Monday, September 13, 2010

The Origin of Conor Lenihan

The news, broken by politics.ie that Minister of State with special responsibility for Science, technology, Innovation and Natural Resources is to launch a book proclaiming that evolution is a hoax casts the country in a terrible light and lets-down anybody waiting on the 'knowledge-led recovery'.

The book, by Irish author John J May is entitled The Origin of Specious Nonsense and will be launched in Dublin on Wednesday evening. The event will be marked by a 'Gorillas and Girls Party' at Buswells Hotel and an after party at Lilies Bordello. The author's website says that Conor Lenihan will launch the book at 8pm.

According to the same website, the book is "a non academic attempt which is currently very popular worldwide due to the brilliant observationalist naturalist Charles Darwin's 200 year birth anniversary and 150 years celebration of his monumental laughable fantasy, "The Origin of Species" which I have read forensically and counted 1550 suppositions."

"What I am about to expose is their pretence that they possess arcane facts to support this toxic fiction," says the author.

Helpfully, the website details some of the author's research: "Incidentally four times last year I visited the brilliant Natural History Museum in London to examine the shrine to a religiously tortured excellent taxonomist Charles Darwin."

May also outlines 7 reasons why he 'detests and rejects evolution':
1: It teaches us to be satisfied with - not understanding origins.

2: It promotes the dangerous nonsense of no first cause - no supreme scientist and suggests order came from disorder.

3: It is a mataphysical speculation, a doctrine dressed up in scientific garb.

4: Anyone who teaches evolution is either ignorant or deliberately suppressing the known scientific facts.

5: It is a toxic poisonous mind virus which destroys the hearts immune system against hope and common sense.

6: It is an anaesthetic against reason.

7: It cripples sanity, promotes myths, obscures reality and elevates matter above a maker.

I'm not particularly bothered what this author believes. I don't think it's going to convert a whole generation to a non-scientific, ill-though-out view of human origins. What I object to is a Minister with direct responsibility for the governing and management of science and its funding lending his support to the sentiments expressed in the book.

Some have argued that his presence at a book launch does not mean he agrees with the contents of the book being launched. That is clearly not the case. Would he ( or any minister) attend the launch of a book claiming the holocaust never happened or that gravity doesn't exist?

You can let the Minister know what you think by emailing him at Conor.Lenihan@deti.ie

LATEST: After a huge amount of coverage on blogs, twitter and the mainstream media over the last 24 hours, the minister will now not launch the book http://bit.ly/dweEW3 
For more, see the comment section of this post.

3 comments:

Unknown September 13, 2010 at 7:02 PM  

What absolute nonsense. What other topics should Ministers be banned from reading critical books about?

Eoin Lettice September 14, 2010 at 9:34 AM  

Delighted to hear that Mr. Lenihan has now pulled out of the launch http://bit.ly/d45YNe .
Unfortunately, much of the damage to his reputation may have already been caused.

In general, I object to Ministers using their office (and to their office being used) to promote books which, given their nature, cast serious doubt on the capability and suitability of him/her to do their job properly.

For example, I'd object to a Minister for Health launching a book encouraging people not to receive the MMR vaccine and I'd object to the Minister for Transport launching a book encouraging people not to wear seatbelts in cars.

For the record, I'm not bothered what the author believes or writes and/or what the minister reads.

Anonymous September 14, 2010 at 1:52 PM  

7 reasons why I cannot accept creationism:

1: It teaches us to be satisfied with - not understanding origins.

2: It promotes the dangerous nonsense of a supreme scientist (this is 1 rephrased, but it really bugs me).

3: It is a mataphysical speculation, a doctrine dressed up in scientific garb.

4: Anyone who teaches creationism is either ignorant or deliberately suppressing the known scientific facts.

5: It is a toxic poisonous mind virus which destroys the hearts immune system against the wonder of the natural world.

6: It is an anaesthetic against reason.

7: It cripples sanity, promotes myths, obscures reality and elevates a myth above matter.

Funny, sad, how these things go round and round.

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