Focus on the Family Will Keep your Kid from Being Gay

You know, there was a cardinal back in the days of Galileo who said just that: "Stupidest thing I've ever heard."The issue was something Galileo had said, namely that, contrary to what everybody knew, the sun wasn't revolving around the earth, but it was in fact the other way around. In those days, many people, if not most, thought it the stupidest thing they'd ever heard. Everybody could clearly observe the sun going around the earth, every day, like clockwork. Yet, as we now know, Galileo had it right. But we can hardly blame those people for not accepting it right away. After all, science was still in its infancy, and people were generally more concerned with the astrological consequences of the motions of the heavenly bodies, than with astronomy.Not so today. Science has become an institution, and modern technology allows even the common man to be informed about its progress. And if you put a real effort into it, you can even take part in it.One of the tenets of modern science is the repeatability of research. No self-respecting scientist is going to publish anything if they're not fairly sure other scientists can repeat their experiments and results. So you can bet on it that when someone publishes a research paper that reports the finding of a genetic factor in homosexual behaviour in animals, there is probably not only smoke, but fire too.Simply dismissing it with "Stupidest thing I've ever heard" is, to put it mildly, a bit of a medieval attitude. The least you could do is put some effort into finding out about it.This message has been edited by Parasomnium, 19-Aug-2005 10:58 PM

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We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further. - Richard Dawkins

Stupid or not, the earth still revolves around the sun, and not vice versa.And stupid or not, the gay-gene switch still exists, at least in flies. Forget the cattle prod, concentrate on the gay-gene, period. That is, if you can find time between shooting up Iraki's and getting ambushed by them.

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We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further. - Richard Dawkins

Indeed. It'll be a hoot because you won't know how to use your cattle prod if you don't avail yourself of some basic scientific knowledge. For instance, you might want to know which gene to zap. Luckily for you, this information is available in the form of research papers.However, your highly intelligent rebuttal of this research, "it's still stupid", makes me suspect you will do what most people do when they've bought a new appliance, which is to ignore the user manual and prod away.Good luck.

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We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further. - Richard Dawkins

Holmes, Tal, This is one of many results from googling "gay gene flies".I'm not familiar with the research. The point of my discussion with Tal is that he dismissed the idea of a "gay gene", or more generally, the notion of a genetic factor for homosexuality, rather offhandedly without even considering possible evidence. That's what I would call a cardinal mistake - pun intended.This message has been edited by Parasomnium, 22-Aug-2005 03:27 PM

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We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further. - Richard Dawkins

Think again. An insect is an animal. Not been paying attention in biology class, have we?Anyway, you've proven my point. Your rebuttal is markedly better now than when you merely said "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard" (although you could still improve your reading skills).That's what this was all about, as far as I'm concerned. Class dismissed.

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We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further. - Richard Dawkins

You don't get the point of things easily, do you?

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We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further. - Richard Dawkins

I think the reason your post drew no response was because it was very technical without any comment from you. It would have been very helpful if you had explained it a bit more. Your comment in your followup is a marked improvement. But is the notion of a genetic factor in homosexuality also ridiculous, in your opinion? (I mean this as a sincere question to someone who is obviously knowledgeable in these matters.)

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We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further. - Richard Dawkins

Thanks Mammuthus, that's a very useful addition to this thread. I hope Tal is going to read it.

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We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further. - Richard Dawkins