I think Dawkins is a fool, but I certainly wouldn't want him to be harmed in any way by crazed Islamists. He provides me with too much amusement. After all, where are you going to find a "scientist" who has actually done little or no research into anything in his entire career presuming to speak for science?
By the way, I will presume that the author of the article, described as the "Science Editor" of the Times, knows his science, but he doesn't seem to know jack shit about religion. "[T]he Islamic world, where creationist beliefs are strong" - no Mark, they believe in a Creator, just like everybody else who believes in God. "Creationism" is something different. "While most non-fundamentalist Christian traditions have largely accepted evolution" - so have most fundamentalist Christians, actually, though they may quibble over the details. Henderson's problem is that he thinks all fundamentalist Christians take the Bible literally and believe that the world was created about 5,000 years ago in six 24-hour periods. As it happens, most do not.
Oh, and I immensely admire Dawkins's courage in taking his views to Islam, just as I respect his views while not sharing them - which is more than could expect of him, I gather (a friend of mine is a friend of his).
By the way, I will presume that the author of the article, described as the "Science Editor" of the Times, knows his science, but he doesn't seem to know jack shit about religion. "[T]he Islamic world, where creationist beliefs are strong" - no Mark, they believe in a Creator, just like everybody else who believes in God. "Creationism" is something different. "While most non-fundamentalist Christian traditions have largely accepted evolution" - so have most fundamentalist Christians, actually, though they may quibble over the details. Henderson's problem is that he thinks all fundamentalist Christians take the Bible literally and believe that the world was created about 5,000 years ago in six 24-hour periods. As it happens, most do not.
Oh, and I immensely admire Dawkins's courage in taking his views to Islam, just as I respect his views while not sharing them - which is more than could expect of him, I gather (a friend of mine is a friend of his).
Before Dawkins takes on Islam, he might want to look at relatively recent history as personified by Salman Rushdie's encounter with Islamic tolerance of opposing or blasphemous views.
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