Attenborough reveals creationist hate mail for not crediting God

[cynatnite]

Sir David Attenborough has revealed that he receives hate mail from viewers for failing to credit God in his documentaries. In an interview with this week's Radio Times about his latest documentary, on Charles Darwin and natural selection, the broadcaster said: "They tell me to burn in hell and good riddance."

Telling the magazine that he was asked why he did not give "credit" to God, Attenborough added: "They always mean beautiful things like hummingbirds. I always reply by saying that I think of a little child in east Africa with a worm burrowing through his eyeball. The worm cannot live in any other way, except by burrowing through eyeballs. I find that hard to reconcile with the notion of a divine and benevolent creator."

Attenborough went further in his opposition to creationism, saying it was "terrible" when it was taught alongside evolution as an alternative perspective. "It's like saying that two and two equals four, but if you wish to believe it, it could also be five ... Evolution is not a theory; it is a fact, every bit as much as the historical fact that William the Conqueror landed in 1066."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/27/david-attenborough-science

[texastoast]

1. It would do

for him to send them some pictures of that worm burrowing into an eyeball. But, of course, that would be Satan's work. :eyes:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

2. Ah, yes.

These God-fearing creatures with all the love in their hearts, as their Creator commands them, are busy sending someone they don't know hate mail. Wishing him ill.

Now, tell me again that good Christian crap about "love thy brother".

Fucking narrow-minded hypocritical cretins.

[gratuitous]

3. THANK YOU, Sir David

"Evolution is not a theory; it is a fact . . . " The theory part, as so well written by folks like Stephen Jay Gould, is about the mechanism: Punctuated equilibrium, natural selection, something else.

[fascisthunter]

4. it's a sickness to reject what one knows for the sake of belief

anyone doing so would be considered insane. Evolution is irrefutable...

[Warpy]

7. Unless you believe

I watched a study of a cult in NM last night, I think it was on the National Geographic channel.

The old perv who is the cult's leader predicted the end of the world on a specific date, along with his reincarnation into a younger body. When neither happened, he simply said questions were not allowed. Cult members simply adjusted their memories of what he had told them about that date and went on with business as usual.

Such is the power of belief. It doesn't matter what the facts are, what they see or hear, what the real world tells them. If it conflicts with that belief, they will simply adjust their own perceptions to fit the belief.

It's why anyone who questions that belief is so horribly threatening. They're not just trying to interject a little logic into an insane situation, they're threatening the core of that person's personality.

Much of the fundy cult was sucked in by prosperity theology and now that there is no way to pretend that prosperity is around the corner, much of it will disappear. However, there will always be true believers, and there is really no way to reach them. For them, either Satan blocked their riches in transit or their prayers weren't pleasing enough. Never mind that preacher with the ten mansions and multiple garages full of vintage cars and private jet. It doesn't matter because they believe.

(The old perv/reincarnation of gawd on earth? He's in the can, found guilty of molesting teenaged girls in the cult. It hasn't dampened the fervor of his followers, of course.)

[fascisthunter]

9. I saw a Bit of That As Well

that inability to accept reality is what I consider a sickness.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Well put, Sir David

[Skittles]

6. smart man

[tex-wyo-dem]

8. "burn in hell?" "good riddance?"

How very Christian of them. Good for Attenborough standing up to these hypocritical idiots.