Muslim Medical Students Boycott Darwin Lectures 1319
First time submitter Readycharged writes "The Daily Mail reports on a piece from The Sunday Times revealing that University College London have seen an increasing number of Muslim students boycotting lectures on Evolution due to clashes with the Koran. Steve Jones, Emeritus Professor of Human Genetics, says, 'I've had one or two slightly frisky discussions with kids who belonged to fundamentalist Christian churches, now it's Islamic overwhelmingly.' He adds, 'What they object to — and I don't really understand it, I am not religious — they object to the idea that there is a random process out there which is not directed by God.' The article also reveals that Evolutionary Biologist and former Oxford Professor Richard Dawkins also experienced Muslims walking out of such lectures."
Re:I have problems with this (Score:5, Funny)
I wonder if they also object to quantum mechanics?
Re:I have problems with this (Score:5, Funny)
Just Speaking Generally (Score:5, Funny)
Wouldn't boycotting an academic lecture be equivalent to willful ignorance? Understanding your opposition's arguments, even if you know going in that you completely disagree with their conclusion, is a useful thing to have.
Re:So fail them (Score:5, Funny)
Tell them the only way they'll get a degree from a respected institution is to not be an idiot.
Sadly, there are now a few creationists with degrees in things like biology or geology. They manage to fake their way through uni/college and then go on the creationist lecture tour circuit touting their degrees. It's the classic argument from authority fallacy: "I have a degree, so everything I say is factual. God did it. Really. I have a degree."
Re:I have problems with this (Score:5, Funny)
God does not play dice.
-- Albert Einstein (aka Anti-science Jewish fundamentalist)
Re:I have problems with this (Score:5, Funny)
I know I do. Had a few working on my particle accelerator, but they could only tell me what was probably wrong with it...
Re:What's evolution got to do with treatment? (Score:5, Funny)
I think this illustrates the point nicely: http://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/2005/12/18 [gocomics.com]
Doctor: Afraid so, but we caught it early.
Doctor: Depends. Are you a Creationist?
Doctor: Because I need to know whether you want me to treat the TB bug as it was before antibiotics...
Doctor: Your choice. If you go with the Noah's Ark version I'll just give you streptomycin.
Doctor: They're intelligently designed.
Re:Up to them (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Up to them (Score:5, Funny)
The problem with the Koran is that it is supposed to be the literal word of God, but apparently he was a bit confused at the time and came out with a load of contradictory and ambiguous advice. Unfortunately for Muslims you have to follow his advice if you want to get in heaven, even when it makes no sense or was seemingly written while inebriated.
Re:Up to them (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I have problems with this (Score:5, Funny)
The thing about reality is that it does not go away, even if you don't believe in it.
I disagree. Wile E Coyote could defy gravity by denying its existence at will. Why he chose to sometimes believe in it, to his peril, and why the Road Runner never did believe is an ongoing philosophical debate with great controversy.
Your statement also reminds me of the question, "If a tree falls in a forest and kills a mime, does anybody care?". Does reality effectively cease to be if you are not aware of it, or if you become aware of it, do you even care?
Another question to ponder, one of the great mysteries too, is if Bugs Bunny really believed it was duck season, was it in fact duck season? That will bake your noodle too.
Re:I have problems with this (Score:5, Funny)
Wile E Coyote could defy gravity by denying its existence at will. Why he chose to sometimes believe in it, to his peril
Residual self-image? :)
Joining the Bandwaggon (Score:4, Funny)
These religious fundamentalist are all alike. Obviously it doesn't matter how they call their deity. For evangelical Christians evolution is a lie (though their own idea of creation of life is not even a theory (if you think it is a theory, please look up the scientific definition of theory)). And now fundamentalist from the monotheistic abrahametic religion version 1.2 come to the same "conclusion".
I always wonder why all these fundamentalist believe in a stupid god who works by rules which are totally imprecise and dependent to certain properties of a region and technical level. Fundamentalists from version 1.0 are not to work on $HolyDay and that included making fire (some 6000 years ago). Nowadays they are therefor not allowed to use cars on $HolyDay or cook on $HolyDay even though today making a fire in your home does not require any big thing to do. And new problems arise with microwaves is that fire in the ancient context? What they forget is. Why the people (er. god) came up with that rule?
I guess they should merge their religion interpretation into the fundamentalists. We could even make a TV series from it.
Re:I have problems with this (Score:5, Funny)
I can't perceive the multiverse.
Don't worry, there's a universe where you can.
Re:I have problems with this (Score:1, Funny)
The Darwin Awards are down the cliff
FTFY
Re:I have problems with this (Score:5, Funny)
Creationists always try to use the second law,
to disprove evolution, but their theory has a flaw.
The second law is quite precise about where it applies,
only in a closed system must the entropy count rise.
The earth's not a closed system' it's powered by the sun,
so fuck the damn creationists, Doomsday get my gun!
Re:I have problems with this (Score:4, Funny)
Actually there's nothing random given the multiverse religion.
There. Fixed that for you.
Re:I have problems with this (Score:5, Funny)
I had a similar problem with a quantum carpenter. I asked him how much it would cost to redesign my kitchen and he could only provide an estimate.