Hitchens and Harris

I thought I would point you to the direction of this. Funded by the Jewish TV Network it is a debate entitled 'Is There An Afterlife?' It features Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris (who say 'No', or at least state there is no reason to think so) vs. Rabbi David Wolpe and Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson (who say 'Yes' on the grounds that it gives people hope, more or less).

Link: http://pangeaprogress.blogspot.com/2011/02/christopher-hitchens-david-wolpe-sam.html

Think For Yourself

On a quiet Sunday morning (13^th March) a batch of leaflets came through the letterbox. The gentle thud on the floor suggested yet more flyers for Chinese restaurants, Indian takeaways, noodle eateries, etc. My instinct is to pick them up and shred them pretty much straight away. After all, I know most of the takeaway places in my area very well, perhaps a little too well as my wasteline would attest. But after a brief glance, I noticed these were not adverts for fast food. They were adverts for something very different indeed.

There were a total of FIVE different leaflets, printed exactly like the above mentioned menu adverts. The titles printed in large and colourful fonts on the fronts gave themselves away far too easily.

1. The Man Muhammed (May God’s Peace Be Upon Him)
2. 7 Fundamental Questions About Islaam
3. Common Misconceptions About Islaam
4. Women in Islaam (Ignore the Propaganda and Find Out The Truth)
5. Think For Yourself (Do You Really Believe Evolution Is True???)

Yes, these were adverts for a religion, and not fast food. I thought I would take a look. I flicked through the leaflets, and the one which caught my attention was the one which asked 'Do You Really Believe Evolution Is True???' The extra question marks are not mine. I immediately answered ‘Yes’ to myself. After all, there is good, solid evidence which backs up evolution, while the religious debate against evolution tends to look more flimsy every time a new fossil is found. However, I thought I would have a read and find out if any new arguments are made against evolution…

It begins with some more posers: ‘have you ever wondered: How did we and everything else get here?’ Well, yes, of course I have. Any person intelligent enough to think has thought about that at some point. ‘What are we doing here?’ Good question, to which there are an almost infinite amount of answers (I could sense the fallacies already). ‘What Happens after the one certainty in this life…Death?’ You decompose would be my best guess.

It then begins its defence. ‘The society conditions us not to think about these important questions.’ I’m going to presume this means British society, and perhaps non-Islamic society. All I can say is that I have asked those questions many times, and I have never felt as though I shouldn’t ask those questions. The Church, with its preachers, its TV channels, its unfair charity status, its symbols, its central geographical location in every town and village, etc. has conditioned society over the millennia. But I suspect, this leaflet is not supporting the idea that the conditioning is because of the Church, or if it is, it’s because of the wrong Church. I sense that the statement implies a lack of religion stunts people’s intelligence, inquisitiveness and enquiry. From my point of view, I know the opposite is true. A non-believer asks many more questions than a believer, although the Church would have you believe you ask all the wrong questions.

‘Life is portrayed as the pursuit of pleasure and wealth.’ Life is portrayed in many different ways. Life is pursued in many different ways. The Church has historically taken wealth from the poor and kept it for itself. The Saudi Royal family are building Mecca into a tourist area with plush hotels. What I am trying to say is that religious people, including Muslims, have the same desires as anybody else, and that includes improving your lot.

‘Death is not even considered.' Not many people like talking about death because we enjoy life. We enjoy the company of others. We want to see our children and grand-children grow old. People tend not to talk about cancer, unless they develop a form of it. Why is it important that we talk about death when no-one knows what it entails?

‘People who talk about these issues are made out to be mad, boring or strange’. It depends on who is talking about it and why. There are plenty of mad people who talk about death, but there are plenty of interesting books and philosophical works on the subject. Some of the most mad, boring and strange opinions on death have come from religious argument - it entirely derived from guesswork, but presented as fact. I think Sydney Smith got as close as any theologian is going to get when describing heaven: "pate de foie gras to the sound of trumpets"! Well, I don't even like pate de foie gras, so sod that for a game of soldiers. Also, where do the '72 virgins' fit into this 'death debate?' Yes, that is strange and mad, although credit where it's due, it's not boring.

‘We are told science has come up with all the answers’. Really? Who told you that? I know of no scientist who has said such a thing. If they did, he/she would not be taken seriously by other scientists. By comparison, it is religion which claims to have the answers. Except of course, for the answers they used to supply that science has since proven wrong. They have tried to delete those "answers" from history.

‘However, the more we find out, then the more questions arise.' Indeed, science shows that the Earth revolves around the Sun. It shows that the Sun is just one average star in a galaxy. These raised more questions; science did the investigations and looked at the evidence to answer some of those questions. It doesn’t claim to know all the answers, and never will. Religion, on the other hand, claims to have answers to those questions. The very same questions they thought were illegitimate not so long ago.

‘The most popular theory to the origin of the universe, suggests that all matter came from nothing after a big explosion - the Big Bang.’ The theory does not state that all matter came from nothing. It claims the Big Bang was an explosion of a huge amount of matter c. 13.7 billion years ago. The theory does not state the matter came ex nihilo. There is no answer, as yet, as to what existed before the Big Bang. Science would never be so arrogant to state that it knows the answer to something it doesn’t. However, religion does have an answer – and it is that something (God) came out of nothing. Funny how their argument always rebounds like that.

‘Although we are taught that this theory is fact.’ We are taught that it is a theory, which is supported by a large amount of evidence. Evidence such as finding out the universe is expanding, the discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation, stellar evolution, the redshifts of galaxies, etc. It is a theory supported by testable scientific observations. Religion has no testable scientific observations. Not one.

