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Friday, June 19, 2015

Why Are So Many Upset By "Biological Wiring"?

I was taken back when I heard that Canada's top soldier, General Tom Lawson had to apologize for what he called an "awkward characterization". In a CBC interview with Peter Mansbridge, Lawson spoke of the problem of military sexual harassment. "It would be a trite answer, but it's because we're biologically wired in a certain way and there will be those who believe it is a reasonable thing to press themselves and their desires on others. It's not the way it should be," he said.[1]

For the life of me I don't know why everyone is getting so perturbed?  Here is some reaction: [2]

Opposition Leader Tom Mulcair called the comment "completely wrong and totally unacceptable," saying "the military brass simply don't get it."

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau also addressed the remark on Wednesday afternoon, saying "Gen. Lawson's comments the other day were completely unacceptable. His excuse was completely inadequate . . . Gen. Lawson should be immediately dismissed. His comments are absolutely out of place in 2015 in the society and the country we're trying to build."

Prime Minister Harper responded that he found Lawson's comment "offensive, inappropriate, completely unacceptable."

Lawson said he made the comment in an effort to answer a question about how sexual harassment was still a societal problem in 2015, not just in the military but everywhere.
Again, why the fuss?  The predominant view in our secular nation, a view that perhaps many MPs would hold to, is clearly atheistic.  One well-known scientist and atheist in the world today is Richard Dawkins.  He wrote:

“In a universe of blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won’t find a rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference … DNA neither knows nor cares. DNA just is. And we dance to its music.” [3]

Whether General Lawson believes this or not or even planned it, he was simply articulating the common worldview of a secular society.  Stated otherwise, these soldiers who were involved in sexually harassing someone, where simply "dancing to their DNA."  That's what Dawkins tells us.  That's the end result of a world without God and any moral prejudice. 

So Mr. Mulcair, Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Harper, if you want a world without God, people are just going to dance to their DNA, or stated otherwise: just follow their biological wiring.  You can't have it both ways.  So please don't harass the General.  He was just following the secular script (the one you've chosen to follow). 


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1, http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/military-sexual-misconduct-due-to-biological-wiring-gen-tom-lawson-tells-cbc-news-1.3115993
2. http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/biological-wiring-remark-on-military-sexual-misconduct-prompts-strong-mp-reaction-1.3117281
3. Richard Dawkins, River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life (New York: Basic Books, 1995), 133. For a fuller response to Dawkins, see Andrew Wilson, Deluded by Dawkins? (Eastbourne, UK: Kingsway, 2007).


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