IN DUBLIN tomorrow a book rubbishing evolution will be launched – by Ireland’s Minister of State for Science, Technology and Enterprise, Conor Lenihan!
The Origins of Specious Nonsense is the creation of John J May, who states:
Prof John Lowry, left, and Conor Lenihan with a model of the human brain. We think this photo calls for an amusing caption.
Charles Darwin and his modern ‘disciples’ – Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel C Dennet (sic), Christopher Hitchens et al are the high priests of the highly improbable foisting the impossible on the impressionable.
Lenihan, according to Michael Nugent of Atheist Ireland, has agreed to launch the book because the author is a friend of his. Said Nugent:
This is an abuse of his Ministerial position, and an attack by the Irish government on both scientists and science education.
He points out that last year Lenihan told a Science Foundation of Ireland summit that:
The relevance and value of science must continually communicated to the general public, and how it is articulated is vital in defining how science is perceived. The task of communicating the message that ‘science matters’, that ‘science delivers’ and, above all, that investment in science in Ireland is value for money and an integral part of our economic development must be addressed by all across the scientific community.
Nugent added:
Minister Lenihan is now advancing this noble vision by attending a ‘Gorrillas and Girls’ party and a photo shoot with ‘Charles Darwin’ and ‘King Kong’, where he will launch the book.
This is the type of argument that appears in the book to which Lenihan is giving the credibility of his Office:
The Empire State building cannot be supported on a styrofoam coffee cup from Dunkin Donuts, nor a rocket go to the moon on a litre of petrol from Shell, nor the sea fit into a child’s bucket on a Californian beach, yet there is more chance of all three happening (which never will) than for the awful soul-destroying fiction of evolution to be true. The frog never changed into a prince, the gods of Egypt are fantasies, Dracula never existed, the King was naked, and evolution is a demonstrable hoax just as surely as Santa Claus.
Nugent concludes:
Of course, this is the same Conor Lenihan who five years ago described Turkish workers in Ireland as ‘kebabs’ during a Parliamentary debate. Lenihan was then Minister for Overseas Development and Human Rights; in the magical world of Irish politics, he was later appointed Minister for Immigration policy.
John J May
The book’s author – “a leader and teacher in a Christian faith”- describes it thus:
The Origin Of Specious Nonsense is a plea for sanity and reason in a dangerous world further morally polluted by the corrupting hoax of evolution as tragically illustrated by the Columbine High School killers ten years ago in the USA. Those two deluded young men spoke on video about ‘helping out the process of natural selection by eliminating the weak’.
He adds:
My book unambiguously demolishes the unscientific idea that we came from muck that somehow, someway, somewhere grew the astonishingly complicated chemicals and they somehow, someway, somewhere grew from slime to fish to animals – to man.
Update: We have just that learned Lenihan will not now launch the book after the author asked him to withdraw in the wake of controversy on the web. May said he had asked Lenihan not to launch the book:
Because I am so embarrassed that the Minister for Science has been so insulted and eviscerated on a political website. He doesn’t even believe in my central argument.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
September 14th, 2010 at 9:16 am
Caption: “This is what the human brain looks like; it’s hidden under one’s hair, and is actually being used by non-religious people, isn’t that amazing?”
September 14th, 2010 at 9:27 am
(a) As an Irish person, this idiot brings me shame.
(b) It is a stated economic policy of the Irish government to encourage the development of science – well done on a backward step Mr Lenihan.
(c) I could never bring myself to buy this “book” – but thankfully there is a sneak preview of it on his website. Essentially you spend pages flicking demanding of the “book” to make one fucking argument. Then eventually, we get it “irreducible complexity”. And not even good irreducible complexity – we don’t get Behe flagellum. We get 30 things that have to occur in human pregnancy – and this clown cannot possible see how they all just happened. What a moron.
Go back to your science books, people – nothing to see here.
Caption: “And you’re saying everyone has one of these things. That’s complete unbelievable.”
(You have to say it in Lenihan’s voice – he’s kind of like an Irish Prince Charles – then it’s really funny.)
September 14th, 2010 at 9:35 am
“the gods of Egypt are fantasies”
Surely that should read
“gods are fantasies”.
September 14th, 2010 at 9:35 am
Caption: If you screw up your eyes, you can see Saint Patrick smiting the snakes. That proves that Creationism is right.
September 14th, 2010 at 9:48 am
“Here, Mr Lenihan, one of these bad boys is what you’re missing.”
“Ah, sure, that might BE mine. I think I left it at John J’s house.”
September 14th, 2010 at 9:56 am
Thanks David: As soon as you mentioned “irreducible complexity” I knew that I didn’t need to know any more. You’ve saved me a lot of time!
Yes, please, that’s what I was looking for. Mine packed up some years ago now!
PS Dracula DID exist, and as Graham says – why pick on the gods of Ancient Egypt?
September 14th, 2010 at 10:20 am
Nice one!
