VERSION|0.5.1|SUBJECT|First Clemmies of 2013|CONTENT|[url=http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap130210.html][img=images/2013/02/pic130210.jpg popup=false float=right][/url]Before we get onto the first Clemmies of 2013, I&#039;d just like to remind everyone of an important anniversary this week. No, not Valentine&#039;s Day, it&#039;s the day before Valentine&#039;s Day. This Wednesday is the 6th anniversary of this blog. That means  that, apart from the odd omission here and there, I&#039;ve [strike]slept through[/strike] summarised and commented on about 1,870 platitudes. That&#039;s a lot of platitudes! I wonder how many I need to get into the Guinness Book of Records?

2013 seems to have got off with a bang, with no less than seven contenders this month. I must say I&#039;m delighted to see such stiff competition. The prestige of the Clemmies is clearly getting well known. It looks like our presenters are going all out to get the first award of the year.

[url=http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry130109-082111]Rev Dr Michael Banner[/url] was our first contestant to score the coveted 5 out of 5. NASA&#039;s latest estimate of the number of Earth like planets in our galaxy caused the Rev Dr to ponder such questions as, is my religion right, despite having been so often wrong?

[url=http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry130114-091020]Rev Canon Dr Alan Billings[/url] used the Bible to explain women&#039;s rights and to point out that it had some really good rape stories. For some reason, he didn&#039;t go into the biblical laws on rape: how to treat a woman before, during and after you&#039;ve raped her, and how much you should pay her father for damaging his property and reducing the resale value.

[url=http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry130117-085903]Lord Singh[/url] pointed out what a bunch of amateurs the British Medical Association is when it comes to understanding substance abuse. He explained that drug taking was caused by selfishness and what drug users needed was a change in attitude.

The [url=http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry130118-084616]Bishop of Norwich[/url] calmly and patiently pointed out that the Islamist militants who captured and murdered oil workers in Algeria, had completely misunderstood the religion of Islam. There were no bits in the Koran or the Bible that told you to kill anyone, ever. Britain&#039;s peaceful response to this tragedy was proof that we all obeyed Christ&#039;s instructions from the Sermon on the Mount.

[url=http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry130121-082558]Billings had another go[/url], this time explaining how instrumental the Bible was in the abolition of slavery. Naturally,he once again ignored all the biblical rules about owning slaves that the Christian slave owners themselves used to quote.

The [url=http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry130122-082248]Bishop of Liverpool[/url] also managed to ignore the religious motives of the Algerian Islamists, although there was the usual heavy dose of how Liverpool was uniquely burdened by tragedy and was plunged further into its permanent state of grief.

Finally, we had [url=http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry130130-082119]Akhandadhi Das[/url], who took Brian Cox&#039;s new TV series on life and how it works, and turned it into an astonishing series of creationist canards involving intelligent design, arguments from ignorance and god of the gap arguments.

[img=images/clemmie_small_crown.JPG popup=false float=left]This is very difficult this month. The extent of the ignorance, obfuscation and lies of omission have been of an outstandingly high quality. My natural instincts sway in favour of the science episodes. However, I think there is one candidate this month who stands head and shoulders above the others. To use the Bible to illustrate women&#039;s rights while blatantly omitting its numerous passages precisely denying them was pretty courageous. To then go on and repeat exactly the same tactic with slavery was either outstanding bravery or the most extreme foolishness. Either way, the first Clemmie of 2013 goes to Rev Dr Alan Billings.|CATEGORIES|47|IP-ADDRESS|94.168.119.214|DATE|1360512849|CREATEDBY|admin