Thanks for what you do, have done, and with the prayers of many, will continue to do with respect to human life.

It’s great to see a scientific, highly educated Catholic willing to put truth out front – to set not only ourselves, but others, free.

May God continue blessing you in your work, and in your life.

I’m a Ph.D. chemist also, and a pro-lifer. In my college days I was involved with Operation Rescue, although I managed not to get arrested.

It’s been my opinion for some time, that pro-lifers should just come right out and say, “Forget religion, forget philosophy, forget angels-dancing-on-the-head-of-a-pin arguments about ensoulment, and stick to the SCIENCE …”

At this point your typical liberal is all ears, since most of them idolize science although ironically they typically know very little about it…. Then continue..

“…and the science says: life begins at conception. Period, end of story.”

What can they say at that point?

Re: the Muslim education of women mentioned in a post above — let a wiser mind than my own speak:

One cannot but ponder the question: What if the Arabs had been Christians? To me it seems certain that the fatalistic teachings of Mohammed and the utter degradation of women is the outstanding cause for the arrested development of the Arab. He is exactly as he was around the year 700, while we have kept on developing. Here, I think, is some text for an eloquent sermon on the virtues of Christianity.” — War as I Knew It, General George S. Patton, Jr.
http://vivificat1.blogspot.com/2006/02/general-patton-on-arabs-and-islam.html#ixzz1iiE9INSw

I’m glad I found your blog while I was searching for human embryology.
I am a medical student (going to graduate in weeks). I am also a (have-just-come-back) Roman Catholic. I feel relieved after reading your articles.

Thank you so much.

We are surprised that none of the major pro life groups have made this a project central to their work. But maybe the Holy Ghost has a reason for that. It seems that any halfway intelligent, rational girl or woman would immediately drop abortion as a consideration for a pregnancy, if there is any, that is, ANY, chance of contracting breast cancer later.

ABORTION-BREAST CANCER
CONNECTION
=============================================
● National Cancer Institute chief researcher
and study co-author says induced abortion
IS A RISK FACTOR IN BREAST CANCER,
increasing your risk by as much as 40%!

● read about that increase in risk at
http://www.abortionbreastcancer.com/The_Link.htm
and then tell all your friends

● pregnant? FREE: see your baby
on ultrasound–in Tucson call
806-0266, 512-1196, 622-5774

● we can help you with any difficulties
related to your pregnancy, just
call 800-395-HELP or go to
http://www.pregnancycenters.org/advantage.asp
_____________________________
THERE ARE NO GOOD REASONS
TO ABORT YOUR BABY,
BUT MANY GREAT REASONS
TO LET YOUR BABY LIVE!
_________________________________________
Tucson Pro Life, 520/3261542

For the last three years or so I have been commenting as much as my time will allow on articles all over the place that seek to disprove or disparage the abortion-breast cancer link. I have had several letters to the editor published locally, and have, I believe, successfully helped to turn off the rhetoric on a number of sites by presenting the truth about the science of the ABC link and the truth about the scientific misconduct over the last 50 or so years. I have taken on Susan G. Komen time and time again and believe that they have heard me and countless others who do this sort of thing. We are all making a difference. Why else would Komen issue their two talking/message points papers last year, 1) defending why they donate money to Planned Parenthood and 2) trying to convince us all that there is no ABC link? They are feeling the pressure, believe me.

I look forward to your new blog and your new mission to report on the ABC studies sent to you by the Coalition on Abortion-Breast cancer.

Good luck to you and God Bless.

Today, it doesn’t matter what your religion in terms of academia or academic success. Anyone wishing to puruse higher education, if they gain access to the university system, will have opportunties to learn and to make a contribution in their field including science.

However, historically, when entire civilizations in various parts of the world were centered around particular faith traditions, we see that the Catholic Church has always valued reading, literacy and education. During the Middle Ages, when books had to be hand-copied and were thus very costly and rare, it was the monks in the monasteries who dedicated their lives to the task of hand-copying books, especially the Bible, but also the histories and scientific texts of the Greek, Roman, and Islamic civilizations. But for Catholic monks hand copying and preserving these treasures, some would likely have been lost forever which survived to this day due to these efforts.

These same monasteries that copied the books also in many cases offered schooling for the nobility and princes of European kingdoms, so that many rulers of European countries had been educated by monks.

The Catholic Church also gave rise to the university system that endures today, so there has been a continuous, enduring involvement in learning and education throughout the history of Catholicism.