This got some press (made it all the way to Reuters) and now –
Minister withdraws from launch of anti-evolution book
“MINISTER FOR Science Conor Lenihan will not now launch a book in Dublin which describes evolution as a fantasy and a hoax, after the author asked him to withdraw in the wake of controversy on the web.”
http://www.irishtimes.com/news.....31472.html
The last sentence of the article is a loller.
September 14th, 2010 at 10:22 am
Suggested caption: “Just there, just where I’m pointing – that’s the bit you’ve got.”
September 14th, 2010 at 11:00 am
“Minister withdraws from launch of anti-evolution book”-perhaps he actually decided to buy one of those brain thingies,not before time.
barriejohn,
yes,and the real Dracula was much more frightening than the fictional version.
September 14th, 2010 at 11:23 am
caption: Lenihan ‘ Yes you can have it, I’m obviously not using it..’
September 14th, 2010 at 11:51 am
‘Demonstrable hoax’ quiz. Which of the following have supernatural powers and can currently only be found in the pages of a book or played by an actor? -
a) Santa Claus
b) Dracula
c) The Frog Prince
d) God
e) All four
September 14th, 2010 at 11:51 am
“My book unambiguously demolishes the unscientific idea that we came from muck”
Erm…Isn’t that what the bible says God did?
September 14th, 2010 at 12:06 pm
Why is Lenihan’s name still on the website? Mr May is one disingenuous chap.
September 14th, 2010 at 12:22 pm
“the origin of specious nonsense” indeed. Sounds like a great subtitle for the bible….
“He describes himself on the website http://www.theoriginofspeciousnonsense.com as “like Abraham Lincoln, self-educated, and might be viewed as a polymath, left school young and commenced my real educationâ€.”
One might say that he who is self-taught has a fool for a teacher. He might be viewed as a polymath by raving whackos OTOH he’s more likely to be viewed as a raving whacko by polymaths…….and he sure ain’t no Abe Lincoln, who was a freethinker; as Mary Todd Lincoln remarked “Mr. Lincoln was not a christian”.
September 14th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
From one who comes from a country where religion fights religion.
I just think that evolution is too complicated for this mans’ tiny mind so he tries, without sucess, to boohoo science and evolution.
On the serious side this is very frighening for the future.
September 14th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
Caption:
Lowry: Yes, Minister this is what you lose through religion, no you cannot have it.
September 14th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
“highly improbable foisting the impossible on the impressionable.”
If that is not the pot calling the kettle black I don’t know what is.
Believing in sky fairies vs a documented series of changes in the nature and the gradual change in composition of animals from fossils to the present.
We should not wonder at the state of the Irish education when a man entrusted with a science portfolio of a nation turns out to be a raving fundamentalist.
I suppose he thinks the peat created over time in Irish bogs was laid there so that when the Irish ran out of trees they could turn to peat as a heat source.
September 14th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
“We think this photo calls for an amusing caption.”
The caption might read.
“I don’t use this part here much …It’s the part of the brain used to reason and work things out logically….seems to serve no useful purpose in my world”
September 14th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Conor Lenihan’s website flogs acai berries?! Say it isn’t so!
http://www.conorlenihan.net/
Is this really his site?
September 14th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
Caption: “Here we see the damage caused by religion”
September 14th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
Caption;
Lenihan “And you say this was inside my head? How did you get it out in one piece?”
September 14th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
“My book unambiguously demolishes the unscientific idea that we came from muck that somehow, someway, somewhere grew the astonishingly complicated chemicals and they somehow, someway, somewhere grew from slime to fish to animals – to man.”
Muck? I thought it was dust. Or at least it was according to a much older book.
September 14th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
i am hoping i have fucked up on my dates and that tomorrow is april 1st.
September 14th, 2010 at 3:16 pm
Caption: We removed it from Ken Ham’s Head and he doesn’t seem any the worse for it. As you can see it’s totally unused, and in pristine condition. The bidding on ebay is up to £5.25 already.
September 14th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
Caption: So this is what my brain looks like! But how did you get it out of my head?
September 14th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Caption: “Derp, derp, durrr!”
September 14th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Conor’s cortex recaptured.
September 14th, 2010 at 5:22 pm
Caption:
“Brrrraayyy? Berraan? Brain? Brain, what the hell is that? I’m afraid you’ve lost me there.”
May is a complete moron. Much like the self-educated Glenn Beck. Of course, it could be seen as something of an evolutionary success, what Beck has, in that he has become capable of continually and repeatedly fooling millions of people time and again, even after they have the obvious stuff pointed out to them directly in their faces. He’s found a niche, I suppose. Of course, he would say it’s “God’s course,” or whatever claptrap he wants to use. The rest of us who don’t believe him know better.
September 14th, 2010 at 5:25 pm
What a clown! His views are so typical of the kind of brain dead fools who have held back open mindedness and progress over the centuries. Witless attempts at ridicule; moronic comments; contemptible crap. This man disgraces his country and stains the reputation of his government. What is he doing in this job?
