Gerald Warner in The Telegraph speaking about the German homeschooling issue referred to in my last post where homeschoolers are threatened with fines/imprisonment and/or removal of their children “sees how Americans, living in a free country, view the creeping totalitarianism that has engulfed Europe. For this is not just a German issue: we are all helots under state control. Why did the German homeschoolers not seek political asylum in Britain? Because our rulers subscribe to the same tyrannical statist philosophy, is the answer. Every possible obstacle is put in the way of homeschooling parents in Britain. The mentality is that the state - not parents - is the natural controller and shaper of children’s lives and beliefs.”
Douglas Farrow called his lecture, given in March 2009, “The Audacity of the State It’s Bent on Bringing Down the House on the Family & the Church.” In it he expresses the fears referred to by Warner, “The ascendancy of the state over civil society, which it ought rather to serve, is virtually guaranteed where the state exercises full control over education-particularly if the goal of education, as one professor boldly asserted in a recent McGill forum, is to release children from the control of their parents. In America, one notes, there have long been advocates of the still more radical idea that children should be regarded as the state’s property, to be educated on a compulsory basis according to state needs and requirements. That is a thesis likely to be advanced with renewed urgency as the implications of our declining birthrate begin to be grasped.”
This link on Douglas Farrow and a second link on The Family In America are included in an article titled, Individualism And The death Of Liberty . “Individualism,” says Jim Tonkowich, “rather than increasing freedom, invariably results in less freedom. This is because individuals need to be protected. If that protection does not come from the loving community of family and Church, the government steps in with all sorts of strings attached. Thus individualism encourages more government control over our lives.”
The German and Sweden Homeschooling issue opens up to wider issues that see a growing threat by the State to the freedom of the individual and of individual conscience, something the well read and observant sees happening already in the UK. Two main pillars of democracy are freedom and equality. When a balance is not kept and emphasis on equality usurps a citizen’s rights to exercise responsible freedoms and freedom of conscience it is then that we risk coming under the kind of state governance that begins to reflect authoritarianism with all its injustice to the individual.
Here is an illustration of my reading on German Homeschoolers threatened with heavy fines/imprisonment and removal of their children because of their dedication to educating their children at home. Incredible that America is called to provide asylum for subjects of a Western European democratic country! Again, it shows how different American democracy is from some Western European democracies. Albert Mohler tells the story about German parents who take risks in homeschooling their children.
Lifebite reports that, “Mr Dawkins wanted to censor discussions on his website that he considers “irrelevant postings and frivolous gossip”. Once news of his intention to vet his site got out - which by the way he has every right to do - he became the subject of a tidal wave of foul-mouthed abuse, and the forum had to be shut down.”
“A former moderator of Dawkins’ site voices the disillusion with Dawkins that is apparently felt by many: “Thousands of loyal, intelligent, rational forum members have been misrepresented as a bunch of foul-mouthed, vitriolic thugs by the man who so inspired them.Well, atheists like Dawkins have long been misrepresenting intelligent, rational believers in God as lunatics and worse, so join the club! He repeatedly labels all believers with the derogatory term ‘faith-heads’, and his latest book equates anyone who questions evolution with Holocaust deniers. And he has plenty more belittling phrases where those came from.
When Dawkins says about his own atheist supporters, “there has to be something wrong with people who can resort to such over-the-top language, overreacting so spectacularly,” he cannot see that he is also describing himself.
In the last few years, he has lost the support of many moderate atheists because of the abusive way in which he attacks religious believers and overreacts to those who oppose evolution.”
I can understand Lifebite’s apparent delight in what it reports but shouldn’t we feel rather sorry for Richard Dawkins that he delights in the posture he adopts against those who oppose his views rather than wishing him “a taste of his own medicine“?
In my last post I contrasted the democratic freedoms in the USA with that of Germany and Sweden where the state and not parents are deemed responsible for children’s education, and where parents can be imprisoned or lose custody of their children if they choose to homeschool their children. Although the UK have enjoyed similar freedoms to the US in Homeschooling a new bill being introduced by the UK government is causing Homeschoolers great concern and claims of injustice in their treatment by this government. The comments following this article in The Times has Graham Badman being the ‘bad man’. It is due to his report on Homeschooling in the UK that has brought about the Homeschooling ‘Bill’ - now accused of being pushed through Parliament with indecent haste. In favour of Homeschooling the Tory Michael Gove promises to reverse decisions being introduced in the Bill. In the Comments online following the article Homeschoolers take issue with the statement by the author of the article that, “The review found evidence of a small number of extreme cases, where home-educated children had suffered harm because concerns were not picked up.” There is no mention of the concerns over Islam being responsible for Homeschooling concerns as reported in my previous post.
