I just read a series of apologetics articles about Mohamed. Something I've always find quite evident about Islam strike me while I was reading. We know very little about the culture in which Mohamed was living. Saying it was a common practise for a mature man to marry a young girl is very presumptuous. I am more incline to think that most human society do abide to natural taboos - that make incest and paedophilia outrageous and deviant. An immature girl is much more likely to die in labour as her body is not ready to deliver a baby, making this a very unproductive marriage. Unless there are serious historical or archaeological data in favour of a pre-islamic culture that made paedophilia a normative behaviour, I would tend to believe that Mohamed behaved more or less like a cult leader. He might have adopted unnatural behaviour to increase/maintain his stature and power toward his community. More important is how modern Muslims interpret this behaviour. Do they reject it as immoral in a modern society that has shown evidences of psychological and physical trauma linked to an underage girl being forced into sexual intercourse or do they abide to the example of their prophet as part of his perfection that should not be dismissed - in fear of dismissing Islam as a whole. The point with Islam nowadays always come down to this: how modern do Muslim want to be? Other religions are more coherent about this issue though they all go through a strong resistance from their radical wing.

The fact that nearly half people think evolution has not been scientifically proven is a proof in itself of how poorly people understand what science is all about. I am inclined to believe that 85% of those who are in favor of evolution know little more than the average high school biology about it. I include myself in that category. As a scientist, I've studied physics not biology. Yet, that little we know make much more sense than any religious alternative. Think about the judeochristian God creating the earth in a seven day creationist marathon or about Brahma starting from a lotus flower or a about the wish list of a native American earth-maker. They are all equal in being legend and myths. Yet, there must be something that people who doubt evolution don't understand and my only answer must be that they simply approach evolution with a close mind, only trying to disproof it. It is too beautiful and simple for the simplest mind not to grasp. So my argument is that if you have not made an honest effort to understand evolution putting aside your religious bias, you cannot have an opinion against it. The mere fact that evolution is taken for granted as truth by every biologists should convince you that science has proven it. Here is a video that give you the basic scientific argument for evolution against creationism: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV4_lVTVa6k. I stand for that argument.