And Another Thing

Probir Ghosh

Climate change is psuedo-science? If belief in God leads Mr. Johnson to this view, no wonder more and more youngsters turn away from Him!

louid beckers

You say he was not only a gifted scientist, but a modest and decent man. I agree, and that's deification enough for me: you won't dind another one easily.

louis beckers

You say he was not only a gifted scientist, but a modest and decent man. I agree, and that's deification enough for me: you won't dind another one easily.

J. Eric Johnson

Yes, Probir, I'm sorry to say that climate change is a pseudo science. Any process that reinterprets all evidence as supportive of the original hypothesis, is not a proper scientific process at all.

If your belief is sincere and your objective to convicne, then trade in evidence not in agenda.

John Bishop

Surely Mr Johnson meant to write,"...belief in the supernatural is a matter of reason and not emotion." And not the other way round.If this is not so then his argument doesn't follow. In support of a rational belief in God c.f Thomas Aquinas et al.right down to modern times.

John Bishop

Surely Mr Johnson meant to write,"...belief in the supernatural is a matter of reason and not emotion." And not the other way round.If this is not so then his argument doesn't follow. In support of a rational belief in God c.f Thomas Aquinas et al.right down to modern times.

Dave

Those who insist on decorating buses in that manner join Christopher Hitchens in being
what Paul Greenberg described as "evangelical atheists". I have a sneaking suspicion that they do not really believe in a word of what they are saying.

And buy the way, many things go into the continued survival of the human species. Voilition, culture and population density for example guarantee that there will be war yet are absolutely vital to us.

By the same token, losing a child as did Darwin simply illustrates that microbes which can kill any single individual are most necessary for an environment that sustains human beings.

When such tragedy arises, those that can say "Thy Will Be Done", seem to have the edge over those who refuse to do so.

Bill Corr

Growing up in Barrow-in-Furness, I travelled twice daily by bus past a poster which exhorted all who beheld it: GET RIGHT WITH GOD AND DO IT NOW!

This infuriated me; I would have gladly parted with a little pocket-money and contributed to an atheist, Satanist or Zoroastrian counter-propaganda effort.

Older now and aware of my own mortality, these days I rather enjoy the nicer aspects of mainstream Christian religion; the architecture, the exquisite art and music and, of course, the agreeable emotions and sensations created by a good church service. But not the unconvincing theological claptrap which the super-smart Paul Johnson would have us believe he believes.

In case we have forgotten, his spiritual beliefs may be summarised, without the slightest mockery or disrespect, as follows:

"The world, every living thing and the entire universe was created by an invisible Deity who later impregnated a virgin, Mary, who bore a son, Jesus, who was simultaneously both his own father and an invisible spirit. We have immortal souls and will live forever in Heaven if we are good and love Jesus and truly repent our Original Sin, which came about because a talking reptile persuaded a gullible woman to eat fruit from a magic tree."

This is, of course a brief synopsis; it does not embrace the Flood or Jonah's whale or the Plagues of Egypt.

What more can one say?

Christian believers know, of course. That's why you'll occasionally see exhortations to FLEE FROM THE WRATH TO COME!

Yes! Yes! If only we knew which direction!

THX1138

Climate change is psuedo-science?

This article is certainly real bullshit!

John Richardson

Dear Mr Johnson,

Unfortunately 'Global Warming' or it's current (random?) mutation , 'Climate Change', are surly much worse than simple pseudo-science ? Are they not instead full blown cults ? Replete with debased morality
( evil waste ,blessed recycling)
heroes and demons , and that powerful , furious certainty self deception always seems to generate ?
Anyway , the real reason I though I might text , is to ask why no-one I have come across hitherto , has yet made the connection between Darwin's tragic loss , and the almost identical situation faced by Nietzsche ?
The actual product of their insight , in this world , has been tragic for many millions of souls. They were both so angry with God they could never forgive Him.
Oh , religious faith is not always based upon emotion of course. For some it is the result of direct experience of the divine.
Though I am confident you knew this.

Yours,
a longtime admirer,
John Richardson.

Julie Carter

In response to Paul Johnson's quote of GK Chesterton, I would paraphrase a quote by Adolf Hitler: The capitalists control the money, the communists control the workers, but the national socialists control the minds of people. And when you have that you have everything!

Just substitute national socialists for organised religion and you have the root cause of the world's woes!

Disillusionment with religion is endemic, there is no god, so get over it!

The most encapsulating message I've heard is by musical genius Andy Partridge in the song "Dear God."

Hear it on www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk41Gbjljfo

Denzil Jayalath

"To control our thoughts" that is the essence of true religon. If only we could think only the thoughts that we want to think, we have reached the highest height. Profit & loss,
Fame & shame,
Illness & health,
Birth & Death, are all part of the human condition. It is the mind and all its thoughts that looks at these imposters in a particular way. If we can think of these with equanimity we have won the battle of life, whether there is a God or not.

Michael Prendergast.

An exhortation to visit that 'pantheon'YouTube,no thank you very much.Now there's a receptical for all that is "claptrap" and intellectually stimulating for inert amoebas only!

Iain Orr

Paul Johnson will find that the place of emotion in Darwin's life is treated with great insight in "Darwin - a life in poems" by Ruth Padel (a great-great grand-daughter). His grief at Annie's death cries out in pain in "The Devil's Chaplain" and "A Natural History of Babies" (mostly in Darwin's own words) shows the father standing right beside the scientist.

It would make a fine contribution to the bicentennial to have Paul Johnson's assessment of Darwin as a correspondent (see the riches at www.darwinproject.ac.uk )

Augustus

I am sure that Charles Darwin was a good man and a fine scientist, but Darwinism, or rather Social Darwinism, prepared the ground for many by-products of the new secular age. By proposing that the white man was more advanced in evolutionary terms he inspired many racists including Hitler.
It is noteworthy that socialism showed a particular zeal for the theory of evolution. Marx wrote to his friend Engels that Darwin's Origin of Species presented the natural-historical basis for their critique of capitalism.

The evolution propaganda promoted in the media organs and science journals of today serves the mission of 'modern civilization' aiming to confine the concepts of God and spirit to mythology. But no ideological programme, whatever the illusions of its supporters, and whatever their means of promoting and packaging their untruths, can survive for ever. Precisely because man is God's creature, made for nobility of being and action, he must and will seek truth, even if temporarily deviated. All the information revealed by modern biology shows
that the origin of life, especially molecular structure of living creatures, cannot be explained by coincidence alone. The transcendent consciousness ruling over the whole universe is the ultimate evidence of God's existence. And quite a few scientists today increasingly conclude that it is very evident that life has been created by conscious design.

Grokes

The greenhouse effect is a pseudo-scientific myth? Would you care to elaborate?