A friend sent me this this morning: This is great, witty satire. I particularly like the parody of Dawkins’ “Who made God” argument. Dr Terry Tommyrot addresses the question of whether science can explain the existence of Dawkins’ books without postulating the existence of an intelligent author, Richard Dawkins. Tommyrot asks, “If Dawkins designed this [...]
Entries from July 31st, 2007
The Dawkins Delusion
July 31st, 2007 35 Comments
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Atheism · Humour · New Atheists · Richard Dawkins · Terry Tommyrot
Not Madeleine Setchell
July 30th, 2007 2 Comments
I wish to clarify that I am not Madeleine Setchell. My maiden name is Richards. Apparently, after I commented on kiwiblog the other day under my usual posting name which is simply ‘Madeleine’ a lot of people jumped to the conclusion that I must be the Madeleine in the story. Whilst there have been instances [...]
Tags: David Benson Pope · Madeleine Setchell
The Rationalists: Round Two
July 30th, 2007 4 Comments
In an earlier post I mentioned the schism within The New Zealand Association of Rationalist Humanists (NZARH) between former spokesperson Paul Litterick and current spokesperson Dr Bill Cooke. NZARH contend that Dr Cooke was a Professor at The State University of New York at Buffalo. Paul Litterick maintains this is false. Litterick claims Cooke was [...]
Tags: Bill Cooke · NZARH · Paul Litterick · Rationalists
Benson-Pope – Lousy Staff or Just a Liar?
July 29th, 2007 3 Comments
Here is a list of the instances I can recall where Benson-Pope has blamed one of his staff members for something he did: Leaked content of Police Report over Tennis Ball saga – staff member leaked it without his knowledge. (Later turned out it was with his permissison/instruction) Having the police collect a $35 cleaning [...]
Tags: David Benson Pope
Benson-Pope
July 27th, 2007 1 Comment
Benson-Pope is someone that the more closely you observe him the more his slimy, smarmy, bullying, bullet-dodging just pisses you off. Until recently I used to live in Dunedin so I have had a few encounters with Mr Benson-Pope a.k.a. panty slut boy and have crossed swords with him politically and know other people who [...]
Tags: David Benson Pope · Labour Party
The Flat Earth Myth
July 18th, 2007 2 Comments
A few days ago I got sent the following message from a high-school student in the US. I’ve been studying Christopher Columbus in my history class and my history books say that prior to Columbus everyone did think the world was flat……..I don’t know if it was a mistake in the history book or your [...]
Tags: Dark Ages · flat earth · Religious History · Urban Myths
Jim Flynn’s suggestion: Contraception and Religious Freedom
July 12th, 2007 3 Comments
When I was teaching the history of early modern philosophy at Otago last year, one of my students told me I reminded them of Dr Jim Flynn. This was supposed to be a compliment. Flynn was highly regarded at Otago even those who considered themselves conservatives had good things to say about Flynn. I knew [...]
Tags: Contraception · Ethics · Eugenics · Freedom of Religion
Kiwisaver or why I am not a centrist
July 9th, 2007 1 Comment
A little while ago a friend and I were discussing New Zealand politics with an American associate. My friend spoke of how he was an economic centrist and I informed him I was not. The topic got to kiwisaver, a policy with which he agreed. I thought his comments were interesting. Basically he cited anecdotal [...]
Why Do Feminists not seem to Care?
July 13th, 2007 2 Comments
I found this excellent article on Iranpressnews. It asks the insightful question why does the fate of Muslim women suffering under oppressive regimes not appear to matter to western feminists? And offers an insightful critique of the banalities and trivialities of western feminism.
Tags: Feminism · Islam