Oh dear! Richard Dawkins has finally been cornered by his own peers. Recent studies reported in the Sunday Times (6.9.09) [www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6823229.ece ] have suggested that atheism may be fighting against nature. Humans have been hardwired by evolution to believe in God, scientists have suggested. The natural processes of evolution have ensured that those with religious beliefs tended to work together better and therefore stood a better chance of survival.
Professor Pascal Boyer, anthropologist of Washington University, holds out little hope for atheism and said "Religious thinking seems to be the path of least resistance for our cognitive systems. By contrast, disbelief is generally the work of deliberate, effortful work against our natural cognitive dispositions - hardly the easiest ideology to propagate."
Monday, 28 September 2009
Upside down priorities.
So much stupidity going on at the moment that it's difficult to know which example to pick!
This week's prize has got to go to the school which sacked a dinner lady because she told a child's parents that the girl was being bullied at school. In the minds of 99.99% of the population this was entirely the right thing to do. Somehow the school managed to justify sacking her on the grounds that the child's confidentiality had been breached! So keeping confidentially comes higher up the ethical scale than safeguarding a child's physical safety and human dignity does it? I pity any child at that school if they have to put up with this kind of warped thinking for very long.
This week's prize has got to go to the school which sacked a dinner lady because she told a child's parents that the girl was being bullied at school. In the minds of 99.99% of the population this was entirely the right thing to do. Somehow the school managed to justify sacking her on the grounds that the child's confidentiality had been breached! So keeping confidentially comes higher up the ethical scale than safeguarding a child's physical safety and human dignity does it? I pity any child at that school if they have to put up with this kind of warped thinking for very long.
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Safeguarding - or revenue making?
The world hasn't got any saner since I've been away on holiday. The latest bad idea to hit the headlines is the Independent Safeguarding Authority, the body set up to register anyone who wants to work with children or vulnerable adults. It will shortly be an offence for anyone to work with these groups unless they are registered with this body!
When will the Government stop interfering with everyone's lives and just trust us to manage our own affairs? This stupid idea apparently sprung from the murder of two schoolgirls by a school caretaker. Nasty occurence, obviously, but exactly how is this kneejerk reaction going to prevent such cases? Even the policeman who was involved in the case can see no sense in this suggested solution www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6834544.ece
Instead of identifying future murderers and paedophiles, all this is going to do is make a lot of unneccessary work for everyone and cost a fortune to administer. While the Government looks one way and asks for suggestions on how to cut public spending, its alter-ego looks the other way and sets up an expensive and completely ineffective quango. All this will show is whether or not the person being vetted has been caught before. Anyone who is any good at being a murderer or a pervert won't have been caught and won't have a record. I am convinced this is simply a very poorly disguised way of raising more taxes (I understand it will cost £64 to become registered. The requirement will apply to millions of people ...... that's , err....... quite a lot of money, thank you very much.
How many undesirables will it catch? ......... I would venture to suggest probably none.
I am sure I have said it here before, but I'll say it again. Every government department and every local government authority should employ a "Common Sense Officer" to vet all political decisions before they are put into practice. This seems to me to be the only way to stop the country completely disappearing down the plug hole!
When will the Government stop interfering with everyone's lives and just trust us to manage our own affairs? This stupid idea apparently sprung from the murder of two schoolgirls by a school caretaker. Nasty occurence, obviously, but exactly how is this kneejerk reaction going to prevent such cases? Even the policeman who was involved in the case can see no sense in this suggested solution www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6834544.ece
Instead of identifying future murderers and paedophiles, all this is going to do is make a lot of unneccessary work for everyone and cost a fortune to administer. While the Government looks one way and asks for suggestions on how to cut public spending, its alter-ego looks the other way and sets up an expensive and completely ineffective quango. All this will show is whether or not the person being vetted has been caught before. Anyone who is any good at being a murderer or a pervert won't have been caught and won't have a record. I am convinced this is simply a very poorly disguised way of raising more taxes (I understand it will cost £64 to become registered. The requirement will apply to millions of people ...... that's , err....... quite a lot of money, thank you very much.
How many undesirables will it catch? ......... I would venture to suggest probably none.
I am sure I have said it here before, but I'll say it again. Every government department and every local government authority should employ a "Common Sense Officer" to vet all political decisions before they are put into practice. This seems to me to be the only way to stop the country completely disappearing down the plug hole!
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