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  • some really good stuff here

  • some great inforamtion here thanks

  • very interesting thanks

  • Go on Richard! give us a SCI.Fi book that would be very interesting,,

  • This man English is ridiculous but Dawkins one is amazing.

  • I love Richard............and his interesting ties XD

  • Live long the church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster! That was an intelligent answer.

  • It is a tricky question arguing that there is nothing wrong in finding religion consoling, the problem here is that religious people use the argument of finding religion consoling to hide that they tell everyone even children that i'ts true. you can find religion consoling, but then we have to stop calling it religion. You can not have it both ways

  • The controversy over the Osama bin Laden cartoons. Did i miss something?

  • This is the presenter "So uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ok uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

    =]

  • Check out the following video entitled: Faith Science Antônio Peters. With enlightening arguments, speaks Pastor Antonio about his book entitled “Alpha and Omega“ (English subtitels)

  • milquetoast? No. Polite, gentile, respectful? Yes.

  • God does not exist, I was told by God himself!

  • @ReligionRetard

    Even the contrast is funny:

    "God does exist, I was told by a man."

  • i don't care at all for the presenter

  • "Ignorance is no crime"... no... but it's no defense either!

  • Good ol' Dawkins - never dodges a question! :)

  • Please subtitles!

  • The interview's voice makes me want to throw a chair across the room. What an annoying twisting of letters in every sentence! -spits- Anyway, excellent interview with Dr. Dawkins.

  • It would be awesome if someone would name a school after him.

  • The most fundamental question of all: What is The underlying law of nature?

  • His Wellington "show" has been moved to the Michael Fowler Centre home of Arise Church. I hope some of the actually attend.

  • He said, 'woo woo' - critical, slang term for fringe beliefs.

  • 17:36 good quote rational dissent fending off

  • 30:46 -- "... belief in other sorts of nonsense like astrology and ley lines and ?????"

    Did he say "wu wubs"?

  • AMZING! :)

  • Dawkins is doing a great job. Religion is one of the last massive fallicies that needs ot be corrected and brought upto date. (ps this can't be a satellite link if it is with the UK as the response time is far too fast. Suspect a fibre link... at the risk of sounding to smart). Had we stuck entirely to religion we would not have this technology either. We'd be praying hoping to get a connection between NZ and the UK.... and not succeeding at all.

  • Comment removed

  • @trident3b @trident3b this is a satellite feed... not all telecommunications have delays when satellites are used.... this is an official video, from the official dawkins youtube page... but who knows... maybe they edited out the time gaps on the final video.

  • @mnagmobile1 yes, the editing out of the time gaps is a very good answer and most likely. Thx, never thought of that. Yeah as it happens I come out of the teleco sector and for a satellite to remain in geosynchronous orbit it needs to be about 36.000Km over the equator. At the speed of light it therefore takes about 260 milliseconds to get a signal up and down again (not including switching propagation). So your editing idea is very plausible. Apologies for all the typos in my first comment!

  • @trident3b

    "Had we stuck entirely to religion we would not have this technology either. We'd be praying hoping to get a connection between NZ and the UK.... and not succeeding at all."

    Well actually no you're wrong. There is no religion that prohibits the advancement of knowledge, or the progression of technology. Jesus himself was a carpenter, and Krishna a flute player and constructor!

    You don't seem to understand theology properly. I suggest reading to avoid future misconceptions. :)

  • @dancingwithcalvin It seems to me like religion often tries to hold back evolution, which is progress.

  • @mattb9362

    Certain churches do, sure. But theologians often proposed the theory of evolution before Darwin. They were of course rougher versions, but there is no place in the bible that gives the earth an age.

  • @dancingwithcalvin You said no religion. Since 4/10 americans think the earth is less than 10,000 years old because of religious reasons, I have trouble believing what your claim. Statistics from 2010 gallup poll. Religion also holds back stem cell research, which has the potential to cure many injuries and degenerative diseases.