September 14th, 2010 at 6:32 pm
Lenihan must be a pretty poor politician if he failed to realise that a minister who has the job of promoting science issues promoting a creationist book would look bad.
September 14th, 2010 at 7:00 pm
How’s this for a caption: The brain is on the left hand side; there’s not a brain between them.
September 14th, 2010 at 7:05 pm
@Robert
*groan* In a good way.
September 14th, 2010 at 7:23 pm
“…high priests of the highly improbable foisting the impossible on the impressionable.
Erm, surely that’s religiots the fuckwit is referring to?
Sincerely, how he has the nerve to pass himself off as a Minister for Science is beyond me. I’d pay good money to see the clown debate with Dawkins, Dennett, Hitchens or Harris.
September 14th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
Lenihan: Brain, what do you want to do tonight?
Brain: The same thing we do every night, Lenihan – try to take over the world!
September 14th, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Lenihan: “So, what you are saying here is that I as well have something like this sitting in my head? Is that what you are saying?”
Prof.Lowry: “No, sorry, there are exceptions.”
September 14th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
By the way, you can send John May your thoughts on his new book at this email address:
info@theoriginsofspeciesnonsense.com
I tried not to be too scathing and sarcastic, but quite frankly I find it extremely difficult to hold back when I am seething.
September 14th, 2010 at 9:17 pm
“The Origin Of Specious Nonsense is a plea for sanity and reason in a dangerous world further morally polluted by the corrupting hoax of evolution as tragically illustrated by the Columbine High School killers ten years ago in the USA. Those two deluded young men spoke on video about ‘helping out the process of natural selection by eliminating the weak”
So are they done blaming marilyn manson the matrix and violent video games for columbine then?? it was darwins fault it turns out??
What utter crap and I can’t help laughing at the irony of a bible basher lecturing the rest of us whats real and whats fantasy, anyone with half a brain cell knows that the egyption gods are made up and in fact the egyption book of the dead was the basis of what became the bible.
Oh and while we’re on the subject of ancient egyptian gods, anyone who likes a good sci fi thriller should have a look at this book, “the age of ra” by james lovegrove
http://www.play.com/Books/Book.....oduct.html
September 14th, 2010 at 9:54 pm
The next books on the list to be released by this minister:
1. The scientific basis of Homeopathy.
2. evidences that ‘god’ created the world in seven days.
3. The science of Astrology.
One could go on and on.
September 14th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
Caption
Prof. says to Lenihan.
“Ha ha come look at what I found around at that eedjit John J Mays house. Only his fecking brain.It must have fell out of the gobshites arse when he was writing that book.”
September 14th, 2010 at 11:33 pm
Narendra: very good!
4. How Archaeology Confirms the Accuracy of The Bible.
September 14th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
Zombie Hunter: How about the irony of a religiot lecturing the rest of us about books that encourage violent behaviour – hahahahaha!!!
September 14th, 2010 at 11:43 pm
What next? Ireland’s Education Minister endorsing inspirational tiles for Catholic seminarians?
September 14th, 2010 at 11:43 pm
That’s a great site to which Narendra links us!
http://nirmukta.com/
September 15th, 2010 at 1:22 am
I see the popes of secularism are up in arms over Mr Mays audacity in questioning their ‘flat’ view of history! Ha ha how ironic.
Free speech is quickly denounced by the modern day Atheistic Ayatollahs of secularism. Wouldnt mind if one of them adduced a little scientific evidence to add to Darwins 170 year old hypothesis. The case is far from proven and people have to learn to leave aside their religious predjudices and argue from reason. However it seems John May is the modern day Galileo. I hope he recants for his own sake. There is nothing so bad as a secularist scorned!
September 15th, 2010 at 7:34 am
Caption for the first photo “no….there’s the god part of the brain. Oh no…here it is….”
September 15th, 2010 at 9:15 am
Narendra, your site is excellent! [barriejohn's link]
More books:
Alchemy for dummies.
Blood letting for beginners.
1000 cures using leeches.
Cancer cures using prayer.
etc.
September 15th, 2010 at 10:38 am
Angela: If a username appears in blue you can click onto it and go straight to that person’s site!
September 15th, 2010 at 11:02 am
billygoat,
What are you talking about?
Darwin’s theory is a testable hypothesis,so far it hasn’t been disproved,there’s overwhelming evidence available to support the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection. Where’s the evidence that disproves Darwin’s theory?
No one has denied the right of any individual to become a religious loony and to advertise the fact,however there’s no compulsion to suffer in silence.
September 15th, 2010 at 11:48 am
Caption:
“There’s good news and bad news, minister, about the assumed prostate growth that we have had removed from your arsehole…”
September 15th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
The Clown of the Dail does it again
September 15th, 2010 at 3:31 pm
Ahem! Please sing this song one hundred times, Russell!
http://www.amiright.com/parody.....hon5.shtml
September 15th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
The ability to delude oneself that a fully proven fact is an unproven hypothesis may be the strongest proof that religion is a form of insanity.