalists say, new species have been observed, including several mutations of insects which are completely immune to bug spray. The author also criticized Dawkins for noting that the evidence overwhelmingly supports evidence, claiming that because he noted that the evidence is extremely in favor of Evolution, that he in fact has no evidence, citing his failure to note any evidence of citing points in his favor for it, despite the fact that the show is about the effects on religion on society and not a one-sided debate for Evolution. Then, he goes after churches, first going to Rev. Ted Haggard's church, at one point noting his line "Dr. Goebbels would be proud", which, oddly enough, wasn't spoken in as pejorative of a tone of voice as many of his other statements, and Haggard saying "I don't know anything about the Nuremberg Rallies, but most people think of it as a rock concert." AIG said he came off as a man of warmth and humility, which seemed true for the first thirty seconds of the interview, until Dawkins mentioned that the evidence that the world was created billions of years ago is much larger than evidence for a 6000 year-old earth. He ended the interview with a note which is found in the "Quotes" section.
Later, in the second half of the documentary, Dawkins mentions that there is a secular morality, although curiously enough, it seems as though the reviewer changed the channel during the Archbishop of Canterbury interview (Discussed below), as at the end, he reveals his theory on morality; Altruistic genetic morality. Later, he shows a British school with ACE (Accellerated Christian Curriculum) education, done to sidestep separation of church and state by mixing religion with all subjects, and letting the kids teach themselves. Dawkins interviews the Principal of the School (Adrian Hawkes), who AiG says gave a robust defense of his faith, despite noting that he doesn't know whether God created the world in less than a week, although he came across to me as a slightly drunken version of Paul McCartney, and using his interview to criticize his stance on the Bible itself, including Dawkins quoting several unpleasant sections of the Bible, including one scene where a mob asks to have sex with angels, when the man holding them hands over his virgin daughters. Curiously, the doesn't even mention the interview the true interviewee who prompted this rant; Michael Bray, Friend of Paul Jennings Hill, who was arrested for the murder of an abortionist. And so the review ends long before the film does, with Dawkin's interview with Archbishop Richard Harries of Canterbury, who has a fairly liberal and some would say, radical theology (denying the Virgin Birth, and being for Gay rights), while Dawkins criticizes him for calling himself a Christian at all, despite his theology. As I said before, the film actually ends with Dawkins explaining gene-based morality.
Band Name: "Q" is for Dr. Tran. This name comes from the film which is linked to in the links section.
Review: This week's film reviewed is the movie Toys, which is about how a military man takes over his father's toy company to create toys with built-in weapons. Robin Williams' Character, the Military Man's brother, goes out of his way to make sure that the company makes actual toys. The performances are very funny, whether they be from Robin Williams or LL Cool J. My personal favorite scene is the one wherein the father's funeral, a line expressing the attendee's sorrow is constantly interrupted by canned laughter, which he insisted on having buried in his casket with him.
Idea: Short untitled film about a diary of a fetus whose entries border on disturbing, ending with an abortion and the doctor admonishing the fetus to Shut up.
Quote: The parts that AiG mentioned are in bold, and the ones which I found particularly interesting are in italics.
"But you do understand, that this issue of intellectual arrogance is why people like you have a difficult time with people of faith. I don't communicate an air of superiority over the people because I know so much more. And if you only read the books I read and if you only met the scientists I know, then you would be great like me. Well sir, There could be things that you know well, or there could be things that you don't know well. As you age you'll find yourself right on some things and wrong on some other things, but please, in the process of it, don't be arrogant."
_____Rev. Ted Haggard, The Root of all Evil?
Link: A short film about a young boy who apparently is a huge movie star without even knowing it, named Dr. Tran.