‘We have to remember it is only a theory.’ In the same way that gravity is only ‘a theory’, or that dinosaurs existed is only ‘a theory’. Again, these theories are backed up by substantial and compelling evidence that can be tested. That is something religion has not got round to yet.

‘A theory without proof falls down.’ So, the theory of a God falls down at the first hurdle. Not only is there no proof, there is no scientific evidence, either.

‘Even Darwin noted some problems with his theory.’ Darwin was a scientist, and scientists make mistakes, correct themselves, and revise their theory according to their latest measurements. They admit they can be wrong. In the middle of the 19^th century, the field of evolution had only just begun; of course it was impossible for Darwin to nail down the entire theory. At that time, no radioactive-dating methods were available, geology was in its infancy, and he didn’t have that much other scientific material in the field to go on. The theory has not been proved wrong. Like many theories it has been fine-tuned as a result of new evidence and advances in technology.

After this section, it piles through every single Intelligent Design argument you have come across. Firstly, it uses the example of a car. It says ‘although we can’t smell, touch, hear or feel what made it we know the parts did NOT join together and make itself.’ That’s true in terms of a car, but the statement is not true in all cases. It certainly isn’t true for evolution. ‘Even if we waited a billion years we know the car could or would not evolve from nothing or its basic parts.’ This is a fallacy of course. Why would anyone apply a theory of evolution to a car? We know how cars came about. Also, you may notice, there is another example of the false accusation that the theory of evolution assumes something came out of nothing. Evolution does not state this. People who postulate in a Creator state this.

The next segment states ‘mutations ALWAYS cause harm, not benefit.’ Not true, but let’s assume it is for the sake of argument. If the Creationists are happy to concede this, isn’t that an acceptance that God is a very poor designer. Mutations happen naturally, so evolution must be responsible or God must be responsible. From their POV it is God. So He is to blame. But this argument is a bit of a red herring; evolution does not stand or fall on the issue of mutations.

It does not take long for the ‘design of the eye’ argument to come along - the classic ‘intelligent design’ argument. Whether it is from Islamic leaflets or speeches by Fundamental Christians the fallacies are the same. Evolution explains perfectly well how the eye can evolve via natural selection over millions of years. Taking their argument, yet again, you have to question if God was the designer of such an organ, why are some people blind?

‘Complex things require intelligent design.’ Depends on what complex things you mean. If it is life, evolution is the intelligent designer. If we are talking about ‘power plants’ and ‘space stations’, examples given by the leaflet, man is the intelligent designer. It really is that simple. It goes on, listing lots of amazing facts such as how the heart pumps blood continuously for 60-70 years – ignoring the fact that some people have heart attacks in their youth. After all, they don’t want to pin the bad things, the failures, and the mundane to their intelligent designer (God).

Next it is the universe. At least the leaflet seems to accept the Earth is just one planet in our solar system, which is in turn one solar system of many in the Milky Way. It doesn’t mention the fact that many religious people believe the Earth is at the centre of the universe, and is only 6,000 years old! We then get the order argument, which explains that there is so much order in the universe it must have been created by a designer (God). Nothing is said of the catastrophic collision in space between galaxies, black holes, nebulas, etc. Nothing is mentioned of the fact that one day our Sun will burn up its remaining gas and die. Are civilisation-ending meteor impacts a sign of Divine order? If it is, He's a bit of a joker.

After yet more examples of the amazing order of the world, (no mention of the things that have no order, of course) we finally get to the spiel: ‘all this is the result of a superior being, the Creator, the Almighty God, Allaah…who creates and maintains everything is the one deserving of all praise and gratitude.’ The last sentence is repeated as it was written – the construction is rather confusing (a bit like the Bible!). So, at last, we get to what food is on offer at the local takeaway. Exactly what food is on offer is a mystery. How much the items of food are is a mystery. The address of the takeaway is a mystery. Who sent the leaflet is a mystery.

The cat is now out of the bag. The first 4/5 of the leaflet could have been any religion making its claims, but now we learn it is Islam (or Islaam as the leaflet states). It quotes from the Qur’aan and claims it refers to the Big Bang, in the same way some think Nostradamus referred to 9/11. The sales pitch is now in full flow. ‘Islaam teaches that in the worship of God alone, lies the freedom from the subjugation and enslavement that occurs when men worship created things.’ Hold on, didn’t Allaah create those ‘created things’? It continues ‘it is the worship of these false gods, rather than the true God that leads to the corruption we have in the world today.’ So, as an atheist I should be in the clear - I don’t worship any of the false gods. But which Gods are false? This leaflet doesn’t provide any evidence that Allah is the right god. There are thousands of other gods all with an equal claim, all with the same spiel, all with the same non-existence of evidence to back them.

It ends saying ‘Worshipping God/Allah by following His guidance is the only way for mankind to reach total peace, justice and fulfilment in this life, and eternal bliss and delight in the world to come.’ Another bold as brass statement. It’s so confident, so smooth, so appealing it just has to be true. But wait, hundreds of other religions offer the same. Perhaps if they could just provide a small bit of evidence to back their claims, they would have a huge upper hand over the others. Alas, I think I’ll have to wait a little longer and stick with my atheism.

Anyway, I’m starting to get hungry. Anybody know a good local takeaway?

PS – I decided to take the advice on the front of the leaflet and ‘think for myself’. On the leaflet is a phone number. My old friend Google reveals one of the phone numbers is for the Brixton Mosque (The Brixton Mosque and Islamic Cultural Centre). You can read about its dubious history here.