Root of All Evil?

[DrSzin]

Did anyone else see Richard Dawkins' Root of All Evil? on Channel 4 tonight? I only saw the last twenty minutes, but what I saw was interesting.

Madeleine Bunting described it as an intellectually lazy polemic not worthy of a great scientist.

Well, perhaps she has a point, but it was surely a personal point of view rather than an academic presentation. Whatever his intention, Dawkins had me in stitches on several occasions. I'm not as fundamentally atheist as he is, nor am I so anti-religion, but I sure enjoyed it.

I dare say some of our more religious members may have found it somewhat less enjoyable.

Comments anyone?

[Rheghead]

I did and I agree wholeheartedly with him.

[lassieinfife]

I did and I agree wholeheartedly with him.

I watched it and enjoyed it, agreed with plenty of it ................ lots there to make you think,should be compulsary watching

[jjc]

I'm gutted. I'd been meaning to watch it all week and then clean forgot. Hopefully it will be repeated soon.

[Gleber2]

I'm gutted. I'd been meaning to watch it all week and then clean forgot. Hopefully it will be repeated soon.

Does this mean your fallible? I'm shocked. Actually I missed it too.Great pity

[JAWS]

Completely forgot about it. Does anybody know if it's on again?

I've just had a quick glance at Madeleine Bunting's comments. I gave up at the point at which she has decided that Strictly Come Dancing has filed the gap left by Religion and the blame lies with Atheist-Humanism.
At that point she reminds me of the person on Radio a few weeks back who was appalled by "Porridge" because it did not reflect the reality of Prison life in the 1970s.
"Hello, wake up! It's not meant to be a Documentary."

Any organisation which cannot stand a little ridicule and having people poke fun at it has serious problems because it must have very little faith (not a pun) in it's own foundations.
The more hysterical the response, the shakier the Foundations.

I have also had a quick look at one of Madeleine Bunting's lectures. From the part of the lecture I read, I take it that she sees the programme as yet another example of the conspiracy by the Media to rubbish Religious Beliefs.
People who take themselves too seriously are not to be trusted in their objectivity. "Methinks she doth protest too much!"

[brandy]

i didnt watch it but didnt know it was on either.. will watch teh next one though!
read the article and has a look at the web page.
the article makes him sound like a complete idiot.. who is shouting my way is right
and you should listen and obey me.
again from the article it looks as if he has a God complex himself.
the section that talked about children .. says exactly what i thought about raising my children *wg* they have to know about something before they can make a choice about it!

i do have to admit i have that distaste when a program is on like that or a subject like this comes up because i dont want to hear it.. but i make myself listen and at the end of the day feel better for it.
because i have listened and took in the argument and can gloat silently (yes i know i shouldnt but i do) Ha! i have listened to your rubbish and my faith is still strong *winks* ( that is a joke by the way!)
well not the my faith is still strong.. but the rubbish part.. i dont agree with it but if it makes him happy let him be!
just as long as he leaves me alone..
ill keep him in my prayers though!
night all!

[Rheghead]

i didnt watch it but didnt know it was on either.. will watch teh next one though!
read the article and has a look at the web page.
the article makes him sound like a complete idiot.. who is shouting my way is right
and you should listen and obey me.
again from the article it looks as if he has a God complex himself.
the section that talked about children .. says exactly what i thought about raising my children *wg* they have to know about something before they can make a choice about it!

i do have to admit i have that distaste when a program is on like that or a subject like this comes up because i dont want to hear it.. but i make myself listen and at the end of the day feel better for it.
because i have listened and took in the argument and can gloat silently (yes i know i shouldnt but i do) Ha! i have listened to your rubbish and my faith is still strong *winks* ( that is a joke by the way!)
well not the my faith is still strong.. but the rubbish part.. i dont agree with it but if it makes him happy let him be!
just as long as he leaves me alone..
ill keep him in my prayers though!
night all!

When you actually engage traction to what Dawkins says instead of spouting anti-intellectual bunkum then you will realise the futility of Faith. I think your arrogance has proved his point...

[DrSzin]

I'm gutted. I'd been meaning to watch it all week and then clean forgot. Hopefully it will be repeated soon.

Yeah, me too. But at least I caught the last 20 minutes, and I'll try to beg, steal or borrow a recording of the whole programme.

Richard Dawkins is an interesting chap. He came up here to work with one of my colleagues for a few days in 1988 (I think), and I spent ages one day trying to explain something to him. Unfortunately, I can't remember what on earth it was I was trying to explain, but I eventually gave up and dismissed him as a naive mathematical-illiterate. I dare say it was my fault, and I was simply using the wrong language.

BTW I was away much of last week and I'm just catching up with the forum. I hadn't realised that Dawkins' series had been brought up in the "insane" thread.

[connieb19]

Did anybody hear his interview with Jeremy Vines on radio 2 the other day?

[Gleber2]

I don't mind the beliefs of the faithful as long as they don't preach at me and try to convert me. The early Christian missionaries had it right.'Our God is a God of peace and if you don't believe us we will put you on the stake and you will burn.' I have never had a non-believer preach at me the way so many Christians do. Yes,I see all religion as evil and that includes those who preach atheism at me. Every man should be his own Guru!!!.

