New TV series keep being made here in the UK trying to set the balance right between the believers and the non-believers. And recently, the general goal of the programme makers is to promote "tolerance" between those who DO and those who DON'T.
I have a problem with this.
It's obviously a response to Richard Dawkins' recent attacks on the religious community for their insistence that they have a responsibility to bring the "DON'Ts" into the fold.
Now, while I'm more than happy for the professor to set out his stall on my behalf, (a far more scholarly individual than I!), I do have reservations about being called a "Darwinian" simply because I do not believe the Bible, Torah, Koran (or Qu'ran, or whatever...) to be a true, or in any way, accurate record of history.
It matters little to me that Darwin, or Wallace for that matter, discovered certain principles which lead us to conclude that a Master Creator made everything from scratch could not have done so in the way certain 'Holy' books describe. Yes, it's all very interesting and indeed fascinating. Nature certainly is a fabulous wonder to behold in its own right, but that is not the sole reason for me not-to-believe!
I can begin with some very basic and simple unanswered questions. My middle daughter was aged just six years old when she had returned from her first time at Sunday School. (Yes, I allowed her to attend, and yes she has been given every opportunity to make up her own mind, and no - I haven't imposed my views on her!). Her first question to me was; "Does God have a willy?" The question to the adherents would have been received with incredulous horror in a "Christian" household, I've no doubt, but I asked her what she thought. Her reply was that He obviously had because He had created a man in His image. As she grew more aware of the nature of male and female anatomies and the reasons for said it occurred to her that there must be a miss God. If not; why would God have a willy? And if He didn't have one; why give Adam one?
We live in modern times. Knowledge is easier to obtain for most of us. But for fundamentalists of any religion, it's just not allowed. The Bible states quite clearly that the fall from grace that Adam and Eve endured was not from rape, murder, theft or any other serious misdeed, simply that they'd eaten the fruit of the "Tree of Knowledge"! That's it! That's all it took! Stay ignorant or lose your right to Eden!
Before we've got as far as Cain and Able and where Cain "took himself a wife" from, we have to ask not- does God have a willy? - but why God wants a couple of ignoramuses jumping through the daffodils in Eden!? Why imbue them with a thinking brain?
And, of course, before we even enter into the ridiculous stories in the text, the most glaring question of all is; Where did He come from?
I'm not a "fundamentalist Darwinian", I have no axe to bear. You, and even my kids, are allowed to believe what you want to believe. But please, don't feel pressed to 'convert' me. I have eaten the fruit of the "Tree of Knowledge". I have learned things that I can't un-learn. I'm already dammned to the outer reaches of Eden. And I've no intention of going back!
I'm not angry with you for your need to evade the inevitable truth of your existence. That to me seems perfectly reasonable, but don't judge others in the name of your god. And please don't kill others for the same reason. Surely, if your god is as powerful as you claim, He doesn't need your help! Let Him, and only Him, make those decisions.
Tolerance should come from you, not me. You're the ones who are supposed to set the example, aren't you?
I have a problem with this.
It's obviously a response to Richard Dawkins' recent attacks on the religious community for their insistence that they have a responsibility to bring the "DON'Ts" into the fold.
Now, while I'm more than happy for the professor to set out his stall on my behalf, (a far more scholarly individual than I!), I do have reservations about being called a "Darwinian" simply because I do not believe the Bible, Torah, Koran (or Qu'ran, or whatever...) to be a true, or in any way, accurate record of history.
It matters little to me that Darwin, or Wallace for that matter, discovered certain principles which lead us to conclude that a Master Creator made everything from scratch could not have done so in the way certain 'Holy' books describe. Yes, it's all very interesting and indeed fascinating. Nature certainly is a fabulous wonder to behold in its own right, but that is not the sole reason for me not-to-believe!
I can begin with some very basic and simple unanswered questions. My middle daughter was aged just six years old when she had returned from her first time at Sunday School. (Yes, I allowed her to attend, and yes she has been given every opportunity to make up her own mind, and no - I haven't imposed my views on her!). Her first question to me was; "Does God have a willy?" The question to the adherents would have been received with incredulous horror in a "Christian" household, I've no doubt, but I asked her what she thought. Her reply was that He obviously had because He had created a man in His image. As she grew more aware of the nature of male and female anatomies and the reasons for said it occurred to her that there must be a miss God. If not; why would God have a willy? And if He didn't have one; why give Adam one?
We live in modern times. Knowledge is easier to obtain for most of us. But for fundamentalists of any religion, it's just not allowed. The Bible states quite clearly that the fall from grace that Adam and Eve endured was not from rape, murder, theft or any other serious misdeed, simply that they'd eaten the fruit of the "Tree of Knowledge"! That's it! That's all it took! Stay ignorant or lose your right to Eden!
Before we've got as far as Cain and Able and where Cain "took himself a wife" from, we have to ask not- does God have a willy? - but why God wants a couple of ignoramuses jumping through the daffodils in Eden!? Why imbue them with a thinking brain?
And, of course, before we even enter into the ridiculous stories in the text, the most glaring question of all is; Where did He come from?
I'm not a "fundamentalist Darwinian", I have no axe to bear. You, and even my kids, are allowed to believe what you want to believe. But please, don't feel pressed to 'convert' me. I have eaten the fruit of the "Tree of Knowledge". I have learned things that I can't un-learn. I'm already dammned to the outer reaches of Eden. And I've no intention of going back!
I'm not angry with you for your need to evade the inevitable truth of your existence. That to me seems perfectly reasonable, but don't judge others in the name of your god. And please don't kill others for the same reason. Surely, if your god is as powerful as you claim, He doesn't need your help! Let Him, and only Him, make those decisions.
Tolerance should come from you, not me. You're the ones who are supposed to set the example, aren't you?
