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Hi Jon
Welcome aboard

My Catholic school had no problem either: religion in RE, evolution in science class.

It's the disdain for intellectual thought that worries me most. I wouldn't like it to catch on and infect our entire thought systems.

My name is Neal Freeman. I have a Ph.D. in Chemistry (computer simulation of microporous systems).

I'm a Christian, but I believe in the separation of church & state, that faith schools are an appalling travesty of democracy, and that fundamentalist Christians are a growing problem.

In the last ten years or so I've seen evangelical views spreading. I am constantly amazed at the number of Christians who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible. I recently had a discussion with a group who came to the conclusion that Noah would have been very surprised when it started rain because that was the first time God actually sent rain. It's there in the Bible if you look carefully.

Don't get me started on Intelligent Design and Creationism. I could bore for England on the subject. I'm currently trying to get a presentation going for Christians about why it's such a load of rubbish, but (unsurprisingly) my church is a little reticent at present...

I'm a professional Project Manager. My skills are around facilitating, building project teams, gathering consensus and delivering projects on time. If ever anything on here looks like a project - I'd be happy to help run it.

Lastly, it would be good to meet some of you good people. Forums are good but there's no substitute for face-to-face discussions. I get the feeling more could be accomplished in an hour over a pint than in a month of chat.

Hi Neal ...

Didn't you say much of this already? I thought I replied to you?

I do however share your concerns and agree that all of us should be concerned ... it's isn't something even those who share some aspects of their belief in common with these people should be complacent about.

Maybe you could help on the letter writing campagn?

Kyu

Yes, I did. I'd forgotten what I'd written sorry!

I would like to get involved, it's a bit difficult to see how this is all going to work at present though.

Hi Neal

I guess we see ourselves as a pressure, awareness and campaigning type group ... if there's an issue relating to our campaign (one that we object to) we will write letters, get others to write letters, raise awareness of the issues and the campaign (write to MP's, schools, ministers, public figures etc.) and provide parents/teacher groups with information that will help them in combatting the IDC's. I don't think that legally we can do much more than that.

IMO the key is public awareness ... if you have other ideas or ideas how we can achieve what we hope to we'd love to hear them.

Kyu

I'm Roger Stanyard and I've been in SJS for a couple of months. I hold a degree in economics and an MBA. I came into the anti-creationist/ID movement late last year through Debunkcreation but have been concerned about it for a lot longer than that - since 2002.

My job has involved market research on satellite communications where I came acoss a number of US movements, such as neo-conservatism, dispensationalism and dominionism which took me into the areas of Intelligent Design and creationism.

In terms of contributing to the group, I can offer research (non-scientific) skills, press and public relations expertise and writing skills. I've presented papers at and chaired many international conferences. I know my way round the media (both print and broadcast - not so good with radio, though). I've organised and run a group for communications professionals and also know how to run a business.

Much of my work has been as a consultant involved in strategic management in international business.

I'm also a good team person.

It seems to me that I might best help the cause by looking at the non-scientific issues behind creationism - how it is organised, its tool, finacing and so on and looking at strategy and tactics to combate it.

You may need to control my bluntness about fundamentalists (I'm not generally blunt, though).

Politically I'm a liberal at heart. My overall motivation behind joing SJS is that I believe creationism's attack on science is just the first part of an attack on all rationality, reason and modernity. I'm also very pro-science. My main interest has been in geology but I have a reasonable grasp of biology.

Roger Stanyard

Welcome aboard Roger.

Impressive CV. I'm sure you will be a great help to the campaign.

Hello party people.
I'm Mark...a recent transplant from the USA where I was busy pissing off fundamentalists. Being an atheist, evolutionary biology student in Tennessee was fun only because of how much I like to argue. I had plenty of it there and I see that the virus is spreading over here...though they don't apparently need to couch their views in wanna-be-science speak like ID in the UK.
I received a BSc with a double major in Anthropology and Biology and a concentration in genetics/biotechnology. Did some studying abroad (mainly chasing monkeys) in Costa Rica and Brasil and did random conservation work/lab work. Then moved over here to do an MSc in Primate Conservation. Now I'm doing research on genetic variation in London and Cambridge and I'm debating whether to apply for the new masters in education with an emphasis on science in the public that's being offered by the Center for Inquiry or go ahead and try to find funding for a PhD in evolutionary genetics or genomics. I dunno.
Anyway, that's me. I'm living in North London and I'm looking to actively participate in the anti-anti-science movement! I'm a fairly decent writer and OK at public speaking. Oh, and I'd like to have drinks and preach to the choir.

