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Al Jazeera English.

Dr Mamoun Fandy is a Senior Fellow for Gulf Security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies: “You cannot have a free media born in a dictatorship. I’m very surprised they want to build on the heritage of Al Jazeera Arabic.”

Omar in Bahrain: “It’s about balance. The Western media has dominated for so long. This is a good turning point. The world needs to see what Arabs are about. We are not simply terrorists. There are middle-class Arabs who have two children not 12.”

Stuart: “It’s a long overdue entry. In our media they pursue agendas. SKY news sold the war to the British public.”

Dr. Fandy: “Balance. This is the problem. It’s not about sides – I’d like to know what happened. We needs the story.

Stuart: News reporters tend to inevent the news.

Dr. Fandy: “The world needs to be informed. We need the story not both sides of it. Al Jazeera will meet the same fate as Al Hura unless it meets Western journalistic standards. It’s the tradition of the BBC that keeps everyone in check. Al Jazeera is financed by the Emir of Qatar – journalism cannot spring out of a dictatorship. If it continues with AJ Arabic’s traditions then it will just purvey an Islamic tone and will clash with Western sensibilities. You cannot use Shaihd and martyrs etc.”

Khaled: “I think Arab audiences won’t receive it very well. I want to take issue with Mamoud on the dictatorship statement. On the other side of the Atlantic, look at FOX News – this is not balanced and unbiased . . .”

Dr. Fandy: “. . . but you can still have a plethora of information within the US system which can wash FOX away. Al Jazeera is financed by one man. There is no single report about Qatar itself. It clashes with every government under the sun except Qatar. America is no Qatar. Not a small dictatorship born in 1971. The Arab media is like children. At some point either Qatar has to become a democracy.”

David in Belfast: “Al Jazeera will not change my viewing habits. As far as I can see this was essentially Jihad TV in English. Very well done in terms of production. For me the expose of the Al Jazeera agenda came in the first few headlines, the reporting on the death of the Israeli lady was interesting. It was news they couldn’t avoid but they then spun the story away from the dead Israeli to one and a half minutes of wailing and weeping of the Palestinian women.”

Dr Mamoun Fandy: “It’s not fully Jihad TV. Thus far I don’t agree with you. Over the last 10 years AJ have broken no stories apart from the Bin Laden tapes. Let’s wait and see . . . I’m still worried about one station owned by a state. It’s dangerous/. We need to see the mix of stories . . .it’s too early to tell.”

Edward: “It was refreshing to see another point of view. They had a Brazil story and Boy Racers in Peking on.”

South African Gay Marriage Law.

Rabiya is presenting tonight and wants to know: As an African, are you proud of the law?

Derek and Undeele have had a traditional African marriage ceremony. Derek: “It’s about acceptance and tolerance. What this does is give some kind of official recognition.”

Rabiya: “Will this piece of paper make a difference?”

Sharon: “ Not in the mind of someone who is prejudiced. Not all gay and lesbians will choose to marry. What we saw in the hearings was the levels of prejudice that exist.”

Derek: “The battle isn’t over yet. This is a really big advance. There are still a lot of conservative attitudes out there. On practical levels it gives us extra official protection.”

We’re back after the news. Remember please get in touch if you would like to comment. The number is on the right hand side.

Derek: “We don’t see the issue of colour in our relationship. For us it’s not an issue. We just live our lives as human beings.“

Undeele: “Now I don’t even hide my feelings. It’s a nice feeling.”

Matthew in Tanzania: “Isn’t it too early for African communities to legalise same-sex marriage?”

Sharon: “We’ve been around the same amount of time as everyone else on this earth. It’s not too early.”

Derek: “We’ve been through the apartheid struggle. This is about equality and we need to commend the SA government.”

Matthew: “I cannot see it in a hundred years in Tanzania. We Africans believe in traditions and religion.”

Judy is in Philadelphia: “At what age did you have your first encounter in this lifestyle?”

Derek: “For me it was a natural realisation as I was growing up . . . in my early twenties.”

Sharon: “Being gay or lesbian is not a lifestyle.”
Benson in Mozambique says: “This is against African tradition.”

Sharon: “It’s sad that we still have judgemental people. We’re not taking away anything from our neighbour’s marriage.”

Creationism in Ohio.

Ken Ham founded the museum and is on the show: “I’m a biblical creationist so we’re saying the bible explains the world, the animals, the people, why there are fossils etc. Geology and science confirms that history. All Christian doctrine is founded in Genesis. The museum is a walk-through the Genesis story and answers the questions evolutionists might have. There are video presentations.”

Sturart in Scotland: “The best exhibits in museums are dinosouars. Do you have dinosaurs.?