  • @mattb9362

    Yeah, but that is not the actual religions fault. Like I said, the bible makes no reference to the earth being a specific age. Just ONE Irish priest came up with that idea, just like ONE baptist minister came with the idea of the world ending today. It just became popular because common people hardly take the time to critical analyze things. So there. Stem cell research is being promoted by plenty of liberal religionists, including Obama himself.

  • @dancingwithcalvin So, it seems like you are saying that religion and these beliefs have no correlation. That is completely silly, since all the objections to evolution and stem cell research have been done off a religious platform.

  • @dancingwithcalvin

    If you have a scientific view on these subjects rather than a literal interpretation of the scriptures, you'd have to agree that Adam and Eve never actually existed. Which means the original sin was just an invented idea. Which implies Jesus' sacrifice was just an intentional show. Where's the error in this logic?

  • @GodTheHypothesis

    Those of us who take a "New age" spiritual approach believe that Adam of Eden story is symbolic, and that original sin represents the human ego, or the left over remnants of the primitive animal mind through evolution. Jesus came to help man turn away from sin, and choose love, which is what mans ideal divine nature is. This philosophy the core of Hinduism as well.

  • @dancingwithcalvin

    Ok well that seems a slightly more sophisticated view than most, if I may say. Although I still don't think you can escape the rather horrible fact that this supposed God had his son literally (if you believe that) sacrificed in answer to a kind of metaphorical sin. As dawkins himself has said, it seems rather ridiculous that the creator of the universe couldn't find a better way to forgive humanity...

  • @GodTheHypothesis Thank you. Yes well the traditional way that people view it is very silly and primitive,and causes allot of unnecessary guilt. I personally dont think that god is bound by time, so I don't understand how he can personally decide when he wants to send his son, at a certain time. So how Jesus fits into the big picture is very confusing to me. But it is archetypal to have a figure like him in religious writings; Buddha is also told to have walked on water, etc.

  • @dancingwithcalvin

    Well since I seem to agree with everything you say, I have to wonder why you're actually defending religions. It seems to me that once you accept that there's no literal truth to a religion, keeping it going (perhaps for sentimental reasons) stops 'spiritual' progress and also gives cover to millions of people who believe nonsense.

  • FSM FTW

  • @mdiem

    FSM FTW? WTF!? GTFO FSM!

    IPU BBHHH FTW!

  • WYSIWYG TANSTAAFL

  • @atheistfriends

    Is mud-wrestling involved?

  • Either morals are autonomous or they do not exist at all. If a person refrains from murdering his neighbor only out of fear of Divine Retribution his behavior is dictated not by moral values, but by caution, fear of the Holy Policemen, egoism. And if a person does good only with an eye to salvation, she is not doing good since her behavior is dictated by self-interest rather than by duty or by love and will thus not be saved.

  • tongue-in-cheek?

  • bad audio but great interview.

  • If there was a god his name would be Richard Dawkins.

  • If there was a statement that Dawkins would object against without question it's that.

    You obviously either know nothing about the man himself or anything he has written/said.

    I really hope yoou were being ironic.

  • I was just trying to be funny.

    I wrote that because I view him highly. I admire his intelligence and the fact that he listens what other people say without interruption, and his patience when other people interrupts him in debates.

    Have u ever herd someone who likes a group of musicians so much that they refer them as gods?

    Well that's what I was trying to say, since he dosn't believe in god I thought it would be funny to post it.

  • yes, that's (g)od - lower case.

    He is a great man, and not because he's that magnificent of a scientist, or for being so smart, or a great writer, but his position as an advocate of science he's served very well to just be vocal about how important it is to value truth over superstition.

  • Thanks Richard.Keep it coming,cant wait for "The Greatest Show"!

  • *poke*

    Eh-herm, excuse me...

    What's "The Greatest Show?"

