The Modern RationalistJuly 201934
THE MODERN RATIONALIST l VOLUME : 44 l No. 7 2019 July Founder: THANTHAI PERIYAR
Printed, published and edited by Dr. K. VEERAMANI, M.A.,B.L., on behalf of The Periyar Self-Respect Propaganda Institution,
Published from Periyar Thidal, No.84/1, EVK Sampath Salai, Vepery, Chennai-600 007 and printed at Viduthalai Offset Printers,
Periyar Thidal, No.84/1, EVK Sampath Salai, Vepery, Chennai-600 007.ansers to every point ID proponents might bring
up in an argument. She spends considerable
time refuting the “irreducible complexity”
argument, explaining how the eye and the
flagellum evolved. She ridicules ID promoters
for not knowing the difference between a
cilium and a flagellum and not knowing that
bacteria don’t have cilia. The very organism
that creationist Michael Behe writes about is a
living refutation of his claims about irreducible
complexity. It has a system for building a
flagellum that is reducible, and he doesn’t seem
to know about this. It is inexcusable that he
didn’t do his homework.
Hafer refutes the “academic freedom”
argument: “Even college professors do not
have the freedom to teach anything they want
any way that they want. “She notes that she
was hired to reach anatomy and physiology,
and she would lose her job if she taught Mark
Twain instead. His work is fiction, and she is
supposed to teach science.
She refutes the “teach the controversy”
argument. We don’t need to teach the flat-
earth “controversy.” She comments, “I pity any
passenger on an international jet liner whose
pilot truly believes that the earth is flat. It could
end tragically.” Of the creator’s flawed design,
she asks, “Even Detroit does recalls. Why can’t
God?”
The Not-So-Intelligent Designer is packed full
of information about human anatomy, other
animals, and animals that shouldn’t exist
according to ID. The many illustrations and the
snarky sense of humor make it a delight to read.
It’s less than 200 pages, and the chapters are
short and easy to digest. Hafer ends by saying
she thinks our bodies are beautiful the way they
are, regardless of their imperfections, and there
is real beauty in our ability to really understand
the world instead of just making things up. She
says evolution is “the greatest indisputably true
story ever told.” She wonders if she is preaching
to the choir but says the book’s information and
arguments are exactly what the choir needs to
defend evolution against pseudo scientists and
political pressure groups. ID is an anachronism
that has no place in the twenty-first century.West Bengal: Bharat Ratna Prof. Amartya
Sen, Nobel laureate from West Bengal
attending a seminar at Jadavpur University
said, “when someone is asked to alight from
a rickshaw, told to repeat a particular phrase
(Jai Shri Ram) and then hit if the person
refused to say so, then I am alarmed”.
Prof. Sen said Bengalis were not connected
to the ‘culture’ of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ or Ram
Nami, but this culture was imposed on them
to promote divisive politics in the State. He
argued that the Hindu Mahasabha once
introduced a similar culture in the State to
create an atmosphere of divisive politics.
“For the same reason this ‘Jai Shri Ram’
slogan is introduced” he said.
In West Bengal, after the recent general
election, a dozen cases have been reported
to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’, with some being
beaten even after complying with the
demand. On 3rd July, an 11 year old boy was
thrashed in Hooghly, allegedly for refusing
to repeat the slogan.
Jharkhand: At Mahatma Gandhi Marg in
Ranchi, three young men of a minority
community were thrashed and allegedly
forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ by a group
of people. Aamir Wasim who lodged a
complaint at the Doranda police station
said, “we (along with the friends Altaf
Ali and Ali Ahmed) were riding our two
wheelers and were in kurta and paijama”,
when some people besieged us. Without
any provocation, they beat us up and told
us to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. As the crowd got
bigger, we fled from the spot.
18 cases of mob lynching
Tabrey Ansari, a 24 year old youth was beaten
to death by a mob in Saraikela-Kharsawan
district of Jharkhand last month. It is said
as many as 18 cases of mob lynching have
been registered in the State since 2016.