Hamza Tzortzis, Quantum Fluctuations and the Draft Excluder

I had contact from Muslim apologist Hamza Tzortis last week. He accused me of "childish tactics", said my agenda was "mockery", and asked if I was "always going to be relying on mockery and ridicule".

This requires some background. Back in 2010, Hamza posted what he said was his response to the God Delusion. In February 2012 I came across it and discovered that it bore a remarkable similarity to the work of Christian apologist William Lane Craig. It's rather clear plagiarism; I've placed quotes side by side so you can see for yourself. Have a quick skim, the remainder of this post will make more sense if you do.

Some folk and I attempted to bring this post to Hamza's attention, but it was only when PZ Myers covered the story in June 2012 that sufficient publicity was generated to warrant appropriate citations. To my mind a public apology to Craig would also be appropriate.

I feel I should give Hamza's interpretation of events. He denied any similarities. At least twice. Then he added citations. Now he describes it as an oversight, and would have us believe that he read Craig, reworded Craig (introducing errors in the process) and posted this rewording with the full intention of returning to it at a later date to include citations, before forgetting that he'd reworded Craig and then being of the mistaken impression that the articles were different, followed by remembering and including citations. As the head of research for the Islamic Education and Research Academy it seems rather poor research to leave such an error uncorrected for over two years.

Hamza Tzortzis and The God Delusion

As regular readers of  this blog are likely aware, some two years ago Hamza Tzortzis released what he described as his response to the God Delusion. Back in February I happened upon it and noticed it bore marked similarities to the work of William Lane Craig. After PZ Myers featured my article, Hamza updated his piece to indicate it was a pastiche of Christian authors, including Paul Copan, William Lane Craig, J. P. Moreland, Frank J. Tipler, John D. Barrow, Keith Ward and Roy Abraham Varghese.

Thanks to an anonymous commenter I'm only now realising the delicious irony in his opening line:

"What I read were rehashed, incoherent and outdated arguments that made me realize that Richard Dawkins is not very well read in philosophy"

Emphasis mine, but I digress. Hamza and I had a pleasant Twitter chat after the events, during which he suggested I respond to the content:

After two years his collage of Christian authors stands at version 0.3: I jokingly responded that I would await version 1.0. Dawkins is well able to defend himself; writing further on the matter seemed superfluous. Still, there seems to be appetite for this stuff.

Particularly avid readers of this blog - likely those who make notes - will recall I wrote another piece on Islam, months ago, where I described exemplary behaviour from Muslim apologists despite extreme provocation. You'll note that before the physical and verbal abuse of these fine gentlemen started I was discussing Halal fish oil supplements. Softgel capsules are generally made from porcine gelatin and a gym friend of mine was looking for a Muslim-friendly alternative.

Interfaith Dialogue Revisited - Hamza Tzortzis and the William Lane Craig influence

Back in February I mentioned that an article Hamza Tzortzis wrote seemed to rely heavily on the work of Christian apologist William Lane Craig. It was a reasonably unpopular article until PZ Myers featured it, earning me 1,800 hits in one day. If you're counting that's about 1,750 more than average.

Hamza initially denied that there were similarities between William Lane Craig's work and his own:

But I'm glad to report that within two days of the increased interest Hamza has updated his article, giving proper credit to Christian apologists Paul Copan, William Lane Craig, J. P. Moreland, Frank J. Tipler, John D. Barrow, Keith Ward and Roy Abraham Varghese as well as atheist philosopher Walter Sinnott-Armstrong as influencing his thinking on the matter. No Muslim authors were cited, though the Qur'an was quoted in several areas.

Interfaith Dialogue: Hamza Tzortzis and William Lane Craig

Hamza Tzortzis just tweeted about his response to The God Delusion. I'd missed it before now. While reading it some of the quotes and statistics he used seemed familiar. In this post I'll be comparing Hamza's article to one by William Lane Craig, entitled Does God Exist? (Free registration required.)

*Update June 2012: Two years after publication, Hamza has updated his article to reflect the sources and has modified the description to list it as a compilation. This is a positive step. A link to my followup article has been added to the end of this post.*

For copyright reasons I won't reproduce both articles in their entirety. Let's start after Hamza's preliminary note:

Hamza Tzortzis: "The existence of a life permitting universe is due to conditions that must have been fined-tuned to a degree that is literally incalculable. Take the following examples:"

William Lane Craig: "The existence of intelligent life depends upon a conspiracy of initial conditions which must be fine-tuned to a degree that is literally incomprehensible and incalculable."

Hamza Tzortzis: "The Strength of Gravity & the Atomic Weak Force: Physicist P. C. W. Davies has calculated that a change in the strength of gravity or of the atomic weak force by only one part in 10¹⁰⁰ would have prevented a life permitting universe."

