Lightly Seared On The Reality Grill

Writing in New Humanist, Keith Gilmour, a secondary school Religious and Moral Education (RME) and Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies (RMPS) teacher from Scotland who recently had an encounter with Alastair Noble, director of the Glasgow-based Centre for Intelligent Design, makes the following point:

Creationists and Holocaust deniers offer a third option. However, by requiring the rejection of overwhelming scientific/historical evidence, they rule themselves out of any serious discussion and neither should be invited into schools to talk to pupils. And they exclude themselves further through everything else that they have in common. Both object that a minority of highly educated people reject what 99 per cent of scientists/historians accept, and that this fringe group will eventually be proved right. (For Holocaust deniers see, for example, Paul Rassinier, Robert Faurisson, Arthur Butz and The Institute for Historical Review). Both are notorious for quoting experts out of context (to give the misleading impression their crank view has some serious support), for mischaracterising scholarly debate over details as a failure to agree even on the basics, and for seizing upon any mistake (however minor) to argue that the entire field of study is riddled with incompetence, ignorance and deception. Both rely on a kind of “book disproved by its missing pages” reasoning and are forever demanding “caught in the act” evidence before they’ll believe a single thing (though usually only in this area of life). Both groups imagine themselves to be victims of a massive conspiracy that shuts them out of some imagined “debate” and both accuse their critics of misunderstanding them (like we think Holocaust deniers imagine no killings took place at all and evolution deniers believe nothing has evolved, anywhere, ever).

It is a good point and one (as Gilmour points out) that has been previously made by Michael Shermer in his book, Why People Believe Weird Things.

As Christopher Hitchens succintly put it: “What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.”

It is true of both Holocaust deniers, Creationists and any other flavour of denier that, unless they can produce some positive evidence to support their claims, their claims can be safely disregarded. It follows, of course, that claims that can be safely disregarded have no place in schools at all.

As the world becomes more compassionate and more informed, the Church has become more narrow, condemnatory and cruel. It has outstayed its welcome.

- Terry Sanderson on the Catholic Church’s latest PR exercise.

Pope’s visit debt: now overdue

According to a Government response to a parliamentary question from NSS honorary associate Baroness Turner of Camden, the Catholic Church has not yet paid the £6.3 million it owes the British taxpayer for debts incurred during the visit of the pope last September.