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View Full Version : Religion: Dawkins Site Banned in Turkey


James Brody
September 20th, 2008, 02:31 PM
One of the powers of religion is that of stabilizing its members against defection. Much like any other herd...

JimB

From The Edge, taken one step beyond from The Guardian of Sept 18, 2008.

"Turkish Court Bans Richard Dawkins Website
Riazat Butt, religious affairs correspondent, The Guardian

"A Turkish court has banned internet users from viewing the official Richard Dawkins website after a Muslim creationist claimed its contents were defamatory and blasphemous.

"Adnan Oktar, who writes under the pen name of Harun Yahya, complained that Dawkins, a fierce critic of creationism and intelligent design, had insulted him in comments made on forums and blogs.

According to Oktar's office, Istanbul's second criminal court of peace banned the site earlier this month on the grounds that it "violated" Oktar's personality.
His press assistant, Seda Aral, said: "We are not against freedom of speech or expression but you cannot insult people.

"We found the comments hurtful. It was not a scientific discussion. There was a line and the limit has been passed.

"We have used all the legal means to stop this site. We asked them to remove the comments but they did not."

Oktar, a household name in Turkey, has used hundreds of books, pamphlets and DVDS to contest Darwin's theory of evolution.

In 2006 his publishers sent out 10,000 copies of the Atlas of Creation, a lavish 800-page rejection of evolution.

Dawkins, one of the recipients, described the book as "preposterous". On his website the British biologist and popular science writer said he was at "a loss to reconcile the expensive and glossy production values of this book with the 'breathtaking inanity' of the content."

It is the third time Oktar and his associates have succeeded in blocking sites in Turkey. ..."

From The Edge: http://www.edge.org/

Also at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/18/turkey

James Brody
September 25th, 2008, 12:52 PM
"Taking on Darwin in Turkey

"By Daniel Steinvorth in Istanbul

"Fundamentalist Christians in America are not the only ones leading a crusade against Darwin. Creationism and "intelligent design" are becoming increasingly popular among Turkey's Muslims, too.

"Yahya says that he discovered these joyful tidings in the Bible and the Koran. He maintains that it is a "scientific fact" that Jesus and Mahdi, the Muslim messiah, will return to mankind to solve all global conflicts. Beforehand, however, he says that these two heavenly emissaries will have to tackle another challenge: They must eradicate the heresy of British naturalist Charles Darwin, who postulated that all life arose from a process of natural selection.

"As Yahya sees it, Darwinism is the root of all the world's evils."

More at Http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,579913,00.html