D'oh!

I linked to that interview with Adnan Oktar in Spiegel Online the other day, but I linked to the original German text — I should have known that Spiegel has its own English edition with a complete translation.

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Adnan Oktar/Harun Yahya has been interviewed in Spiegel Online (that's in German; you might want to read this short paraphrase in English). He says a number of, umm, interesting things. He dislikes Intelligent Design intensely, and sees it as a dishonest form of creationism. The Islamic…
Poor Adnan Oktar. The New Humanist published an exposé, and he and his organization are clearly freaking out. I've been getting several near-hysterical emails a day from the Turkish creationist mouthpiece, Seda Aral, insisting in many different font colors that the accusations are baseless and are…
I mentioned before that Richard Dawkins' site was banned in Turkey, by the legal actions of Harun Yahya/Adnan Oktar, the Muslim creationist. Now you can learn a little more: a spokesperson for Turkish creationism called up the editors of the New Humanist to explain their side of the story. As you…
A very early classic of Swedish archaeology is the zoologist Sven Nilsson's 1838-1843 book Skandinaviska nordens urinvånare. The work is a seminal exercise in ethnoarchaeology, where Nilsson used contemporary ethographic accounts of lo-tech societies to interpret Stone Age finds. Nilsson opens the…

And Oktar has always been creationist crud and will definitely not evolve into anything but crud.

"All terrorists may be darwinists, but are all darwinists terrorists?"

Enshoku:
When was the last time someone with a naturalist world view flew a plane into a skyscraper to be rewarded with 42 virgins when he gets to heaven? People sacrifice themselves when they believe they will end up somewhere else - it is not those who accept that this life is the only one we get who blow themselves up in crowded marketpaces.

By Tom G(ologist) (not verified) on 24 Sep 2008 #permalink

Der Spiegel provides a nice little glossary with its interview. If you click on "intelligent design," it tells you this:

"Camouflaged fundamentalism: The supporters of intelligent design -- a pseudo-scientific version of creationism -- don't talk about God but about a supernatural intelligence behind all things. Adherents of creationism in the US began calling it "intelligent design" primarily for legal reasons because US courts had forbidden religious instruction at public schools on a number of occasions."

There's more, also good.

I can't believe that guy - it's just lie after lie after lie. Why does anybody listen to someone so obviously mentally unstable?? I can understand people kept in ignorance through religion from birth, but Western media should be shouting this guy down at every occasion. Okay, I know by listening we might learn something about how to penetrate this web of lies and deceit, but still......

By Your Mighty Overload (not verified) on 24 Sep 2008 #permalink

I linked to the original German text -- I should have known that Spiegel has its own English edition

It almost sounds as though you're implying there are some scientists who are less than perfectly fluent in German. Das kann doch nicht wahr sein!

My German requires frequent consultation with a dictionary, but yeah, I know, I'm the only scientist in the universe who isn't fluent.

Oktar: "Darwinism is under official protection throughout the world. No other ideology in history, no other idea, has ever been kept under such strict official protection."

Ow! It's like a frozen irony bullet right in the eyeball.

Darwinism has laid the groundwork for Hitler's and Mussolini's fascism and Stalin's communism. And when we look at the present day, we see that all the members of terrorist organizations -- even those that portray themselves as Muslim organizations -- are Darwinists, atheists. That is to say, a faithful person who prays regularly does not go and plant bombs here and there. It is just people who pretend to be Muslims, those who depict themselves as Muslims, who perpetrate bombings, or Darwinists who make it clear that they are terrorists or communists who commit terrorism. Consequently, they are all Darwinists.

What an incredibly stupid man.

It almost sounds as though you're implying there are some scientists who are less than perfectly fluent in German. Das kann doch nicht wahr sein!

It almost sounds like you're implying that only scientists read this blog.

A scientist would say "If I see far it is because I stand on the shoulders of nazi experiments giants".

Die Hybris. Es brennt.

By Sanity Jane (not verified) on 24 Sep 2008 #permalink

Das kann doch nicht wahr sein
Alas it is true my German once poor is now terrible. That said it is doing better than Adnan Oktar's logic. It is a relief that the Council of Europe asked schools not to teach creationism as a alternative to evolution. It is troubling that faith schools exist in Europe particularly in the U.K. and politicians in Northern Ireland are pushing for creationism in schools. This is scaring the living daylights out of me. (I live in the republic)

Thanks for the translated version. My single undergrad course from 25 years ago was just not up to the task earlier. Who schedules German at 8:00 am? That might explain the D I earned.