Indeed, the book, How the Irish Saved Civilization, while particularly emphasizing the contributions of the Irish monks and Irish church in particular, adds much more depth of understanding on this topic in regard to literacy and learning.

The Jewish tradition, going back much further in history than either the Catholic or Islamic religions, also have always been committed to literacy, and have an enduring tradition of scientific contributions that continue to the present, with many notable Jewish scientists continuing a very long tradition that is rooted in their Jewish world view.

However, even within very recent memory, I recall news reports and even books addressing a problem regarding the education of girls. In more than one Islamic nation, there have been problems of girl children being forbidden to attend school, even when the teacher is a woman, and even if conducted in the teacher’s home. I have read of girls and women teachers being beaten with chains, set on fire, or threatened with death if they persisted in teaching and learning opportunities for females. These were not isolated occurances.

I was present at a meeting at the United Nations at which women from Iraq and Afghanistan thanked those nations who had supported them in the progress they have made in very recent years. Whereas only a few years ago women were forbidden to attend school in Afghanistan, now there were women in office with a role in government. One of the attendees in the meeting asked why so few women, why not equal numbers of men and women in government, and why not a Constitution that gaurantees 50-50 participation in government.

The woman gave an explanation that Afghanistan does not want to have just “warm bodies” in office, but educated women who can make serious, equal contributions to their male counterparts. She pointed out that since very few women have had opportunity for education in her country, with very few women even learning to read, for now it is not so easy to find educated women who are prepared to enter government, though there are some–the speaker among them. However, she said that with more girls now becoming educated she was optimistic that in future years, more and more women would be prepared to enter government.

In some Muslim countries, there has been oppression of women in terms of even basic education, but what about reading, literacy and so on in the Muslim world overall without considering the issue of women.

For Christians including the Catholics, when the printing press was invented in the 1400′s, Christians were eager to use the press to print Bibles and other books for religious use, and it quickly came into wide use for all kinds of books and publications. One part of the motivation was the desire of many to have the Bible read by many believers. Although people often think especially of the Protestant Reformers wanting to get the Bible into everyone’s hands, in fact, Catholic Bibles were also printed in past centuries as well as today.

Christians and Jews both emphasize the actual reading and study of their holy books and always have. There was a steady progression from the dedicated hand-copying of the Bible and other books through the transition to printing press, right up to modern times.

However, in the Muslim world, the Koran is a recitation, and it is the spoken word of the Koran seems to be of highest value. Additionally, until relatively recent times it was a very strict requirement for the Koran to be hand-copied and printing was forbidden.

This mistrust of the printing press was generalized to all reading material. For religious reasons, it was necessary to hand-copy the Koran, but the ban on the printing press for many centuries encompassed all reading material.

When Napolean was in Egypt with the French Army, ruling Egypt for a time, he brought in a printing press for the use of the army in printing their newspaper and for other printing needs. This was in the 1800′s that they brought in a printing press because there was not one in Egypt, and in fact, it had not been permitted in Egypt. When Napolean and his soldiers left Egypt, they took the printing press with them.

It took an extremely long time before the printing press was gradually accepted in the Muslim world, with the printing press slowly gaining acceptance for secular materials though originally not the Koran, though more recently some use of the printing press in regard to the Koran has gained some degree of acceptance.

Nevertheless, with centuries of delay before Muslims accepted use of the printing press, this put them at a disadvantage in terms of literacy, and educational and scientific progress. With the printing press, European scientistis could publish their discoveries in journals and books that could easily get into the hands of many readers, while the lack of printing press and the necessity of hand copying books and articles within the Muslim community served to isolate them from learning about the discoveries others and from dissemanting new information among their own people.

I readily admit that have not studied the Muslim worldview in sufficient depth to be able to explain why the printing press seemed such a threat in the Muslim world for at least the first four centuries after the invention of the printing press. But I have read that some Islamic countries had no printing press as recently as 1900, and it was only gradually accepted during the 20th century. Even today, there is a lower rate of literacy in these countries that were initially reluctant to use the printing press. It takes time to catch up.

Just like the lady who said it would take time to have enough educated women to serve in the Afghanistan government in equal numbers to men, when there are no books being printed, when their is a lack of literacy and lack of books, it would take time for reading to take hold in a nation.

While individuals are able to pursue studies at the university level, to succeed and to contribute–if one considers the issue of not having printing for several centuries when the printing press was coming into wide use in western nations, by Christian, Catholic and Jewish cultures, one might see that there are many repercussions some of which continue to impact the Muslim world.