  • His new book I think

  • That would be "life".

  • 28:20 "The Osama Bin Laden cartoons" xD

  • But if the scientific consensus is also a form of religion???

    Look at the damage neoliberalism and neoconservatism does to science... corporations pay to get the results they want to sell their products and maximize profit.

    I would really like Mr Dawkins himself to address this question...

    Religion can be evolutionarily positive when it promotes altruism.

    About the identical twins, unless separated at birth...environmental factors would be too significant to make such conclusions.

  • I once had a Jehova's Witness at my door trying to argue against the atheist standpoint point, look at his watch and " ..anyway, must get on, bye!" !!

  • A couple of Jehovah's Witnesses rang my doorbell while I was watching this. It may have affected how I responded.

  • Was that laughing in the background fake? It sounded recorded. haha, and they were laughing at the most random moments.

  • This reminds me of conan the barbarian were the daughter of a king seeks the truth of her existence but of course there is no truth to existence, seems cold and hard in a young persons mind until they grow up especially if they feel out of step with the rest of society, this happened to me and i gained nothing from it.

    child abuse that's right on wish someone like Obama held that view.

  • Viva la militant athiests!

  • ...Dawkins is quite possibly the politest and most milquetoast man I've ever seen.

    He's about as militant as a cheese danish.

  • He's militant in the sense that he's an active proponent of atheism, which is fine. Theists do it to a ridiculous degree.

  • ...That's not really what "Militant" means. "Militant" implies just that... military. As in, someone who's willing/able to use military force to back up their idealism.

    I'd be impressed if Dawkins could figure out which end of the gun made the loud noise. The guy is actually mild-mannered, something I used to think DC made up to describe Clark Kent.

  • you need to watch some more videos...he isnt afraid to put himself in the firing line.

  • Well no, but on the firing line, he'll weather the slings and arrows politely.

  • Cheese Danish killed my father!!

    j/k

  • @LordOmberus Milqetoast: weak, ineffectual or bland.

    I don't think I agree seeing as he has managed to light a fire under the western world. I'd go for meek, as in humble, and if the big JC is to be believed he may well inherit the earth.

  • @jacksawild

    I think if JC's to be believed, he'd decline the offer.

  • @jacksawild

    I completely agree with you.

  • @jacksawild Polite? Very. Milquetoast? Hardly. Richard Dawkins is one of the most moving and passionate speakers of science... His love for biology and the origin of life might seem tamed to most but you really do see a fire in his eyes and voice when he really gets talking.

  • @LordOmberus I like milk with my toast and cheese danish as well. Yes, Dawkins is a very polite man, too!

  • @FaganRoberts

    I prefer coffee. I guess that's why I like Christopher Hitchens so much.

  • @LordOmberus Then you clearly know nothing about him

    

  • @imaqt012792

    You will of course provide evidence in your statement's favor.

    My own: The fact that I would bet good money that he has never laid hands on a gun, or any weapon more deadly than a kitchen knife.

  • @LordOmberus Is this comment as irrelevant and pointless as it seems?

  • @LordOmberus he's as militant as an old lady.

  • BTW, the Royal Society of New Zealand is the main science organisation in NZ, in the same way that the Royal Society is in the UK. It is not the society for studying royalty ! NZ is part of the British Commonwealth so we have lots of "Royal" organisations.

  • Slay all gum chewers!

  • Read David Eller's book, Natural Atheism, and specifically his chapter on Knowledge and Belief: many of you will benefit from reading his analysis of the two terms and concepts, and the material does much to clear up these issues.

    PS, the book is available on American Atheists Press. You can find it on their website, or on Amazon (etc.).

  • Help fellow friends! Oklahoma is under major attack by the fundi's and we are out numbered. Rep. Sally Kern has started a petition (today) to move our laws back to its Christian roots. They won the battle to have a ten commandments monument displayed on State Capitol grounds. Rep. Sally Kern is the one that pubically said homosexuals are the cause of our US economic crisis! She is a nut and her movement is strong in this state. I don't know how to counter this, any political gurus out there?