By Grendels Dad (not verified) on 24 Sep 2008 #permalink

No reason for the "D'oh!"

I'm pretty sure Spiegel didn't have the english version online yet, because I searched all over their site when this was first posted and came up empty.

At least Harun Yahya is honest enough to say:

"I find the concept of intelligent design rather dishonest."

Probably the only point of agreement I can find with him.

Beyond that, he doesn't seem to be able to see his own dishonesty; the fish hooks were merely the most blatantly obvious case.

"...We displayed [fossils] in Turkey as well, and people saw them with their own eyes..."

+

"Things are not what they seem to be."

=

Refuting his own argument.

The printed article of the interview in the "Spiegel" with Harun Yahya, reveals him to be a mad "End of Days" character. (Excuse my poor German translation) "In 20 years", he announces seriously, " 'We, humankind, will enter a golden era'. The joyous news he is supposed to have discovered in the holy scriptures, the bible and the koran. It is supposed to be a "scientific fact", according to Yahya, that not only Jesus, but also the mahdi, the muslim messiah, will return to humankind in order to bring all world conflicts into order. Before then, the two heavenly messengers have another big task to solve; they would have to extinguish the erroneous teachings of the British naturalist Charles Darwin, according to whom all life has evolved through natural selection".
Pity his delusions don't have him predicting the second comings for tomorrow, so we could devote our energies to something more useful.

By Luger Otter Robinson (not verified) on 25 Sep 2008 #permalink

The Christian and Muslim worlds surely share in common many viewpoints that interest the world in our day. One of these is cooperation in bringing peace and brotherhood all across humanity.

Darwinism is surely the basis of a categorization-classification between superior and inferior which results in racism, fascism, communism. This connection is more than obvious. Therefore, as stated by Adnan Oktar, Darwinism is really the basis of terrorism.

Messiah will return, we expect this great coming with enthusiasm. And we see that the Muslim messiah is already endeavoring for a better world. How nice, what is the need for worry? Who would not want a better world, better communication, better relations, peace, brotherhood etc.?

The ones that do not strive for goodness should question themselves and be witnesses to their own darkness inside and try to get rid of it immediately. Since darkness brings out nothing right for humanity, but only evil!

The Christian and Muslim worlds surely share in common many viewpoints that interest the world in our day. One of these is cooperation in bringing peace and brotherhood all across humanity.

Darwinism is surely the basis of a categorization-classification between superior and inferior which results in racism, fascism, communism. This connection is more than obvious. Therefore, as stated by Adnan Oktar, Darwinism is really the basis of terrorism.

Messiah will return, we expect this great coming with enthusiasm. And we see that the Muslim messiah is already endeavoring for a better world. How nice, what is the need for worry? Who would not want a better world, better communication, better relations, peace, brotherhood etc.?

The ones that do not strive for goodness should question themselves and be witnesses to their own darkness inside and try to get rid of it immediately. Since darkness brings out nothing right for humanity, but only evil!

Darwinism is surely the basis of a categorization-classification between superior and inferior which results in racism, fascism, communism. This connection is more than obvious. Therefore, as stated by Adnan Oktar, Darwinism is really the basis of terrorism.

Darwinism surely is no such thing, and Oktar is simply another in a long line of religiously motivated fanatical liars.

Who would not want a better world, better communication, better relations, peace, brotherhood etc.?

The religious, as far as I can tell. All those things could be achieved if they'd only put aside the baseless nonsense they call a belief system. The teachings of hate that that exhorts them to kill those who don't share their beliefs - and, if we're talking Christianity or Islam, many of those who do share most of the beliefs but differ on interpretations.

By Wowbagger (not verified) on 26 Sep 2008 #permalink

I claim a Poe on Franklin (comment #20). Surely he can't be serious?

By Luger Otter Robinson (not verified) on 26 Sep 2008 #permalink

The Christian and Muslim worlds surely share in common many viewpoints that interest the world in our day. One of these is cooperation in bringing peace and brotherhood all across humanity. - Franklin
Do the words "crusade" and "jihad" ring any bells, halfwit?

"Never say 'higher' or 'lower'." - Charles Darwin

By Nick Gotts (not verified) on 26 Sep 2008 #permalink

The Christian and Muslim worlds surely share in common many viewpoints that interest the world in our day.

That much is 100% true - if you consider institutionalised bigotry, hatred, oppression, misogyny, homophobia, hypocrisy, injustice and bronze-age morality to be 'viewpoints'.

By Wowbagger (not verified) on 26 Sep 2008 #permalink