William Lane Craig: "For example, the physicist P. C. W. Davies has calculated that a change in the strength of gravity or of the atomic weak force by only one part in 10¹⁰⁰ would have prevented a life-permitting universe."

Michael Nugent Vs Hamza Tzortzis: Would The World Be A Better Place Without Religion?

On February seventh I attended a debate between Michael Nugent (Atheist Ireland) and Hamza Tzortzis (Islamic Education and Research Academy), organised by the DIT Debate Society and the DIT Islamic Society. The subject was "Is The World A Better Place Without Religion?". You've likely guessed which speaker defended the proposition.

The date also marked my entry to twitter. I'm Geoff's Shorts, do say hi. I tweeted my way through the debate and will flesh out the thoughts below.

@HATzortzis missed his flight. TCD debate postponed, DIT still on. Unconfirmed rumours that Ryanair checkin staff are militant atheists :)

It turns out that the snow was the cause of Hamza missing his flight. This does not preclude Ryanair's checkin staff from all being militant atheists; we may have to wait for further evidence. I'll try the secret handshake when I next fly.

Stereotyping Islam

Friday found me having a brief chat at O'Connell Street's Islam information stall. It wasn't a particularly deep and involved conversation: I only stopped to ask if they had details of tomorrow's debate between Hamza Tzortzis and Michael Nugent. In those moments I overheard some snatches of conversation between a Muslim apologist and a Catholic. Standard fare, mainly focused on baptism.

The Catholic was in his late fifties, dressed in the sort of brown suit that hasn't been made since we stopped using old money. He had a slight country accent and I'll call him Gobnait, partially because he had the look of a Gobnait, and partially because repeatedly referring to him as 'the Catholic' would not read well. The Muslim apologist I'll call James. No particular reason. He listened to something I didn't follow then asked "But why were they baptized?"

By way of retort Gobnait shoved James, tripping him, sending him to the ground via a sudden collision with a table. My eyebrows were still rising as Gobnait moved forward, giving voice to a variety of opinions that I deem unworthy of print.

The Unusual Suspects - a guide to street preachers in Dublin

The fine folks at Atheist Ireland were kind enough to mention me in their latest newsletter. This had the advantage of sending some more readers to my blog and in the absence of an 'About' page I decided to recap my intent.


I talk to street preachers.


I'm glad I had this opportunity to recap. The remainder of this post will trace an imaginary walking tour of Dublin and detail some of the highlights. Is there a street preacher I've missed? Do let me know in the comments section.

Hare Krishnas
Our tour starts on Grafton Street where, if you're lucky, we'll spot one or more Hare Krishnas. Normally dressed in distinctive orange or white flowing robes with incomplete headshaves, they can be hard to spot when they work the streets. Their activities are of dubious legality. Look for casual dress, wolly hats, hoodies, or other devices to cover their heads, and an armful of books.


When to find them: Rush hours, days vary. They're sometimes active on Henry Street and O'Connell Street.
Awkward questions to ask:

• Which is closer, the sun or the moon? (The answer will surprise you.)
• I see you're asking for cash donations. As per section 94 of the Charities Act 2009, may I see your written permit and sealed collection box?
• Do you agree with your founder that women's brains are half the size of men's?

Porn, Rape, Hamza Tzortzis and Statistical Analysis Part 2

Last month I wrote a review of Hamza Tzortis' article entitled 'Do Liberal Societies Facilitate Rape via the Legalisation of Pornography?' As a member of a liberal society I took a dim view of this. It's worth reading before going further.

I brought my article to Hamza's attention for his comment. In fairness to Hamza, he read this post, describing it as 'quite thorough', and we discussed for a few FaceBook posts. As always he was polite. I've met him in person and cannot fault his manners or eloquence. He wondered if the figures on Google Insights could have been caused by increased liberalisation or materialism in Muslim countries. He said that rising property prices meant people were marrying later in life, forced to live with their parents for longer and that this could be the cause. This was an off-the-cuff hypothesis on his part, I don't mean to represent it as an entrenched position.

How can we check for this?

Porn, rape, Hamza Tzortzis and statistical analysis

Hamza Tzortzis has recently published a response in his questions and answers section entitled "Do Liberal Societies Facilitiate Rape via the Legalisation of Pornography?" In it he attempts to link liberal society with consumption of pornography, consumption of pornography with rape, and offers Islamic society as a corrective solution.

As a member of a liberal society I read the article with much interest. If he's right it's the most important article on the internet. as head of research with iERA he is "responsible for ensuring all of the research projects are ... of the highest standard". His team and target market are both based in liberal countries as of course are many of the world's Muslims, so it would be best if he tackled the subject with tact and care to avoid the offence caused by inaccurate research.

Let's see if he was of a similar mindset: