Charlie Hebdo, the West and the Need to Ridicule Religion (OCON 2015)…

Date: September 17, 2015

01) Charlie Hebdo, the West and the Need to Ridicule Religion (OCON 2015)

---

“Attacks like the one on January 7, 2015, against the newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris are becoming all too common. Threats by Islamic terrorists and dictatorial regimes have been happening since Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against Salman Rushdie in 1989. In this talk, Ayn Rand Institute senior fellow Onkar Ghate discusses how to defend freedom of speech in the face of religious attacks. This talk was recorded on Saturday, July 4, 2015, at the Objectivist Summer Conference 2015 in Charlotte, North Carolina.”

I’m not going to say I agree with every single thing said here…but there is only one thing, I would take issue with [in the main speech – I’ve not yet listened to the Q&A].

Even though I agree…it’s a very complicated and sticky an issue…I think the discussion of extreme versus moderate, is both relevant and necessary. At the same time, yes…moderates do maintain a social norm, from which extremists spring…and often hide in.

Mind you…experience has shown me, that extremists are people with a lot of things going on in their lives…giving them a lot of anger and frustration…Many are looking for anything to channel it through. If they didn’t form or join a terrorist group…they’d just be making many of the same bad problems [like murder, rape, theft, assault and threat of violence] for society, through other methods.

Religion is not going away…I think it serves us best, to not alienate people who rightly aught to be our allies.

Over all…I think this is a splendid speech…and like so often happens with things I find and bring to this blog…there are parallels in what is being said here, to what needs saying in pedosexual communities…as relates to our own social issues.

Creationism and evolution tackled head-on in science lessons | Guardian Investigations…

Date: September 17, 2015

01) Creationism and evolution tackled head-on in science lessons

---

“Are some science teachers failing their pupils by not confronting creationist arguments when they come up during lessons on evolution? In this film presented by science journalist Dr Adam Rutherford made to mark the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s Origin of Species in 2009 Prof Michael Reiss from the Institute of Education, University of London, said many science teachers felt uncomfortable talking about religion, but that refusing to engage with pupils who had creationist views would be counterproductive (a viewpoint that would later get him into trouble). Dr Jeremy Pritchard at the University of Birmingham, and London’s Natural History Museum, explain how they are trying to redress the balance”

This was published at least a year ago, but I found it interesting to watch…and thought I would share it.

Obviously…religion born creation stories are not scientific…and they should not be treated as if they were. That does not mean the science world can ignore religion’s social influence, in a world where religion is so widespread.

This makes for curious questions, on just how should this play out.

After all…slapping down kids who’ve been raised with devout belief in creationism, isn’t really all that constructive…is it?

I was one of those kids…and I knew many others.

Of course…we were intelligent, and could decipher all sorts of things…so long as we were given enough information, and the freedom to explore it over time…and outwardly express our honest, personal reaction to it.

I think the biggest problem, is that to many religious institutions don’t allow for much [if any] of that…Some even cripple all potential, for it’s students to ever understand the theory of evolution…and in the mess, they present creation as the only coherent option available.

In worse cases…you can be ostracized from the only community you’ve ever known, if you start to outwardly embrace evolution.

It really is more of a social thing to work, and grow, out of.

Looking back…I am extremely dissatisfied, with what I was taught about the theory of evolution, at the hands of my school. It was not coherent…It legitimately constituted a lying [or at least incompetently ignorant] mischaracterization, in my opinion.

This is just one reason out of many…why my experience with that type of organization has led me to recognize, the many things in life we get stunted out of…because of their intolerance.