Richard Dawkins and the Root of All Evil

[hagbard_celine]

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-995785640261888103&q=bbc+horizon&total=211&start=100&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=6

This bloke has seriously got his head in a dark, malodourous part of his body! It's no wonder his publicity agents rarely put him up against any serious theologians or philosophers. His Oxford colleague Alister McGrath has been trying to get him to face him in the Union for years, but Dawkins has yet to take up his challenge.

The irony is that Dawkins is actually dead right about a lot of things. He's correct about biology and religious fundamentalism. But he's stuck in the bloody pre-Renaissance! For him it's a binary choice: It's either Dogmatic superstitious religion, or empirical science. There is no third alternative!

His blinkered view is typified by how well he gets on Revd Richard Harries, the Bishop of Oxford. Harries is at the vanguard of a tolerant, liberal faction of the Anglican church, supporting female priests and homosexuality. Dawkins fawns round him becuase he's enraptured at having finally met what he thinks is the only "Woo" in the world who's not into fire-and-brimestone gay-bashing!:rolleyes:

This is Richard Dawkins interviewing Harries.:

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=2367986806557811071&q=richard+dawkins&total=1228&start=40&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

As one of Richard Dawkins' opponents it pains me to say this: I agree with him 100% in what he says in this film. Superstitious, funademalist belief in a religious characterization of God is appallingly destructive and abuseive, especially to children:

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=4209863004102129231

Actually Dawkins and McGrath did cross swords in the making of the "Root of Evil" films. Here's a rough cut outake of their debate. Shame none of this was included in the broadcast cut.:

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=6474278760369344626&q=richard+dawkins&total=1251&start=10&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2

[seanx]

Good post.

Dawkins is based totally in his 'head' - he regards the intellect as the only
'accessor' of information - that's why his universe is so cold, dead and meaningless.

And yet, I too agree with him on his description of the madness of the
Christian right - and extreme islam. They are both cancers on this planet.

However, his own materialistic view of the world is also highly
desctructive.

[informationx]

I like a lot of what dawkings has to say, but I find him to be a stuck up arrogant twat. And that stops me from watching lots of his stuff.

Hes become the messiah of the atheist movement, they basically kiss his ass at every opportunity.

He seems to practise intellectual ethics. In other words everyone else is an idiot and hes correct.

[hagbard_celine]

Dawkins is totally out of his depth when it comes to Theology. Mcgrath, the man who was cut out of the programme, has written some excellent books on Dawkins' views with some very irreverant titles like "Dawkins' God" and "The Dawkins Delusion". Here's his website:

http://users.ox.ac.uk/~mcgrath/

Mcgrath comes from Northern Ireland and became an atheist after witnessing the religious hatred in his country. Now he's a Christian theologian who studied under CS Lewis. he does lectures in Oxford and I go along to them if I can because I live in Oxford too.