If Jerry Coyne is to succeed as an atheist activist, he should research his gripes better. To judge from his blog, one sometimes isn’t sure whether Jerry “Why Evolution Is True” Coyne is an anti-religious activist who moonlights as an evolutionary biologist or the reverse. Here, in “Can species arise in a small space?,” he writes on sympatric speciation, and sounds like he knows what he is talking about. One could account for that fact by assuming that he is an evolutionary biologist.
But then here he has his say on an American prayer rally for “a nation in crisis”, conducted by (surprise, surprise) a U.S. prez hopeful. (Re “nation in crisis,” if you don’t know what the man from Texas is talking about, google Standard & Poor …). Coyne opines, re the platform party:
These people don’t seem to realize that even among religious Americans, there are many who don’t worship Jesus. But of course who ever won an election by catering to Muslims, Jews, or atheists?
Coyne needs to get out more. When it comes to catering to people, “Muslims, Jews, or atheists” are not a charming set of triplets. For the record, the Toronto School Board is actually turning publicly funded schools into “sharia” schools, where students, Muslim or otherwise, are compelled by law to attend (if they live in the neighbourhood and can’t afford private school.) Also, here.
There is no pretense whatever that Jews, atheists, or Christians are to be treated equally with Muslims. Few who follow these types of developments would be at all surprised if that is happening in American centres.
Which makes it all the more ironic when Coyne informs us,
This [rally] is, of course, a prelude to Perry’s likely bid for the Republican nomination for president. It was opposed by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, which filed (and lost) a court complaint that Perry’s participation in a religious rally violated the First Amendment.
Huh? The First Amendment was intended to protect people’s right to organize and attend a prayer rally – or not. If these Texas atheists are confused about that, one wonders how they would react to the sharia schools, when one emerges into view in their enlightened district in the US.
Will they cite the First Amendment in a situation to which it clearly and obviously applies? Guesses?
Anyway, Coyne should bone up on the current situation if he wants to talk about religion.