Ken Ham: “We have real dinosaur fossils and eggs and dinosaur sculptures. Dinosaurs didn’t die until after Adam sinned. Dinosaurs cannot be millions of years old. Most people think dinosaurs were all big monsters . . the average size was a sheep. Some dinosaurs were only as small as chickens. Two of each kind were on the Ark.”

Stuart: “T-Rex on the ark?”

Ken: “What we do is give people the whole history. Animals were all vegetarians to start with. People wouldn’t have been frightened of them. T-Rex’s aren’t that big compared to the Ark . . . they could have been child T-Rex’s.”

A caller: “Wouldn’t 25 million dollars have better been donated to Christian aid?”

Erling is in Denmark: “Why would you bolster your faith using methods that rely on science? That’s contradictory.”

Ken: “That’s a good point. What do you mean by science…? You talk about empiricism – I totally agree. We believe in science and empiricism. But when you talk about origins you’re talking about what happened when you weren’t there. It’s different knowledge from observational knowledge and the present. Was a human there when we crawled out of primordial soup? The account in Genesis makes sense.”

Hi it's James here, working late again to try to bring you some of the mountain of text messages we received during the show. The legalisation of same-sex marriages in South Africa prompted a huge response from our African listeners - i'd be up for an award for the longest blog entry ever if I tried to post them all, but here's a representative sample:

Ken, Cleveland USA
My opinion on gay marriage is simple: If you don't believe in it don't marry a gay person. Why should anyone be allowed to begrudge two people in love the rights of any heterosexual couple. This should be a non-issue.

Lindsay, Togo, W Africa
As an American living in Togo, I find myself shocked by the level of venom that other Africans feel about the new S African law. There is a huge cultural divide between western tolerance & individuality and African community values, and I wonder if it can be resolved.

Anon
Africa can choose to deal with homosexuality openly like southafrica or pretend it doesnt exist as it does worldwide.

Anon
Approving same sex marriage in South Africa is a disgrace to the entire Continent of Africa, Nelson Mandela and Desimol Tutu pls. Save our continent.

Chuks, Nigeria
Same-sex marriage in South Africa shows the corrupting influence of its white population. It's a contagion the rest of Africa should fight.

Onyeka, Delta State, Nigeria
Same Sex marriage is taboo both in Africa and in the site of GOD.

Edgar, Zambia
Is there same sex union in bible?

Matthew from Asaba, Nigeria
I wonder what the legislators were thinking about passing a bill like that. What are they doing about the AIDS SCOURGE and violence that is Ravaging their country? The future there does not look very promising.

Martin in Butere, Kenya.
Its unfortunate.Some things are just wrong.What good can come from them?What will happen if all of us legalise all our inclinations?

Ahmed
This is an added disaster to HIV issue in Africa.

Anon
Same sex marriage's wrong,accordin 2 Leviticus 18:22 " thou shall not go into a fellow man", This refers 2 copulation. In Africa its a taboo! How do u get children?

Our other topics tonight didn't receive quite such an onslaught of texts - more a calmly lapping wave. Here's what you thought of today's launch of Al-Jazeera English:

Hussein, Kenya
Aljazera English services will show our brethen in west the real focus of middle east and the whole world.So don't misunderstand it .

Lubna from Iraq
Al-Jazera did nothing but encouraging armed violence in Iraq and giving godfathers of terrorism a chance to speak

Gabriel from Delta State Nigeria
I think with the advent of the English Al-jazira, the middle east will be able to portray the true culture of thier society as well as a balanced news by presenting both sides, other than news stations like CNN that are biased & reports hyperbolical, false presentation of the negative sides of Arabs & Africans without consideration to the values of news like, 'consequences'

And creationism got you fired up too:

Caroline, Kenya
A great step in understanding creation. All skeptics shuld pay a visit.

Frank, Nigeria.
CREATIONISM?.IF IT WASN'T THE B.B.C. I WOULDN'T BELIEVE MY EARS!WELL MY QS.WHAT STOPS GOD BEING AN EVOLUTIONIST?.

Marios, Prague
As a practising greek orthodox cristian and a scientist ( i am a doctor of medicine ) i find it hard to believe that modern people especially from america could beleive such nonsence let alone spend millions to convince others.

Kate, Atlanta
Whatever he is smoking he needs to share. its obviously high grade.

Noah, Detroit, US
I am a doctor and an agnostic. And i am of the opinion that there is overwhelming evidence 4 inteligent creation.But its ridiculous to put it in the biblical context
What does your guest think about the headline about 70000-year-old Neanderthal DNA?

Anil, Cleveland, US
Religion was created by ancient 'politicians' to teach philosophy of life to people without enough intellect to understand it on their own. This museum fulfils the same need in current times.....

Frank, Italy
I'm a supporter of Darwin

Thanks to you all for contributing, and join us again tomorrow.