Whatever other differences there are between America and other Western democracies one basic and fundamental difference shows up over children’s schooling. In the USA the parent is responsible for a child’s education, the same goes for the UK. In Sweden it seems a child is on loan to the parents but ultimately belongs to the state, as in Germany.
Comments on the article in the Economist puts the blame for state control on the increasing Moslem population in the E.U. not integrating in the society of the host country. But as I understand in my reading, Germany has never released state control of its children since they were commandeered for the Hitler Youth Movement. Although there is freedom at the moment for parents to choose to home school their children in the UK, there is evidence that it is Islam that is causing concern for central government which is bringing pressure to bear on home schooling in the UK.
All is being done for 7-year-old Dominic Johansson but Sweden appears to be a very severe regime when it will only allow his parents to have a one-hour visit every five weeks!
Due to the freedoms America provides parents it can claim evidence of academic excellence in its burgeoning home schooling community, with academic achievement and social integration above that of state schooling. Comparing the US with Germany and Sweden one can’t help feeling that the secularist/atheist leanings of Europe provide evidence of moving towards a state control that is anathema to the Christian based society of the USA. What is happening in these countries is what we would have associated with the Soviet Union before its demise. This is a fear that we have in the UK, of giving away our Christian heritage with its democratic base.
It really is amazing to observe Christian Weston Democracies giving way to atheism when atheists in atheist countries like China are clamouring for Bibles and giving up atheism for Christianity, and still many more wanting and waiting to know about biblical Christianity! Despite religious persecution in China, it’s Christian population increased by 500,000 in 2009 with not enough bibles coming off the printing press to supply China’s need for bibles. I have done my own reading of TGD by Richard Dawkins, but for me, millions of Chinese turning to Christianity gives its own message about atheism.
After 150 years Polls in the UK still show doubts about Darwinism with around 50% of the population favouring Creation and Intelligent Design being taught alongside Darwinian Evolution in the Classroom. Much of the continuing doubts about Darwinism can be attributed to the over-zealous atheist evangelists such as Richard Dawkins. The next atheist evangelistic campaign (sold out) is ‘down under’.
“The 2010 Global Atheist Convention will be the biggest ever atheist event in Australia’s history.
This is your chance to hear world-class atheist speakers, and meet Australian and internationally acclaimed atheists, skeptics, humanists, rationalists and academics in one of Australia’s most vibrant and exciting cities.
The bigger we can make this convention, the stronger the signal it will send to Australia’s religious and political institutions that atheism and secularism are forces to be reckoned with.”
Much of the overabundance of published contrary materials in recent years by book and newspapers editors on whatever side of the belief spectrum must welcome Richard Dawkins with open arms for the financial income the debate brings.
The Intelligent Design Movement has produced some excellent materials such as Michael Behe’s Darwin’s Black Box with the latest being Stephen Meyer’s “The Signature In The cell“. Contrary to popular propaganda that this is all about science versus faith the I.D. and Creationist movements are driven by well-qualified scientists - some with more than one doctorate as with Stephen Meyer. Among the endorsements of Meyer’s book is one by double science doctorate Professor John Walton of St Andrews. Said by some to be the ‘father of intelligent design’ was A. E. Wilder-Smith, with three science doctorates.
Creationists are equal to atheists in producing scientific evidence contradicting Darwinism. As well as many lesser websites the big guns of creationism like AiG and CMI with an over-abundance of science articles/materials available - even downloadable books such as ‘Refuting Evolution’ and ‘In Six days’ on their websites answering the claims of atheism, responding to the flaws in the Darwinian arguments as well as drawing attention to bogus claims or hoaxes and embarrassments from over-enthusiasm for claims about missing-links. Both AiG and CMI provide colourful quarterly journals to subscribers.
So who would want to teach Darwinian evolution in schools as the only explanation of origins when there is so much material now available and accessible to bright youngsters who can ask intelligent questions in class that can be a source of embarrassment to teachers who have no time to view and study the origins debate?
As anyone who is well-read in the origins debate will know, it is not about Science V faith but one ‘Faith’ versus another ‘Faith’, the belief that somehow somewhere in the long-distant past primitive life spontaneously emerged from inanimate matter to give rise to intelligence and consciousness - you and me. It only happened once - it has not been repeated and has not been observed and is not testable - it is something that is believed - a ‘faith’ that it must have happened because we are here - any other faith system of origins is excluded because they are not verifiable! Which is quite strange seeing that evolutionary origins are also not verifiable - in fact - for matter to give rise to life would have to be a belief in miracles! Which is what the alternative view of origins is - that a supernatural being - Mind or Intelligence brought material into being - our universe with life and you and me - with intelligence and consciousness - living on this planet that is so finely tuned to maintain life. Those are the only two views of origins - both belief systems - so will teachers have the courage in the classroom to present both views impartially - in respect of the over 50% of the population who want both views presented in the classroom - to allow pupils/students to come to their own conclusions? If not? - it seems to me with all the information now available on the Internet - the teaching of evolution in schools as the only view has to be ‘A Hot Potato’!
