Them's fighting words!

Alright, I'm a little worked up this morning.

As I said a couple of posts ago I've been reading The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. I am reading it because I have friends who question God's existence and I wanted to see what a popular and respected (these are my assumptions) scientist would say. I expected something along the lines of rational arguments about whether God exists. A large part of the book is basically an attack on religion of any kind and those who profess faith. Today was the last straw.

I have been keeping notes as I read it, both of things I disagree with and things I agree with. I have just finished his eighth chapter on What's Wrong With Religion? and his misguided attacks are going to provide the topics for an upcoming series of posts.

A few things have to happen first. I'm going to be moving soon, so between travel for work and packing I will be very busy in July. Look for my rebuttal starting in August. I also have to acquire the book since I am reading a library copy and it will take more than two weeks to say all I have to say. If Mr. Dawkins is reading, send me a copy. Otherwise I'll buy one. Although I don't agree and don't want to support your efforts with one more book sale, I'll gladly chalk it up to supporting dissenting voices because I believe we should engage in dialog and that we shouldn't feel threatened by opposing views.

I'm sure Mr. Dawkins is probably shaking in his boots at the thought of my response. (Actually I'm sure he'd be shaking from uncontrollable laughter.) Stay tuned as I take on Goliath... (Oh those useful religious allusions.)

On a strangely related note, I just got done also watching a video entitled The Islamic Connection which is a lecture by Walter Veith. To ruin the punchline, Islam was created and controlled by Catholicism to wage war against "true Christians" and to protect access to Jerusalem. This is "proven" through reference to various secret societies and use of symbols and testimony from secret Masonic texts. Sigh.

Needless to say I find both extremes, Mr. Dawkins anti-religiousness and Mr. Veith's anti-everything except his religion, to be equally misguided and lacking in spiritual insight. Of course by definition Mr. Dawkins would probably say there is no such thing as spiritual insight, but we shall explore that.

No Water Birds

So I get up this morning, still half asleep. I am making a copy of the lease we just signed on a new apartment and my sleepy eyes catch one of the sections and read "No Water Birds" which just didn't make sense.

I blinked a couple of times and looked more closely. Ah. No Water Beds.

As I started chuckling, I could just imagine the damage that could be done by flamingos.

Or storks.

Herons.

Pelicans.

Ducks.

Eww... Canadian Geese.

I know it isn't much, but I'm heading out of town this weekend to lovely Vermont on Saturday and lovely Maine on Sunday for work, so that is all you get until next week.

Rodin's Snooze

Man, time is crazy! I can't believe how many days can go by in the blink of an eye. There is some reference to time-dilation or faster-than-light travel just waiting to happen, but instead I'll rely on other witticisms like playing with the name Rodin's Muse to find something appropriate to the recent dearth of posts.

Rodin's snooze.

Rodin's cruise.

Rodin's lose(r).

If we can't be self-effacing, we need a different line of hobby, eh?

So this blog is increasingly turning in to an exploration of science and religion. There are many ramifications to that. The reconciliation of the right and left hemispheres of the brain, logic and emotion, art and science, yin and yang, etcetera etcetera. It may not be a permanent thing, but it is certainly worthy of exploration. Here are some thoughts coming at you, stream-of-consciousness like.

I was watching a show I taped from EWTN, a Catholic broadcasting station. (DVR Rocks!) It was called "Has Science Discovered God?" I was pretty impressed with the premise and arguments despite the horrible quality of the video. It seems to be based on evidence described in the book "The Wonder of the World: A Journey from Modern Science to the Mind of God" by Roy Abraham Varghese who briefly shows up in the video. I'll share more of the specifics later. I found it very thought-provoking. Just look up "cambrian explosion" to get an idea of what they are talking about.

In order not to too loudly proclaim the death of atheism I thought I'd give "The God Delusion" a whirl to see what Richard Dawkins, an outspoken atheist, has to say. I'm only part way through it, but I have to say that the condescension, over-generalization and smarmy nature of the book are off-putting to say the least. It is similar to my complaint about the "debate" between Kirk Cameron and "anything-but-rational response squad." If you can't debate and postulate without trying to humiliate, if you can't engage in dialogue with respect, how can you expect anyone to take what you say seriously? Dawkins makes many good points, but they are lost amongst his strident disrespect which stems, ironically, from his feeling of being disrespected as an atheist. Come on. What happened to the golden rule? Or is that too religious to be of value?

I apologize for the lack of substance in this post. I thought with five days off of work I'd be able to post before this, so this is the best my tired brain can do tonight because I just couldn't tolerate another day without offering my two cents to the universe.

Ah, Rodin, forgive me.