Richard Dawkins, “A Knack for Bashing Orthodoxy”

Posted on 09.20.2011 by AlwaysQuestionAuthority

His epiphanies follow on the heels of long sessions of reading and thought, and a bit of procrastination. He is an elegant stylist with a taste for metaphor. And he has a knack, a predisposition even, for assailing orthodoxy . . . His impatience with religion is palpable, almost wriggling alive inside him. Belief in the supernatural strikes him as incurious, which is perhaps the worst insult he can imagine. “Religion teaches you to be satisfied with nonanswers,” he says. “It’s a sort of crime against childhood.” Read more . . .

Richard Dawkins, “Children are indoctrinated. I want to open their minds”

Posted on 09.03.2011 by AlwaysQuestionAuthority

Dawkins continues to argue not just against faith but — as an evolutionary biologist — for inheritance, in terms of the chemical genes we are born with and the cultural “memes” that may be transmitted from generation to generation . . . “I’m very aware that people try to get their hands on children and indoctrinate them and I want to open their eyes, open their minds, show them the thrill of science — of really understanding so much of why we exist, why the universe exists, what life is .” . . . It was from his father, Dawkins says, that he learnt a “scientific attitude”. I ask him to define that. He replies: “Ceaseless questioning, scepticism, wanting to know what the evidence is, understanding what evidence means.” Read more . . .

Bang Goes The Theory: Richard Dawkins on Eye Evolution

Posted on 08.28.2011 by AlwaysQuestionAuthority

Evolution Threatens Christianity

Posted on 08.24.2011 by AlwaysQuestionAuthority

Paula Kirby, a former Christian, is a writer, consultant and project manager,
specializing in freethinking and secular organizations. She lives in Scotland.

So-called “reality TV” has done the world a grave disservice. I don’t just mean because the vast majority of such programs are mind-numbingly tedious, but because they have given people the idea that reality is something that can be decided by popular vote . . . In the real world, facts are stubborn beasts. They are supremely unmoved by whether we like them or not . . . And it is the same with evolution. Evolution is a simple fact. Read more . . .

Richard Dawkins, “Attention Governor Perry: Evolution is a Fact”

Posted on 08.23.2011 by AlwaysQuestionAuthority

There is nothing unusual about Governor Rick Perry. Uneducated fools can be found in every country and every period of history, and they are not unknown in high office . . . In today’s Republican Party ‘in spite of’ is not the phrase we need. Ignorance and lack of education are positive qualifications, bordering on obligatory. Intellect, knowledge and linguistic mastery are mistrusted by Republican voters, who, when choosing a president, would apparently prefer someone like themselves over someone actually qualified for the job. Read more . . .