“I can indeed hardly see how anyone ought to wish Christianity to be true; for if so the plain language of the text seems to show that the men who do not believe, and this would include my Father, Brother, and almost all my best friends, will be everlastingly punished. And this is a damnable doctrine.”
Charles Darwin (Autobiography)
Charles Darwin was born this day 199 years ago.
The quote in the title is from an exclusive interview with Geller on prosieben.de which forms the basis for this article (in German – all quotes are my (re-)translations).
The introduction says:
For almost 40 years, he is a closed book for the public. […]
Or he’s trying to. For a “general public”, a “broad mass”, which corresponds to the target audience of the private TV stations and tabloid papers, this may hold true. Thanks to the internet, and YouTube & co. in particular, he can’t keep up his hard course that included many unfounded lawsuits against critics.
For instance the suit over 4 million US dollars in 1992 against book authors which was dismissed after two years with a (much smaller) punishment against Geller, which he had refused to pay, or a suit over 15 million against CSICOP (now CSI, Committee for Skeptical Inquiry) because of a statement by James Randi who said he had found a trick that Geller used to fool even respected scientists on a cornflake box.
(In German, you can read this and much more on the GWUP’s page, the German equivalent to CSICOP.)
Of course this doesn’t keep ProSieben from the brainwashing track of “all real powers, no tricks”, for which they rightfully got the (unfortunately too unknown) “Dodo of the Month” (German), an award for brainwashing of the people.
So is there a logical, scientific explanation for where your supernatural powers originate?
No explanation, but there is evidence for my powers. […]
To the Year of Mathematics (all in German):
Other links of the week:
That’s exactly what must be happening with creationists – because the obvious refusal to use the mind, the brain, and instead utter such bullshit (pardon, had to be said) as can be seen e.g. on GodTube.com (the apparently fast growing YouTube copy for Christians christian fundamentalists) cannot be an advantage for mankind.
Example: Evolution woud say that all inanimate things become life, including mousetraps becoming mice (near the end of this clip about woodpeckers).
As Ernest Hemingway said:
“All thinking men are atheists.”
Max from „Wissen belastet“, where I found this, mentions (in German) some more questionable examples and contents of GodTube.com, e.g. a little girl who “may” memorize a Psalm, of course with many comments on GodTube appreciating this.
A quote from Phil Plait from BadAstronomy.com:
“When you see that spark, that glow, that moment when a child understands what they are seeing [through a telescope], or even just the potential in their faces as they chew over the nature of reality, of the Universe… the joy that fills your heart is impossible to describe. It’s wondrous.
Creationism and fundamentalist dogma destroy that potential. It’s wrong, and it’s evil.
It’s brainwashing.”
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