This link leads to “The Dawkins Letters”. David Robertson who is a minister in the Free Church of Scotland is based at St Peter’s Church, Dundee. His responses to Richard Dawkins’ book The God Delusion have now been published in a slightly revised form in “The Dawkins Letters”.
Robertson says of this series of 11 letters to Richard Dawkins’ in response to his book, The God Delusion,”I am writing it for my own benefit and for the sake of those who having read your book, perhaps share the same frustrations, or maybe have even been influenced or feel threatened by it.” Well, I am one of those readers of TGD but not threatened by it but happy to read Roberston’s resposes to it and provide the link for anyone else who would like to read them.
I must admit that having read TGD I found sympathy with Robertson when he says, “Just as the Jews were responsible for all the ills in Weimar Germany, so according to your book religious people are responsible for the majority of ills in today’s society. Along with John Lennon you want us to ‘imagine’ a world with no religion. A world which you claim would have no suicide bombers (I assume it slipped your mind that the majority of suicide attacks have been by the secular Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers?), no crusades, no 9/11, no Israeli/Palestinian wars, etc. By the way John Lennon was one of my heroes and I loved Imagine. Then I grew up and realised that it took a great deal of imagination to take seriously a song which spoke of imagining a world ‘with no possessions too’ written by a man who lived in a mansion and had an abundance of possessions, whilst there were millions dying from lack of resources.”
Each letter is a response to each of the chapters of TGD. He does address Dawkins’ complaint that being an atheist is a disadavantage career wise. Says Robertson, “I cannot think of a single career option in Britain where being an atheist would place you at a disadvantage . . . . However there are many people for whom admitting they are ‘religious’ is a severe block to their career and life. Those who seek to be Christian politicians, singers, businessmen, teachers and social workers often face significant prejudice and irrational fear. It is sometimes advantageous to deny one’s faith or even to leave it. Being a Christian is more often than not a stumbling block to one’s chosen career path, rather than the other way around.”
“I also smiled,” says Roberson, “when I read your complaint that atheists were persecuted and misunderstood. Apparently you are the new ‘gays’ who need to ‘come out’. Forgive me for saying this but I had not noticed that atheists were particularly silent or poorly represented in British society (or even American). In Britain all our government institutions, media outlets and educational establishments are primarily secularist. The National Secular Society or the British Humanists get a far bigger exposure than the vast majority of Christian churches - despite the fact that most secular societies could fit their members into a phone box.Even when the Prime Minister is asked a relatively innocuous question about whether he prays, his media minder Mr Campbell felt compelled to point out ‘we don’t do God’. Atheism and secularism are without doubt the prevailing philosophies of those who consider themselves the elite.
Declaring that TGD “comes across as a desperate attempt to shore up secularism’s crumbling defences,” it will be interesting to work through Robertson’s 11 letters and see where I might identify my reading of TGD with his. There is a link at the end of each letter forwarding the reader on to the next. Following the introduction are the following letters:
Letter # 2. A Religious Non-Believer
Letter # 3. Respect
Letter # 4. The God Hypothesis
Letter # 5. Arguments For God’s Existence
Letter # 6. Why There Almost Certainly Is A God
Letter # 7. The Roots And Evil Of Religion
Letter # 8. The Roots Of Morality: Why Are We Good?
Letter # 9. The Good Book And The Moral Zeitgeist
Letter # 10. Childhood Abuse And Gap Theology
Letter # 11. Final Letter To The Reader - Why Believe?
All Accessible from here:
“In the 1980s . . . biologists discovered that many of the genes involved in embryo development are similar in many types of different animals - from fruit flies to humans. Since differences in development was supposedly due to differences in genes, the similarities seemed paradoxical, but a new discipline arose called “evolutionary development biology”, or “Evo Devo”, attributed them to inheritance from a common ancestor. Now evo devo is all the rage among Darwinists.
“Yet the paradox remains. If the developmental genes of insects and mammals are similar, then - as Italian geneticist, Giuseppi Sermonti puts it - why is a fly not a horse?” Interesting reading!
Just Google ‘Human Trafficking in Europe’ and one can read of the extent of the fight against this evil trade. Human trafficking is considered to be rife in Europe and of great concern here in the UK today. It’s not new says C.T: “Today’s movement for the abolition of sexual trafficking is a rekindling of an earlier crusade. In the late 19th century, reformers such as Josephine Butler, Florence Soper Booth, Katharine Bushnell, and many others fought to protect “the down-trodden mass of degraded womanhood.” They were the William Wilberforces of their day, battling another form of slavery and working for the restoration of its victims.”
