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As An Outsider…

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Richard Dawkins says

As an outsider, I observe American culture polarizing fast, and religion is at the center of the action.

Side note: Dawkins’ essay disappeared from his website after 3 days. I wonder if the thumbsters will accuse him of deleting embarrassing articles as they accuse us of doing? Something tells me Dawkins’ faux pas will escape mention over there. Can you spell “hypocrite”? Or how about “double standard”? I knew you could.

Anyhow…

As an outsider, I observe European culture deteriorating fast, and religion is at the center of the action.

Rushing in to fill in the cultural power vacuum created by Christians abandoning their beliefs Muslims set fire to France.

Europe, the birthplace of the Protestant church, has abandoned the church and the venerable Protestant Work Ethic. The result is capitalism is on the decline, socialism is on the rise, unemployment is skyrocketing, and Europe’s population is becoming a welfare society dependent on government largesse for survival. Her economic output per citizen is 70% that of the U.S., her unemployment rate is 8.8% vs. 4.6% in America, and GDP growth is 1.5% vs. 3.0% in the USA.

Worse, a growing dependency culture such as Europe requires an increasing number of new, young workers entering the workforce to pay usurious tax rates in support of the growing number of older slackers. Because Europe has abandoned her belief in heavenly rewards she is increasingly focused on the material rewards of the earthly world. Children are a financial burden and adults can live higher on the hog without them. Europe’s population is growing only through net migration (mostly Muslims, which were already discussed above) at a paltry 0.15% vs. U.S. 0.59%.

So Professor Dawkins we in the United States ARE polarizing. One side wants to follow the European Union into the abyss and the other wants to continue being the shining city on the hill. I know which side of the polarization I’m on and thank God in heaven I also know which side of the Atlantic I’m on.

Comments
Where's my 10 foot pole?todd
September 27, 2006
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John A. Davison, "What nobody, except me of course, seems to realize is that God is dead and has been for a very long time. That is why we can’t expect him or more likely them to present themselves now. What we see now is the fruit of their labors which in my personal opinion must have completely consumed them." I have to say, your metaphysics are always interesting - whenever you mention them that is. A determinist who proposes a supernatural start to the universe by agents who are now deceased. I remember seeing you mention being a baptized and confirmed Catholic once as well, though I suppose no longer believing in any sense of the word. If nothing else, Darwinian detractors are more colorful than most of the proponents.nullasalus
September 27, 2006
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*cough^ *descending whistle^Scott
September 27, 2006
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What nobody, except me of course, seems to realize is that God is dead and has been for a very long time. That is why we can't expect him or more likely them to present themselves now. What we see now is the fruit of their labors which in my personal opinion must have completely consumed them. "A past evolution is undeniable, a present evolution undemonstrable." John A. DavisonJohn A. Davison
September 27, 2006
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Dawkins is a kook. Someone must have abused him as a child. Now he's trying to abuse the world with this new book.mike1962
September 27, 2006
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Mats, It is dissappointing to see it from on this side of the pond as well. And given the demographic trends, Europe will adopt, through the influx of Islam, the very values it currently finds such anathema. But, Dawkins sure is a stitch. Surely he is an adaptation that has evolved to bring us humor as representing the very caricature of the end state of his worldview. For example, his statement " A universe with a god would be a completely different kind of universe from one without, and it would be a scientific difference. God could clinch the matter in his favour at any moment by staging a spectacular demonstration of his powers, one that would satisfy the exacting standards of science." Oh yes, ladies and gentleman, God should and would behave in exactly the way that Dawkins deems fit. Another of his choice tidbits: "Complex, statistically improbable things, by definition, don’t just happen; they demand an explanation in their own right. " Well, isn't that what IDers have been saying all along? And a couple of sentences later: "Intelligent, creative, complex, statistically improbable things come late into the universe, as the product of evolution or some other process of gradual escalation from simple beginnings. They come late into the universe and therefore cannot be responsible for designing it." Recognizing that he means the later experienced complexity could not have designed the cosmos from the beginning, which no one is disputing, he comes dangerously close to admitting that the complexity we find today cannot have been responsible for itself. But, Darwinian evolution would say that the complexity of life is responsible for itself in the sense that the only conditions necessary were time and chance. After all, who needs external assistance?Ekstasis
September 27, 2006
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Dawkins has a lot of guts referring to his newest hero - Albert Einstein. Einsten had no more truck with atheists like Dawkins than he had with religious fanatics. Furthermore, in contrast with what Dawkins says, Einstein's view about a personal God was transparent. He had no truck with that either. "The main source of the present-day conflicts between the spheres of religion and science lies in the concept of a personal God." Richard Dawkins is to neoDarwinism what Paul Kammerer was to Lamarckism, a perfect charlatan. It is hard to believe isn't it? I love it so! "A past evolution is undeniable, a present evolution undemonstrable." John A. DavisonJohn A. Davison
September 27, 2006
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What's wrong with polarization? Would that there had been more "polarization" in Germany when Hitler moved to consolidate his power. Unity around bad principles is not a good thing.russ
September 27, 2006
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Being an european citizen, I have to say that it's a matter of great sadness to see the continent that offered so much to the world die of such a painful and slow death. :-| The spiritual vacuum is *the* central cause for the "death" of Europe.Mats
September 27, 2006
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Well DaveScot, You just don't understand how evil those religious people are. I mean they believe in dumb things like teleology, Aristotles final cause. I mean everyone knows that the liberal dream is the only dream worth having and anyone who disagrees is just plain dumb, or at least that is the main assumption you ought to make. On another note, why do people who believe we have no purpose but to survive, continually push for some utopia vision of what humans are supposed to achieve???? Why is he making claims about things being better than other things when in the end it makes no difference, if he is right??? Does this make sense in a worldview which basically says all views with regard to VALUES are essentially equal??? I smell a rat!!! I like the preview system. It was Intelligently Designed, no?rpf_ID
September 27, 2006
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