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Life, the Universe and Everything
 

Government changes Free School agreement to ban creationist schools

Media_httpfarm7static_jmkxc
via evolutionnotcreationism.org.uk

The British Humanist Association (BHA) has welcomed a new revision of the model funding agreement for Free Schools by the Government in order to preclude ‘the teaching, as an evidence-based view or theory, of any view or theory that is contrary to established scientific and/or historical evidence and explanations.’ This highly significant change has been made in order to ban creationism from being taught in Free Schools, and prevent creationist groups from opening schools. The change follows the BHA coordinating the ‘Teach evolution, not creationism!’ campaign, which called for this precise change.

In September, the BHA came together with thirty leading scientists and science educators including Sir David Attenborough, Professor Richard Dawkins and Professor Michael Reiss, and five national organisations to launch ‘Teach evolution, not creationism!’, which called on the government to introduce statutory guidance against the teaching of creationism and garnered significant press coverage.

TAKE ACTION!
Join over 20,000 others in sign the BHA’s government e-petition, ‘Teach evolution, not creationism’, at http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/1617

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Filed under  //   Education   Religion & Philosophy  
Posted January 11, 2012
 

Be afraid, be VERY afraid: a beginner's guide to Rick Santorum

via guardian.co.uk

Mitt Romney may have – just – emerged as the victor in Tuesday's Republican caucus in Iowa but, for many, the night belonged to his rival Rick Santorum, the most socially conservative of all the Republican candidates.

Gay marriage

During the Iowa campaign Santorum explained that not only would he support a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, but he would also be in favour of annulling all currently legal same-sex unions.

Birth control

Santorum raised eyebrows on Monday when he reiterated his opposition to a supreme court ruling that prevented the state of Connecticut from banning contraception. In an interview with Jake Tapper on ABC News, he said he believed all states should have the right to ban birth control. "I don't think it works. I think it's harmful to women," he said. "I think it's harmful to our society to have a society that says that sex outside of marriage is something that should be encouraged or tolerated, particularly among the young."

Evolution

According to Santorum, there are "legitimate problems and holes in the theory of evolution", a position which has led to his firm support for the intelligent design (ID) movement, even though that appears to have softened since writing in the Washington Times in 2002 that ID "is a legitimate scientific theory that should be taught in science classes".

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Filed under  //   Politics   Religion & Philosophy  
Posted January 4, 2012
 

St Paul's brought to its knees by confusion and indecision

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via guardian.co.uk

Interesting article here about the whole mess that St. Paul's has got itself into.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/oct/31/st-pauls-knees-confusion-indecision?...

I can't help but think that it just goes to show that the hierarchy of the Church of England are so massively out of touch with real life, especially in the completely cut off world of a Cathedral (I have first hand experience of this existence, so I know).

I also can't help but think that the Bishop of London (right) looks just like our gardener.

Filed under  //   Religion & Philosophy  
Posted November 1, 2011
 

Richard Dawkins - The Magic Of Reality

Photo

Here he is signing our books, with accompanying pint.

Playhouse Theatre, Oxford

Boy had I waited a long time. He's quite elusive is RD, but finally I hunted down a date where I could see him in his home town. I'm not sure he's ever been to the West Midlands or is ever likely to, so Oxford seemed the best place. I made the mistake of going by train with Vicky, Cross Country Train's service is truly piss poor, but that aside it was worth the effort.

Once we arrived in Oxford we headed for food and ended up in Jamie's Italian. Now I'm no fan of Jamie Oliver, I think he's a total twat, but Vicky had wanted to sample his food for a while so in we went. Overall it was a nice experience (but I think Carlucio's is better). Anyhow, I digress.

So, the first part of RD's talk was him and Mrs Dawkins (Lala Ward) reading bits from his new book, much like the audio book. That was nice, but he chose bits that didn't really seem to link together, which was a shame. It was interesting none the less. His groupies were pleased anyway (me included). He also demonstrated the iPad app. It was at this point that I realised that I had actually bought all three versions of the Magic of Reality without really thinking about it; hardback, audiobook and app. Whoops.

The second part was him taking questions. Most of these revolved around his distain for religion and he spoke passionately about many of the issues that have gained him a following aside from his scientific expertise. The odd question revolved around evolution and genetics, but mostly it was a religion and superstition bashing session which suited me and the rest of the crowd. It was a pity that no Dawkins hating Christians had managed to plant themselves in the audience, I would have loved to have seen him tackle that 'problem'.

Afterwards he was signing books. Now I had umed and ared about whether to bring The God Delusion with me on the off chance that he could sign it. I decided against it, which was the wrong decision. So, I made Vicky buy another copy so he could sign that. We waited a little while and finally I had my chance to have a very quick chat with the great man himself. He signed our copies of The Magic of Reality and The God Delusion and I thanked him for making my A' level lessons so interesting over the years. He seemed to like that.

A thoroughly enjoyable afternoon out which will stick in the memory banks.

Filed under  //   Religion & Philosophy  
Posted October 28, 2011
 

Storm

In honour of the week when I finally get to hear my hero, Richard Dawkins, talk about the Magic of Reality I want to share one of the most accurate observations of the world, by Tim Minchin. As my wife said, it's like he crawled inside my head. Enjoy.

Filed under  //   Humour   Religion & Philosophy  
Posted October 22, 2011