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Al Jazeera - my contribution to discussion



Here's the Al Jazeera discussion programme I appeared on last night. It was a very good discussion I thought. Al Jazeera produce exceptionally high quality TV. The other contributors were Salman Hameed and Imam Joe Bradford from the US.

The discussion was prompted by an article by Geneticist Steve Jones in the Telegraph. In fact I had not seen this earlier interview in the Australian where Jones does say the problem of students boycotting evolution classes is predominantly with Muslim students.
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Unknown said…
I saw your talk on aljazeera today. We look at d world around us and all we see is beauty , creativity , sience & technology at its peak and we wonder: could it be a random event of things dat has created all these?. My sincere answer is no because from the most minute to the complex lifes of the universe, we see science and engineering that is beyond our scope.
I would want to follow ur blog & also invite u to mine @ wisdomunknown.blogspot.com
December 7, 2011 at 1:49 PM
Peter White said…
The comments by the Islamic scholar on dogma in science are a good example of why I don't listen to religious scholars any more. Everything they say about science is either a popular misconception or complete nonsense. Science is based on physical evidence. Scientists won't change their minds unless you can provide physical evidence to refute what they believe is true. That is entirely reasonable and not dogmatic.
December 8, 2011 at 11:29 AM
Anonymous said…
I don't think he knows what a "majority" is...
December 8, 2011 at 6:09 PM
Debunkey Monkey said…
On a side note, Ireland wants to put psychoactive drugs in its drinking water? I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but it sounds like something straight out of a science fiction cartoon.
December 9, 2011 at 11:02 AM
Geoff Coupe said…
Good stuff. I was impressed by Salman Hameed, and the studio anchor. I was not, at all, impressed by Imam Joe Bradford with his trotting out of "evolution - still a theory" and "faith in science" tropes.

Oh, and @WISDOM - I suggest that you take a look at the Ichneumonidea if you think that all we see is beauty. That genus could be said to be hard evidence for Stephen's "Evil god" hypothesis...
December 9, 2011 at 5:32 PM
Unknown said…
Being dogmatic about science or religion will not help matters. The real solution out of this quagmire is for scientist & religionists to sit down and discuss with a calm heart ,expressing their veiws and listening to eachother. You may find out that scientist & religionist are basically saying the same thing but in different languages , its all just a matter of understanding. I am a scientist myself and i hope to become a phillosopher someday. I agree that science is based on physical evidence but there're some physical concepts that cant be explained or experimented physically. These concepts elude physical sense & transcends to the spiritual realm. In this game of right & wrong, those who think they see are the blind ones & those who calmly listen to pratical wisdom and sense are those that really see. When i say i look around and all i see is beauty, the beauty is not what i see with only my eyes but also with my heart. For me, i simply adhere to the words of ALBERT EINSTEIN which says: 'science without religion is blind and religion without science is lame' and i think we all should try to see this.
December 9, 2011 at 9:53 PM
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