The history of the printing press within the Muslim world is a very interesting topic to study, along with those repercussions, including a persistent low level of literacy in many of the Muslim countries relative to the western nations.

You began this conversation by noting the following:

“You note that branches of Christianity and Judaism provide useful contributions to science – why no mention of Islam, since it is the third abrahamic faith?”

and have now come around to stating,

” In fact, I feel that one’s religious beliefs shouldn’t have very much to do with his scientific career, as it almost inevitably invites bias into his studies.”

The last statement is true. But my point was in stating the integral part of higher learning has played in Jewish and Christian civilization.

I answered your original question rather honestly. Yes, there are individuals from the Islamic faith who are working in science. However, I stand by my statement of the painfully obvious in response to your original question:

Islam, as opposed to Christianity and Judaism, has simply not been a player at the University table since the collapse of its own Golden Age 800 years ago. I presume that you are a student at a University here in the U.S. and not at one of the Islamic colleges overseas.

You are the one who raised the question, and now you don’t like the truthfulness contained within the answer. It’s a tragedy that Islam is known around the world for barbarism and cruelty:

Taliban, Burkahs, Female genital mutilation, stonings, beheadings, suicide bombings that number into the thousands, Jihad, 9/11, hijackings, hostage-takings—all in frightful number creating a pervasive culture of perversion of a faith that brought great advances in science and mathematics to a world beset during the Dark Ages.

I’m glad that Islam has students such as yourself who eschew the violence and backwardness that have characterized it since the implosion of its intellectual movement 800 years ago. But it will take more than just learned individuals. It will require a sea-change in attitude.

The great University system that grew up through the Catholic Church was initially patronized by the Pope, Cardinals, Bishops, and Monarchs of Europe. It was a joint embrace by religion and government (and still for centuries many who patronized the universities were given to their own cruelties).

When the people see religious leaders and government patronizing and promoting the arts and sciences, they get on board and slowly civilization begins to change.

The Jews found a home in the Western university system, a place for their own scholarly pursuits to thrive and grow; so much so as to literally become a part of their corporate identity. That’s why I mentioned Christianity and Judaism in my article.

The appropriate response for you is not to shoot the messenger, but to work with other Islamic intellectuals toward making Islam’s corporate identity one that brings it into the Western intellectual orbit. From your postings, I would say that you are off to a good start, and I wish you every academic and professional success.

And I really appreciate your heart-felt good wishes for my scientific career. You have no idea of who I am or what my potential actually is, you only know my religion and my desire to not be discriminated against. Unfortunately for you, Mr. Nadal, the end of the Islamic Golden Age was not the end of contributions from Islamic intellectuals- there are many Islamic scientists working in much the same way you are right now. Religions do not contribute to the scientific arena, individuals do. In fact, I feel that one’s religious beliefs shouldn’t have very much to do with his scientific career, as it almost inevitably invites bias into his studies.

That should be an occasion for some soul-searching for you.

The American people are not making the distinctions between islamic radicals and “the Islamic world” because “the Islamic world” was curiously silent in the aftermath of 9/11.

You then go on to draw an analogy to “the Catholic world” and pedophile priests. The great difference is that the Catholic people rose up in rage at this perversion of our faith and rooted the pedophiles out of the parishes. No such outrage and rising up has occurred in your mosques. The Islamic world tolerates this, and in far too many quarters, welcomes it.

I do hope that you make significant contributions to science, but the truth… the unpleasant truth for you is that Islam has not been a player in the intellectual arena for 800 years. As a people that comprise 20% of the global population, that should be an occasion of some soul-searching for you.

As we are seeing currently in the Mosque debate, too much of the American public fails to distinguish between extremist terrorist groups and “the Islamic world.” It would be like assigning blame to the entirety of “the Catholic world” for the actions of pedophiles in the church- something I’m sure would infuriate you.

It really doesn’t matter the religious affiliation or location of the school, so much as the individuals doing the work. I am currently a biopsychology student, and I hope to someday contribute to the scientific pursuit of truth- despite my religion.

Islam’s Golden Age died some 800 years ago. It was replaced by the University system which grew in and through the Catholic Church. The overwhelming majority of scholars in the sciences have been Christians and Jews. Nothing would fill me with joy more than the Islamic world abandoning Jihad, suicide bombings, the misogynistic treatment and regard of women and join the rest of the Western world.

The truth is that their students are flocking to European and American Universities for graduate education in the sciences, as their universities are woefully inadequate. Should the Islamic world get on board with the Enlightenment, I’ll gladly include this Abrahamic faith that has collapsed in on itself.