Cllr. Gavin Ayling

Sam Harris is another in the growing number among us humans who believes that religion per se is dangerous. Listen to what he has to say:

If you agree, or even if you just know there’s no reason to believe in God, consider signing up (for free) as a Bright and spreading the 21st Century’s Enlightenment.

Without the usual, “Why can’t we all just live in peace” naivete:

So public opinion in the Middle East is aggressive and negative towards the West, Judaism and Christianity… Shocker: Thanks to ATW and the Granuaid.

How this fits with my post, An Opportunity, I don’t know… Although a look at Pakistan’s responses muddies clarity no end!

Seen on Tim Roll Pickering’s site (who got it from James’):

Of course there is one major flaw with the map — it suggests I am a LibDem! You may also want to see the distribution of results. Finally, you may want to take the test.

Your Score

Your scored -3.5 on the Moral Order axis and -5 on the Moral Rules axis.

Matches

The following items best match your score:

1. System: Liberalism
2. Variation: Economic Liberalism
3. Ideologies: Capital Democratism, Progressive NeoLiberalism
4. US Parties: Democratic Party
5. Presidents: Bill Clinton (93.01%)
6. 2004 Election Candidates: John Kerry (86.56%), Ralph Nader (71.27%), George W. Bush (62.43%)

Statistics

Of the 169581 people who took the test:

1. 0.2% had the same score as you.
2. 79.3% were above you on the chart.
3. 16% were below you on the chart.
4. 68.8% were to your right on the chart.
5. 23.2% were to your left on the chart.

I just wanted to give you a thought on the David Irving case.

I support David Irving’s imprisonment for two reasons: One, he broke the law in a sovereign country and two, lied about something that continues to affect people’s lives today. The Jewish people continue to be a target of extremists and Islamists.

That said, we support this law because it is about truth. While the holocaust is undeniable because of the evidence available, so is evolution — and yet large numbers of people continue to deny it…

I’ll only be brief.

The difference between holocaust cartoons and images of Mohammed is that there is something tangibly offensive about holocaust cartoons. To be offended by images of Mohammed requires that you have signed-up to the culture and conventions of the Islamic world. To be offended by cartoons mocking the holocaust requires you to have any idea of what happened in the 30s and 40s in Europe.

The fact that the Iranian newspaper has chosen the holocaust betrays the Islamic world’s delight that the Jewish people were victimised previously.

That said, I would not wish to see holocaust cartoons censored as in Germany. The holocaust, like many other black subjects, is a subject which can in the right circumstances, create shocked, guilty and genuine laughter.

Source for this unknown:

Richard Dawkins had an excellent programme on Channel 4 last night. It was, simultaneously, troubling and hilarious.

He described the God of the Old Testament as the worst character in “all of fiction”. He pointed out the scripture’s inconsistencies and spoke with fundamentalists of all three Middle-Eastern religions.

But the most important point I think he made was his last. While the fundamentalists are reading, believing and accepting the religious writings as they were written and as truth; moderates and so-called liberals are cherry-picking. “Yes” they say “evolution is true and so, by implication, Genesis is not but I still believe Jesus died on the cross for all our sins”. “Yes” they say “God is good, and loves us all, so you cannot agree or condone what is said and done in the Old Testament”. It is neatly skated over that Jesus was Jewish and believed in the Old Testament…

And one final question for those of you who believe (no harm in that) in something that is no more proveable or likely than fairies in my garden:

Why did Jesus contradict the God of the Old Testament?