The Blog Which inspired the Movie Idea
For those of you people who don't know, "Answers in Genesis" is a site which seeks to prove that the Bible can be taken literally as fact. Recently, there was an article on the site wherein they review (Critically) a documentary on Religion by Richard Dawkins entitled The Root of all Evil. I doubt that it has been aired in the States, but I know it is on Google Video if you take the time to find and watch it. Anyway, it is mentioned that Dawkins constantly confuses operational science with Origins Science, with the former being tested and the latter not, although it has been tested and, despite everything the fundementalists say, new species have been observed, including several mutations of insects which are completely immune to bug spray. The author also criticized Dawkins for noting that the evidence overwhelmingly supports evidence, claiming that because he noted that the evidence is extremely in favor of Evolution, that he in fact has no evidence, citing his failure to note any evidence of citing points in his favor for it, despite the fact that the show is about the effects on religion on society and not a one-sided debate for Evolution. Then, he goes after churches, first going to Rev. Ted Haggard's church, at one point noting his line "Dr. Goebbels would be proud", which, oddly enough, wasn't spoken in as pejorative of a tone of voice as many of his other statements, and Haggard saying "I don't know anything about the Nuremberg Rallies, but most people think of it as a rock concert." AIG said he came off as a man of warmth and humility, which seemed true for the first thirty seconds of the interview, until Dawkins mentioned that the evidence that the world was created billions of years ago is much larger than evidence for a 6000 year-old earth. He ended the interview with a note which is found in the "Quotes" section.
Later, in the second half of the documentary, Dawkins mentions that there is a secular morality, although curiously enough, it seems as though the reviewer changed the channel during the Archbishop of Canterbury interview (Discussed below), as at the end, he reveals his theory on morality; Altruistic genetic morality. Later, he shows a British school with ACE (Accellerated Christian Curriculum) education, done to sidestep separation of church and state by mixing religion with all subjects, and letting the kids teach themselves. Dawkins interviews the Principal of the School (Adrian Hawkes), who AiG says gave a robust defense of his faith, despite noting that he doesn't know whether God created the world in less than a week, although he came across to me as a slightly drunken version of Paul McCartney, and using his interview to criticize his stance on the Bible itself, including Dawkins quoting several unpleasant sections of the Bible, including one scene where a mob asks to have sex with angels, when the man holding them hands over his virgin daughters. Curiously, the doesn't even mention the interview the true interviewee who prompted this rant; Michael Bray, Friend of Paul Jennings Hill, who was arrested for the murder of an abortionist. And so the review ends long before the film does, with Dawkin's interview with Archbishop Richard Harries of Canterbury, who has a fairly liberal and some would say, radical theology (denying the Virgin Birth, and being for Gay rights), while Dawkins criticizes him for calling himself a Christian at all, despite his theology. As I said before, the film actually ends with Dawkins explaining gene-based morality.
Band Name: "Q" is for Dr. Tran. This name comes from the film which is linked to in the links section.
Review: This week's film reviewed is the movie Toys, which is about how a military man takes over his father's toy company to create toys with built-in weapons. Robin Williams' Character, the Military Man's brother, goes out of his way to make sure that the company makes actual toys. The performances are very funny, whether they be from Robin Williams or LL Cool J. My personal favorite scene is the one wherein the father's funeral, a line expressing the attendee's sorrow is constantly interrupted by canned laughter, which he insisted on having buried in his casket with him.
Idea: Short untitled film about a diary of a fetus whose entries border on disturbing, ending with an abortion and the doctor admonishing the fetus to Shut up.
Quote: The parts that AiG mentioned are in bold, and the ones which I found particularly interesting are in italics.
"But you do understand, that this issue of intellectual arrogance is why people like you have a difficult time with people of faith. I don't communicate an air of superiority over the people because I know so much more. And if you only read the books I read and if you only met the scientists I know, then you would be great like me. Well sir, There could be things that you know well, or there could be things that you don't know well. As you age you'll find yourself right on some things and wrong on some other things, but please, in the process of it, don't be arrogant."
_____Rev. Ted Haggard, The Root of all Evil?
Link: A short film about a young boy who apparently is a huge movie star without even knowing it, named Dr. Tran.
The Blog Which inspired the Movie Idea
Labels: Creationism, Movies, Religious Right
posted by DerekAxe at 8:55 AM
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