I notice that TV presenter and president of Humanists UK (Prof. Alice Roberts) is taking some flak on Twitter (not unusually) for stating the bleeding obvious (as many scientists do). Roberts is someone I've followed for a long time, I do enjoy her programs and think that she's someone that is really good at explaining complex things in easily consumable ways.
Yesterday she posted the following..
The reference is of course to the sequence of things that the God of the Bible (in the book of Genesis) supposedly did to create the universe (i.e. how can plants survive without photosynthesis). Based on what we now know about the laws of Physics and Biology etc. we can see that the order is illogical and that obviously this leads us to conclude that this story is a man-made myth (probably based on previous creation myths) and not literally true.
The dismissive and often aggressive comments she received show why it's still apparently necessary to point these things out to some people. There are plenty of apologists/literalists in the thread who apparently still cling to these ideas as if they were actually true! Of course people can believe what they like as long as they don't mind it being ridiculed or criticised, but that's the beauty of established science facts, like evolution! We don't need to believe them because they can be SHOWN TO BE TRUE as opposed to ancient Mesopotamian creation or flood myths that can't.
There are also many people in the thread who think they're taking the high ground by claiming that Roberts is ignorant of religion and therefore shouldn't comment on it! "Stick to your branch of science" is the claim, then again that same book also says "But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence." (1 Timothy 2:12) So I suppose these kinds of distraction techniques should be expected from the usual suspects. When you think about it, this kind of dismissive knee-jerk response reflects the pure arrogance and hypocrisy of believing that you alone already know the biggest secrets of the universe, that your little sect has the correct interpretation of all those ancient stories (as if they were even supposed to be "interpreted"). Ask yourself this, since when have many religious people, of all stripes, declined to comment on societal and scientific matters outside their areas of expertise? (such as abortion, free-speech, stem-cell research, vaccination etc. etc. ) no, I can't think of many either.
It seems what's good for the gander isn't also good for the goose!
You can see an example of this doublespeak below.
One has to ask, why is the comment "puerile", it's simply a statement of fact and a perfectly valid scientific question! Clearly an irrational nerve has been struck here suggesting that the complainant feels offended that this particular ancient myth has been called into question, I think we all secretly know why this is (i.e. childhood indoctrination into this particular belief system).
I do wonder how many less ridiculous comments this post would have accrued if Roberts had questioned the veracity of Thor's hammer?
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