[brandy]

who was it that said God is within us all.. i really like that saying..

[DrSzin]

I've just had a quick glance at Madeleine Bunting's comments. I gave up at the point at which she has decided that Strictly Come Dancing has filed the gap left by Religion and the blame lies with Atheist-Humanism.

I did that too, but I forced myself to go back and read it carefully several times. The Strictly Come Dancing analogy is gratuitously silly, as is the title of her article and her comments on crystals and ley lines, but she makes some reasonable points about Hitler and Rwanda. Having said that, I think she too is guilty of shooting down straw men (eg sexual desire).

[DrSzin]

i didnt watch it but didnt know it was on either.. will watch teh next one though!
read the article and has a look at the web page.
the article makes him sound like a complete idiot.. who is shouting my way is right
and you should listen and obey me.
again from the article it looks as if he has a God complex himself.

I disagree with everything you say.

It doesn't make him look like a complete idiot. It is simply a disagreement between two very intelligent people with rather different views. I have enormous respect for both Richard Dawkins and Madeleine Bunting. Indeed the latter is the only religious affairs correspondent I ever read. She's intelligent, thoughtful, objective, and (almost) always gives everyone a fair hearing. She hasn't a clue about science but she isn't a scientist so I don't hold that against her.

Dawkins, on the other hand, might be described as a fundamentalist atheist, and I love the forthright way he states his opinions. He knows what he's talking about and he knows exactly what he's doing in pushing his views in the way he does.

The two of them are made for each other.

[brandy]

*laughs* just taking what i read from the article..
i have to admit i dont know anything about him!
just the names of the programs and when they are on..
so will reserve judgment and recant my previous remark until i watch the next show.
seriously though.. i do want to let you guys know.. i have absolutly nothing against atheists.. in fact some of the people i love most in this world are atheists.. ie my brothers and god brothers..
however does not mean that i agree with them and we have some major major rows!
but i love them no matter what their faith.. or lack of..
but i will watch the next show and then wait to give my opinion on the guy..
i honestly belive to each their own but do not like to see people shouting abuse to others on how they belive be it atheist or televangelists!
really hate them.. (televangilists)i swear if i belived in hell.. i think there would be a special place for them *Winks*

[gleeber]

I saw the prgramme and what I saw was a scientist who was an atheist explaining why science cannot be ignored when we look for inner and outer realities. He never once said he was right in fact he said he (and science) still had lots to learn.
Compare that to the Scary Christian evangalist who talks to President Bush on a regular basis or the ex-Jew who has now found salvation in Islam. They know for sure that Dawkins (and DrSzin) are damned to an eternal hell but they shout arrogance when Dawkins challenges them.
The fallback from the religious when their faith is challenged is always the other persons arrogance.
Thats one of the problems with science. Its so darn right sometometimes, and when its not grown men and women can discuss their differences, without resorting to killing one another, until they agree on something new about the nature of the world or ourselves.

[golach]

Well michty me DrSzin, you have stirred up the Caithness Holy Willies once again, I have never seen or heard so much pulpit thumping for a long time.
What is it with you lot up there? Is it the dark dreich days of winter or are you all suffering from SAD?
No wonder poor old Bishop Adam of Halkirk was roasted, you lot are zealots up there.
What difference is anyones religion colour or creed, live and let live I say.

[Whitewater]

Well michty me DrSzin, you have stirred up the Caithness Holy Willies once again, I have never seen or heard so much pulpit thumping for a long time.
What is it with you lot up there? Is it the dark dreich days of winter or are you all suffering from SAD?
No wonder poor old Bishop Adam of Halkirk was roasted, you lot are zealots up there.
What difference is anyones religion colour or creed, live and let live I say.

I agree with you golach. Perhaps the should all read Dan Browns 'Angels and Demons' and form their own opinion.

[DrSzin]

They know for sure that Dawkins (and DrSzin) are damned to an eternal hell [...]

Aye, and the 3 of us can discuss where we all went wrong. I dare say our new chum Gleber2 will be joining us. Nice to have you on board Gleber2.

Thats one of the problems with science. Its so darn right sometometimes, and when its not grown men and women can discuss their differences, without resorting to killing one another, until they agree on something new about the nature of the world or ourselves.

Boring innit?

I like listening to Dawkins because he just says what he thinks. There's no bull, and no beating around the bush. To claim that religion is the root of all evil seems absurd to me, but it's fun to see where it takes us.

Well michty me DrSzin, you have stirred up the Caithness Holy Willies once again, I have never seen or heard so much pulpit thumping for a long time.

Holy Willies? What Holy Willies? Only Brandy has voiced explicit disagreement with the views of St Richard, and she did it with some humour.

Hi connieb19, did you hear St Richard and Jeremy Vine? If so, could you tell us what happened and what you thought about it? All I could find on the web was this. Wow, I see you've posted 232 times in the 10 days since you joined! And I thought I was an addict!

Whitewater, what does Angels and Demons have to do with this? No, I haven't read it.

[Saveman]

I didn't see it but it sounds hilarious.
You've got see his point, in most of the trouble spots in the world, what’s slap bang at the centre of the problem? Religion.

As Mr. De Burgh once commented, "There's a quiet revolution going on..."

He's no one trick pony that De Burgh one!