Comments on: Richard Dawkins told a session of the Ed … http://talkislam.info/2008/08/19/richard-dawkins-told-a-session-of-the-ed/ a crescent waxing eloquent Fri, 19 Mar 2010 06:44:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: razib http://talkislam.info/2008/08/19/richard-dawkins-told-a-session-of-the-ed/#comment-2027 razib Tue, 19 Aug 2008 22:04:33 +0000 http://talkislam.info/2008/08/19/richard-dawkins-told-a-session-of-the-ed/#comment-2027 <i>And really, of all muslim societies to use as a barometer for extrapolation to the muslim world, can you pick a worse example than Turkey?</i> well, i picked turkey because i think it is a good example for a full spectrum islam (e.g., from islamist to pro-gray muslims). And really, of all muslim societies to use as a barometer for extrapolation to the muslim world, can you pick a worse example than Turkey?

well, i picked turkey because i think it is a good example for a full spectrum islam (e.g., from islamist to pro-gray muslims).

]]> By: Sy http://talkislam.info/2008/08/19/richard-dawkins-told-a-session-of-the-ed/#comment-2024 Sy Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:27:06 +0000 http://talkislam.info/2008/08/19/richard-dawkins-told-a-session-of-the-ed/#comment-2024 Based on my personal experiences visiting/interacting with/being in three or four top graduate science programs (mostly biology/chemistry/neuroscience) here in the US at least, I found most muslims rather accepting of evolutionary theory with a minority utterly dismissive of even discussion. I tend to agree with aziz in that many muslims who have been raised in the west, often form two dissociative identities, one religious (at home/mosque/reliigous friends), and another one secular (school, non-religious friends), and that depending on perspective its easy to answer in any one direction that creationism/evolution question. Based on my personal experiences visiting/interacting with/being in three or four top graduate science programs (mostly biology/chemistry/neuroscience) here in the US at least, I found most muslims rather accepting of evolutionary theory with a minority utterly dismissive of even discussion. I tend to agree with aziz in that many muslims who have been raised in the west, often form two dissociative identities, one religious (at home/mosque/reliigous friends), and another one secular (school, non-religious friends), and that depending on perspective its easy to answer in any one direction that creationism/evolution question.

]]> By: aziz http://talkislam.info/2008/08/19/richard-dawkins-told-a-session-of-the-ed/#comment-2023 aziz Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:17:05 +0000 http://talkislam.info/2008/08/19/richard-dawkins-told-a-session-of-the-ed/#comment-2023 Razib, that was an entertaining post :) but who exactly are you poking at with the sharp stick? There seems to be a disassociation between the theoretical religious doctrine of creationism and the pragmatic embrace of science and medicine by most of the professional muslim diaspora in the West. I don't think that the data Razib quotes, that 45% of muslim doctors find Creationism plausible, to be very significant. In fact, though I believe in evolution myself, I'd answer affirmative to the same question, and I'm not a medical doctor, I am a Ph.D. in physics (admittedly, an applied physics rather than hard core physical theory). There's a similar high correlation between scientists overall and atheism, but that also seems rather pointless a data point to speculate from. Its all shaky ground because the complexty of a person's theological belief is not well-mapped by the single question on Creationism (or an equally simple one about God's existence). Pretty much all muslims, by virtue of being muslim, are going to believe that in some sense God was the First Cause - so perhaps the 45% simply indicates a better understanding of the theological implications of belief rather than any inherent predeliction for gullibility. And really, of all muslim societies to use as a barometer for extrapolation to the muslim world, can you pick a worse example than Turkey? Razib, that was an entertaining post :) but who exactly are you poking at with the sharp stick?

There seems to be a disassociation between the theoretical religious doctrine of creationism and the pragmatic embrace of science and medicine by most of the professional muslim diaspora in the West. I don’t think that the data Razib quotes, that 45% of muslim doctors find Creationism plausible, to be very significant. In fact, though I believe in evolution myself, I’d answer affirmative to the same question, and I’m not a medical doctor, I am a Ph.D. in physics (admittedly, an applied physics rather than hard core physical theory).

There’s a similar high correlation between scientists overall and atheism, but that also seems rather pointless a data point to speculate from. Its all shaky ground because the complexty of a person’s theological belief is not well-mapped by the single question on Creationism (or an equally simple one about God’s existence).

Pretty much all muslims, by virtue of being muslim, are going to believe that in some sense God was the First Cause – so perhaps the 45% simply indicates a better understanding of the theological implications of belief rather than any inherent predeliction for gullibility.

And really, of all muslim societies to use as a barometer for extrapolation to the muslim world, can you pick a worse example than Turkey?

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