Religion
Related: About this forumPeter Higgs criticises Richard Dawkins over anti-religious 'fundamentalism
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/dec/26/peter-higgs-richard-dawkins-fundamentalismHiggs boson theorist says he agrees with those who find Dawkins' approach to dealing with believers 'embarrassing'
Alok Jha, science correspondent
The Guardian, Wednesday 26 December 2012 13.58 EST
Prof Peter Higgs said he was relieved not to win the Nobel physics prize this year. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian
As public disagreements go, few can have boasted such heavy-hitting antagonists.
On one side is Richard Dawkins, the celebrated biologist who has made a second career demonstrating his epic disdain for religion. On the other is the theoretical physicist Peter Higgs, who this year became a shoo-in for a future Nobel prize after scientists at Cern in Geneva showed that his theory about how fundamental particles get their mass was correct.
Their argument is over nothing less than the coexistence of religion and science.
Higgs has chosen to cap his remarkable 2012 with another bang by criticising the "fundamentalist" approach taken by Dawkins in dealing with religious believers.
more at link
rug
(82,333 posts)Shadowflash
(1,536 posts)Please.
Anti-religious 'fundamentalism'?
Is someone who doesn't belive in unicorns an anti-unicorn 'fundamentalist'?
Is someone who doesn't buy into bigfoot an anti-bigfoot 'fundamentalist'?
So someone who doesn't buy into fairy tales and mythology is a 'fundamentalist'?
I think 'realist' is the word they are looking for.
broiles
(1,367 posts)rug
(82,333 posts)A better word is asshole.
Response to rug (Reply #4)
Shadowflash This message was self-deleted by its author.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)rug
(82,333 posts)Shadowflash
(1,536 posts)I completely mis-read that.
Angry Dragon
(36,693 posts)rug
(82,333 posts)Dawkins actually said child sex abuse is "yucky".
A true asshole.
cleanhippie
(19,705 posts)much of which he talks about happened in the church YOU support, yet fail to condemn that abuse yourself with strong words right here?
rug
(82,333 posts)I am compelled by the evidence.
That statement of his is but one of the data. He is so monomaniacal when it comes to anything religious that he's become tone deaf and a parody, so much so that, in his zeal to attack a religion, he terms child sexual abuse as something "yucky" that children will get over, much worse that growing up in a religion.
Tu quoque, as you know, is a fallacy.
He is an asshole.
okasha
(11,573 posts)for anti-theists are attempting to avoid the word "fanatic."
cleanhippie
(19,705 posts)Either way, you win!
cbayer
(146,218 posts)wish to promote the further acceptance of atheism and causes like separation issues are distancing themselves from him.
There are all kinds of fundamentalists and, IMHO, Dawkins is one.
trotsky
(49,533 posts)You promote the superiority of your viewpoint over all others, to the point of demeaning and marginalizing those who disagree with you by labeling them as you see fit.
immoderate
(20,885 posts)And he does agree with Dawkins on the nature of reality.
--imm
cbayer
(146,218 posts)He agrees with Dawkins on many things, I am sure. But he does not support his approach.
immoderate
(20,885 posts)...and the rest is accounted for by the bow to agnosticism, which they both ascribe to, but with different results.
Higgs seems ever the gentleman. And Dawkins is more assertive. Higgs seems to deplore the confrontation.
--imm
cbayer
(146,218 posts)skepticscott
(13,029 posts)during the American civil rights movement sure were counter-productive, weren't they? Why didn't those uppity blacks just go along to get along and mind their place? The racist white south would have come around in a few hundred more years if they'd just STFU and given things a chance to happen peacefully.
dimbear
(6,271 posts)It's a special honor, and seems to have gentled him down.
skepticscott
(13,029 posts)Does he have anything remotely original or insightful to contribute? He simply rehashes some of the same criticisms that have been directed at Dawkins many times already, and answered. The author is apparently too lazy for any of that, and would rather just launch a roundabout argument from authority and hope it sticks, at least so he can say he's met his deadline.
rug
(82,333 posts)http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2012/12/27/no-one-should-be-embarrassed-to-speak-the-truth/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+freethoughtblogs%2Fpharyngula+%28FTB%3A+Pharyngula%29
The man who spent decades tracking down a fundamental particle of everything is being called an intellectual coward by -who?
cbayer
(146,218 posts)While Higgs calls for a recognition of different kinds of theists, Myers just perpetuates the stereotypes. Nice bunch of bigotry there.
okasha
(11,573 posts)one of whose brethren has "gone over the wall."
If it's not fundamentalism--or fantaticism; the readily offended may take their pick--to declare that an atheist's first and strongest loyalty should be to his fellow atheists, I don't know what is.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)okasha
(11,573 posts)was brave, courageous and death-defying blasphemy, that's who.