Re: Harun Yahya recants!

On 30 Set, 13:07, r norman <r_s_norman@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Tue, 30 Sep 2008 03:24:32 -0700 (PDT), Tiny Bulcher



<alycid...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Sep 30, 10:26 am, r norman <r_s_norman@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 30 Sep 2008 07:22:25 GMT, nmp <addr...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Tiny Bulcher wrote:
r norman wrote:

Back in 2006 when "Atlas of Creation" appeared, the Turkish  Daily News
had an article saying "Creationism is so widely accepted here that
Turkey placed last in a recent survey of public acceptance of evolution
in 34 countries -- just behind the United States."  That doesn't put
either  Turkey or the US  in a very good light.  However, just as in
the United  States, the anti-scientific stance of  the fundamentalist
groups (including a large part of the population) is distinctly
embarrassing to the policy of the  government interested in
demonstrating progress and modernity, especially as it tries to gain
acceptance and entry into the  European Union.

There seems to be some contradiction in the government's stance here;
they cannot be both Islamist in nature, and keen to demonstrate progress
and modernity such that they are embarrassed by fundies, surely?

In Turkey, they can. The party that is in government makes a point of
saying they are NOT fundamentalists that want to turn secular Turkey into
an Islamic state. They rather compare themselves to the mainstream
European "Christian Democratic" parties. I believe them on these points.
That still leaves enough to disagree with them about.

Here's more:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_and_Development_Party_(Turkey)>

This is a very important point.  Can you imagine the hysteria that an
"Islamic Democratic Party"  would create?  Yet Christianity pervades
the political and cultural system in Europe and America even as most
of these countries claim to be secular to one degree or another or
preach separation of church and state.  Every candidate for high
office in America is virtually required to end major addresses with an
invocation for God to save or bless these United Sates and to take an
oath of office with one hand on the Bible.  Invoking Allah or swearing
on the Koran would cause an immediate recall as indicating unfitness
for office.

Isn't there a Muslim congressman who swore in on the Koran? *googles*
There's two, it seems, one from Minnesota and one from Indiana.

OK, so I exaggerate a little for emphasis.  The point still holds that
a person running for office as an avowed Christian has no problem;
probably an advantage.  One running as an atheist or a Muslim has real
problems.

Besides, there is the article "Conservatives Attack Use of Koran for
Oath" in the Washington Post about Keith Ellison, the Minnesota
congressman you mention.  "America is interested in only one book, the
Bible. If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don't
serve in Congress," Dennis Prager, a conservative talk radio host in
Los Angeles, wrote. and The American Family Association in Tupelo,
Miss., for example, sent out an "action alert" to its 3.4 million
members urging them to write their legislators "to pass a law making
the Bible the book used in the swearing-in ceremony of Representatives

Isn't swearing on a religious book a violation of the anti-
establishment clause?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/08/AR200...

.

Relevant Pages

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  • Re: Harun Yahya recants!
    ... had an article saying "Creationism is so widely accepted here that ... Turkey placed last in a recent survey of public acceptance of evolution ... the political and cultural system in Europe and America even as most ... Isn't there a Muslim congressman who swore in on the Koran? ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Harun Yahya recants!
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  • Re: Harun Yahya recants!
    ... had an article saying "Creationism is so widely accepted here that ... Turkey placed last in a recent survey of public acceptance of evolution ... the political and cultural system in Europe and America even as most ... Isn't there a Muslim congressman who swore in on the Koran? ...
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