Richard Dawkins may be Britain’s foremost atheist, but he is willing to be inspired and uplifted. Is he a believer after all?
Full interview over at Times Online
How dare you call me a fundamentalist
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“How dare you call me a fundamentalist”
Ok then, you are a boringmentalist!!
A softer smile, and a softening of attitude – Maybe he has read Derrens post regards throwing a little sweetner in the mix.
Dawkins is nice even in God Delusion, I don’t know why people say he’s mean and angry. Whenever I’ve seen him in a documentary, he’s never really raised his voice or been rude or disparaging. He’ll say he thinks people are wrong, and why, but I don’t see why that is considered strident.
He is nicer than he should be.
Circular arguments drive me to distraction
and sometimes light violence
I think my only problem with Dawkins so far is that I can’t shake the feeling he’s suggesting if you’re religious, you’re an idiot’.
I personally believe there’s zero evidence to suggest the existence of a God or whatever, but it’s all about people skills in talking to other people about it. You don’t have to be an arse when dealing with people whose beliefs are different to your own.
But what exactly makes you feel he is suggesting that? Even in that article he says he has religious friends.
Ben – I agree.
I think the problem here is that atheists have taken the opinions of believers on the chin for so long that there has been a seething resentment which welled up and finally boiled over about 8 years ago. Having spent so long listening to door to door evangelists, the pope, the armies of cultural relativists who said “Religion is off limits, you’re not allowed to disagree with anyone’s deeply held beliefs because that’s on a moral par with racism” we simply got fed up with the religious claiming to have the monopoly on moral issues and scoring home runs in debates where if you have no religion and don’t believe in god it’s like fighting with both arms behind your back.
Meanwhile zealots all over the globe get to lobby governments on issues such as contraception, women’s rights and gay rights while silencing dissent. As just one example, George Bush claimed the war in Iraq was god’s will.
What Dawkins is basically saying is that while you may be entitled to believe what you like, the moment you put that belief out in the public arena it has no more authority than your political opinion or your opinion on which team will win the match this weekend. It’s an opinion like any other, and in the absence of concrete evidence for the existance of god, believers often fights dirty by calling the contrary position “offence” or “blasphemy” in the hope that atheists will shuffle away with their tail between their legs, while apologising for having the temerity to challenge the word of god.
I have bought the latest interviews dvd from Richard dawkins and i must say he is a pleasant man to listen to….it shows him as a lover of truth as a scientist and a passionate discusser where he thinks disinformation has taken over or ´playing with words´ has caused a misunderstanding over a certain subject…….I don´t find him angry or anti or extreme @all….
Sometimes i even think he should probe a little further to get to the bone of someones belief….and him being too polite to get to a rational truth of a matter….But, that aside….it somehow shows his respect for others beliefs also….
So anyone whos calling him an angry-antireligious…is having a lame attempt of trying to demonize him´´…ooohh, lol
Flapjack: I couldn’t agree more. It seems that in the last couple of years there has been an anti-Dawkins lashback in some sections of the media. It is as if they are saying “yeah yeah we’ve heard it all before now go back to your cosy Oxford office and be quiet”. By determinedly not doing this, but reinforcing his message again and again, Dawkins appears to have incurred the wrath of the afore mentioned media who then take every opportunity to portray him in a negative way.
Ben – BTW. Regarding the argument that Dawkins is out of line for implying that religious people are idiots (I think he uses the term ‘deluded’), this is merely using an argument that Christians have used against atheists for more than 1000 years.
From my christian upbringing I seem to recall a regularly quoted passage in the bible – Psalm 14:1 “The fool hath said in his heart “There is no God”. This was chanted from the pulpit at my local Cathedral with clockwork regularity, and is often put up as a large sign outside parish churches. It seldom goes challenged, and no-one calls those who put that message out ‘shrill’ or ‘intolerant’.
If Christians are prepared to resort to name calling and sweeping generalisations like that, why should atheists turn the other cheek?
He seems a lot more pleasant than I thought he would be and in his picture he looks… dare I say… Kinda sweet
I think Dawkins is lovely. He is afraid to question societies beliefs and we certainly need more people like him.
The article looks very much like a religious person purposefully misinterpreting everything Dawkins says in order to project her own religiosity upon him. Such a specious manner of conducting an interview.
As for the psalm, here\’s my version:
The fool hath said in his heart, “There is no God.\” The wise man says it out loud.
I hate the way Dawkins is famous for being an atheist when he wrote Ancestor’s Tale, which is the most incredible book. It is beautiful and moving and understandable even if you don’t have a biology degree. You’ve got a man who can make evolutionary biology sound like the Lord of the Rings crossed with Chaucer, and does anyone care? Hell no. They’re distracted by the fact he doesn’t believe in a god.