NewsWatch

Dawkins Stripped of Top Humanist Award

Forbes.com, 4/20/21, “Richard Dawkins Stripped of Top Humanist Award for Using Science to ‘Demean Marginalized Groups’” [Excerpts]: The American Humanist Association (AHA) has revoked its top “Humanist of the Year” honor from British biologist and noted atheist Richard Dawkins for the academic’s history of demeaning marginalized groups under “the guise of scientific discourse,” the group announced Monday, pointing to a recent statement that questions the validity of transgender people and suggests Black identity can be “assumed when convenient.”

The group did not point to specific statements Dawkins has made, though did refer to the academic’s recent call to “discuss” trans and Black identities.

Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist, Oxford academic and best-selling author, is no stranger to controversy, having become one of the most prominent faces of the New Atheist movement. His aggressive  and blunt rhetoric has seen him accused of hate speech and led to some instances of no-platforming.

(https://bit.ly/3wovMtL)

Freedom for all Muslims

FrontPageMag.com, 5/18/21, “Biden: ‘We Will Speak Out for Religious Freedom for All [Muslim] People’”]: In a world where religious persecution runs rampant, President Joe Biden has come out and forcefully condemned it. On May 16, he issued a brief video from the White House. Standing by the first lady, he said: “This administration will speak out for religious freedom for all people, including Uighurs in China and Rohingya in Burma. We also believe Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live in safety and security and enjoy equal measures of freedom, prosperity, and democracy.  My administration is going to continue to engage Palestinians and Israelis and other regional partners to work toward sustained calm.”

Biden always emphasizes the word “all”—as in “All people should be able to practice their faith with dignity”;....“this administration will speak out for religious freedom for all people.”

And yet, as the speech develops...it becomes clear who these “all” are: Muslims. Indeed, to anyone listening to the president who doesn’t know any better, it would seem that Muslims are being persecuted by non-Muslims—Israelis, Burmese, and Chinese—in an unprecedented manner.  Once again, and as usual, the opposite is closer to reality.

A study published in January 2021 found, for example, that 13 Christians are killed for their faith every day around the world; 12 are illegally arrested or imprisoned; 5 are abducted, and 12 churches or other Christian buildings are attacked daily. Overall, 340 million Christians “suffer very high or extreme levels” of persecution—meaning they are harassed, beaten, raped, imprisoned, and/or slaughtered on sight.

The study also relayed another interesting fact: of the 50 worst persecuting nations, 39 were Muslim—meaning that nearly 80 percent of the persecution that hundreds of millions of Christians around the world experience is being committed

by Muslims.

(https://bit.ly/3xpVbEA) 

Thunder Lizard Handstands

Creation.com, 1/1/21, “Thunder Lizard Handstands” [Excerpts]: More than 60 well-preserved footprints appear to show three sauropod dinosaurs “walking” in water, using their forelimbs only. Discovered in a limestone quarry in the Glen Rose Formation, Texas, the Coffee Hollow dinosaur tracksite consists of three parallel trackways heading in the

same direction.

The tracks are shallow—only a few centimetres deep. Amazingly, these dinosaurs left tracks in the mud only with their forefoot. They left no trace of any print from their hindfoot.

The research team believes the layer was under water when the footprints were made. The layer directly above, which also filled the footprints, showed ripple marks. These in turn must have been buried soon after, to cement them in place before they could be erased.

The trackways fit well with the dinosaurs pulling themselves through the waters of the Noahic Flood some 4,500 years ago while trying to find dry land.

Shortly after leaving their forefoot impressions, these were covered quickly by another layer of sediment, preserving the sauropods’ watery interaction.

(https://bit.ly/36lrecV)