"Despite being repeatedly prompted to either ask a question or to sit down and let someone else do so, he keeps on with this speech."
Presumably he was approaching a point where he had established the context for his question that he would pose it. I highly doubt that were he saying anything else that the room would not have bared with him for a little while longer.Lord Timothy
July 24, 2009
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from 3: "So why was he present at a Pontifical Gregorian conference, and who let him in? Good question. It’s equally disturbing, though, that he was not permitted to fully state his question."
The above quote is an example of why WordPress might want to offer an editing feature. I realize now that the man at the conference was not Harun Yahya, but a representative of his.CannuckianYankee
July 23, 2009
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"Douglas Futuyama flees"? That's not what I saw in the video: during the time for audience questions someone starts giving a speech which might as well have come straight off the Answers In Genesis website. Despite being repeatedly prompted to either ask a question or to sit down and let someone else do so, he keeps on with this speech. Eventually he's escorted from the room because he's wasting everyone's time and won't shut up. But somehow this really shows Futuyama up?Reg
July 22, 2009
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Seversky,
Richard Weikart accuses Darwin of being a primary cause of a Holocaust which “Harun Yahya” denies ever happened. Which is it?
The former. However, it looking at his web site, it doesn't appear that Harun Yahya denies the holocaust.
At the beginning of 1942, Hitler and his staff decided on a "Final Solution" to the Jewish problem. That meant the systematic extermination of all Jews, and leaving not one Jew alive in territory controlled by the Nazis.
The Nazis carried out mass slaughters in nearly all the lands they occupied.
In accordance with that decision, the concentration camps were turned into extermination camps. Starting with the Jews in Germany, Jews from all the countries occupied by the Nazis began to be transferred to those camps by SS units specially assigned to the task. The official story was that the camps were to employ them as workers. But when they arrived, most were killed at once, and the rest later, after having been used as forced labor.
That doesn't sound like holocaust denial to me. Where did you here that he denied the holocaust?Jehu
July 21, 2009
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BTW,
Harun Yahya successfully lobied to have WordPress shut down in Turkey. Now he can't defend himself here. Ironic?CannuckianYankee
July 21, 2009
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Seversky,
Harun Yahya (Adnan Oktar) has some pretty radical views. However, he is not exactly a holocaust denier. He was at one time, but following several years in prison in Turkey, he changed his mind.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harun_Yahya
He is also not a big supporter of Intelligent Design. I think his views are rather confused and conflicted. But of course, that's my opinion, not having lived among Turkish culture.
There have been many accusations leveled against him, for which he was arrested. It's difficult to determine which of those accusations are true, and which are fabricated. For example, he was once accused of forcing women to have sex with him. He actually served jail time for these accusations, but was later acquitted. He is a very powerful figure in Turkish culture, and I have many reservations in supporting anything he propagates - if the image and accusations are true. But then again - it's difficult to determine what is true, and what is not.
http://www.harunyahya.com/
The above link is to his website. He has many of his books available in PDF format. One of them is his views on the holocaust [entitled The Holocaust Violence]:
http://us1.harunyahya.com/Detail/T/EDCRFV/productId/3764/THE_HOLOCAUST_VIOLENCE
From that book you can see that he's not exactly a denier - although I don't agree with him on many of his positions.
I think what is interesting about this man is that his views seem to be modified from a radical islamic POV to a more moderate position once he's faced with more Western influences. His switch on the holocaust is an example of this. Yet then again, he tends to reframe those views within Islamic radicalism.
So why was he present at a Pontifical Gregorian conference, and who let him in? Good question. It's equally disturbing, though, that he was not permitted to fully state his question.
I'm not an expert on this guy by any means, and this is just what I've been able to research within a couple of hours. If you find more information on him, let me know. I find him quite interesting. Of course I tend to approach these issues from a Sociological POV.CannuckianYankee
July 21, 2009
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There appears to be a discrepancy here. Richard Weikart accuses Darwin of being a primary cause of a Holocaust which "Harun Yahya" denies ever happened. Which is it?Seversky
July 21, 2009
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Great video! This is an excellent way for ID to get more exposure.
Oktar Babuna: My name is Oktar Babuna. I am a doctor from Turkey, a brain surgeon. I represent Harun Yahya in Turkey who is the author of 300 books including Atlas of Creation.
Now, if we talk about scientific theories. You know this is the way it works. First, you spill the principles of a hypothesis and if it is verified by observations and experiments then it becomes a theory.
So, speakers made some allegations but they were not verified by scientific evidences. For example ...
I think this is where Futuyma soils his trousers. LOLOLherb