Mark.

Hi Mark,

Nice to have you on board ... as luck would have it we are planning a party in London (our first formal-ish bash) in 9 days time so you'd be welcome to come along ... there's a thread in "The Common Room" about it

Welcome to the forum and campaign.

Kyu

Welcome Mark.

You seem to have plenty of academic and other qualifications for combatting the fundementalists.

On this site we have our share of atheists and agnostics, but we also have quite a number of moderate Christians and even a bona fide Rev!

We do not see our camapign as in oposition to religion, rather it is a war on the subverting of science by fundementalist creationist forces which we see as, unfortunately, growing in the UK.

Anyway, great to have you on board, I hope you enjoy our company and help the campaign all you can.

PS you won't see me in any London pubs anytime soon. I live in Scotland, and it's too far too travel, even for the excellent beers you get in (some pubs) in England!

Thanks for the welcome.

Sandy, I'm not sure what I said in the original post that prompted you to preemptively (to borrow from the Bush doctrine) inform me of the religious posters on this forum and the fact that we are not opposed to religion.

Just wondering. It seemed unnecessary.

You mentioned that you were an athiest, that's all.

I hope I didn't cause any offence.

this post is more a response to some of the peoples signatures then it is to the topic, which im not exactly clear on, but have infered it has to do whith religon and science (or schools more to the piont)

i would just like to remind you all of newtons frist law that a object in motion tends to remain that way and an object at rest tends to remain as such unless acted upon. and let me also remind you that time and space are relitve to each other.time is in fact a quantive proporty of space and energy. objects and movement.so if no object moves (time doesnt tick) unless acted upon and all things move all things must have be acted upon.what so ever acted upon all other must all be in motion and since no others were in moition to act upon it it must have always been in motion.according to newtons first.

as for stuctured organized groups of people which are somethimes refered to as a religon vs. an abstract like science and how this things should be dealt with in school, i do belive is a tricky ?. i belive in the truth.up goes up must come down is simply the truth. newton didnt invent gravity,he didnt even discover gravity. he merely saw what was there and in coded it in to latin(i think)and into numbers and symbols so that otheers could reconize the more obsure details. the fact remains that newton could teach gravity nothing about gravity that graity didnt alreay know.in fact gravity was the teacher.you can test and measure ,poke and prode truths but the fact remain the information, knowlwdge or wisdom what ever you like to call it was a round long before the interpeter came along to tell the world.to teach childern there is no god is wrong.to belive there is a distinction between god and sciece is wrong.(i mean not to offend any one when i say wrong i dont mean bad persn wrong i mean 2+2=5 wrong)its funny how scientist hold the truth in such high regard but fail to see the soucre,and how faithful people belive in the thuth but care not to explore it,but what i dont understand is how they constently seem to but heads
gbtg

Mike,

Whilst individuals within this group have varying views on religious beliefs all of us accept that the campaign has no specific position on whether there is or is not a god. Most individuals here seem to believe that the existence of a god or gods is something that one accepts on faith and faith alone.

The campaign does not say it is wrong to teach children about a god or gods, it takes the position that religion is not something that should be taught in a science class ... Intelligent Design is a religious position no more, no less and therefore it should not be taught in a science class.

This isn't meant as a smackdown but if you want to debate the existence of deity (and TBH that is what your post implies you want to comment on) or the validity of your views on a god or gods can I request you take it to any one of the many thousands of forums online that have been setup to deal with that ... that isn't what these forums are (or indeed this thread is) for

Thanks

Kyu

I've been involved in the creationism-evolution stuff for about five years, and recently my husband has taken up cudgels on behalf of the science behind global warming.

I have about a hundred years' worth of experience as a technical copyeditor, so feel free to give me a shout if letters or articles want looking at for typos or whatever.