I’m going to start believing in god, just because I don’t want to be associated with this blowhard.
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I’m going to start believing in god, just because I don’t want to be associated with this blowhard.
Comments are closed.
Oh I don’t think he’s that bad…
Even though he can get a bit shrill for my taste at times…
his writing is excellent, thought provoking, and fairly persuasive…
his public speaking, on the other hand, does come across as rather more nasty and aggressive than it probably needs to be…
of course.. you’re proably just being snarky here and I’m overreacing.. so I’ll shush now..
Re: Oh I don’t think he’s that bad…
“Shrill” is a good word. “Tone deaf” might be another good phrase.
I think it’s interesting that a lot of athiests are coming out as being embarrassed that Dawkins is in their corner. See http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/03/books/03beliefs.html?_r=2&em&ex=1173070800&en=f49f4e9d6fc540b4&ei=5087&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
(Disclaimer: I have not read his book)
I haven’t read that book yet either…
.. but I have read a number of his other books.. notably the Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, River out of Eden, and most recently, The Ancestor’s Tale, plus a number of other smaller articles, and in those, he is quite an excellent writer.
personally, I think his take on religion is shrill.. but perhaps not nearly as bad as everyone thinks… if only for the reason that we have numerous public figures talking about how evil atheists are all the time.. but a lot fewer public figures going about saying that religion is evil..
While his take on it is obviously strident.. in a climate where nuanced, thorough and subtle disagreements with religion often meet with “BUT YOU ARE GOING TO HELL, VILE SCUM!” it somewhat makes me feel a bit more comfortable to watch the furor over someone saying.. “Religion is EVIL and BAD and should be ABOLISHED.” because a good deal of this furor seems to be about the audacity of someone actually saying these things… (whereas these same people don’t think it is particularly audacious to publicly attack atheists and posit them as the reason for 9/11 and such things.. )
perhaps this is biased of me.. no.. I know it is biased of me.. but my hope is that post-Dawkins, the core of the debate will actually have moved back towards more of a middle point…
time will tell..