  • Basically, you have to make a deal out of yourself, counter petitions with petitions, counter preaching rallies with lectures from university professors and so on, you get the idea. But you have to be heard, you have to create forums where people who agree with you feel safe, so to speak, to come out with their own oppinions. A fucking lot of hard work it is.

    Anyway, I saw that you recieved a message from the Flying Spaghetti monster - heed you well His words and cup of tea!

  • I s it me blinded by his genius or is Richard Dawkins really sexy?

  • there isent without reason both science and sexy is spelled with a S ;)

  • Richard Dawkins is brilliant

  • Am I the only one who gets more hope and happiness from hearing people like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris speak than from the bible when I used to be religious?

  • I dont think the scientists have all the answers, but i know that religion and the hundreds of religions are bullshit.

  • But science is still actively looking for the answers, whereas religion looks backwards to it's ancient writings for guidance.

  • This video is absolutely brilliant. Its on par with Carl Sagans "Pale Blue Dot"

  • Great video.

    But what's so wrong with chewing gum, Richard? Lol...

  • i know. the gum chewing lobby is going to be all over this one.

  • Richard is my god! :D

  • Richard Akbar!

    lol its such a ridiculous thing to say, even when the being actual exists!

  • Makes alot more sense though!

  • Go Richard! His book opened the door to a subject rarely talked about in the US, and never talked about where I live in the Bible Belt. You just don't debunk the Bible here. I have yet to meet someone here that has even heard of The God Delusion. It's so sad as the people strive for something that does not exsist.

  • I always find Richard's thoughts to be inspiring, plus he's a great articulate communicator.

  • I LOVE THIS GUY

    and EVERY time I watch one of his videos I just want to go off and have religious debates ......

    love him. legend.

  • haha yea i know what you mean!

  • Yay! I love Richard. He's such a gent.

  • I can't believe Richard writes back to the morons who write stupid letters to him. What a Gentleman, they don't deserve his attention.

  • I love it when I am surrounded by people that love and respect Richard as much as I do!! It doesnt happen in real life too often. Cheers to all my fellow Richard Dawkins Fans.

  • Cheers back :)

  • I agree. I live in the Bible Belt, 80% uneducated Christians. It is hell on earth! What makes matters worse is I use to be one and when they find out I researched my way out of the cult, they feel the need to bring me back to the light. It can be very irritating.

  • hang in there man

  • Simple solution...move! lol

  • If it were that smiple I would have left a long time ago. Lets just hope this book I am writing about a fundi finding out her religion is a hoax sales, then I can move!

  • USAwriter

    He will forgive you and your stray ways. The man with the silly tie will soon be sent to the doldrums of a fiery hell. You can save yourself only if you answer his call.

    Then we can all together, sip the delightful brew of the flying tea pot in space.

    Yours truly the

    Spaghetti monster. ;)

  • By any chance would that tea pot be brewing Zen tea?

  • Darjeeling with a drop of milk

  • Oh now that is tempting! Where do I sign?

  • Of course he is a highly respected spokesman being so naturally intelligent and articulate. He is perfect for representing rational atheists and even more so today with creationists trying to highjack science for their own deluded purposes. I am in awe of his intelligence and his teachings.

  • I think the best way to explain the "absence of conflict" between theism and accepting evolution is that evolution is no more contradictory than heliocentric theory, the spherical earth model, the germ theory of disease, or basically the rest of scientific knowledge which happens to contradict most ancient dogmas. If arguing against Biblical accuracy, then the fact that it god human origins wrong is just one of many examples of things it got wrong. It's just more important than the OTHER things.

  • ..and the other things are easier to ignore. You can say that tbe Bible simly failed to mention that the Earth is spherical, or what causes disease, or that the part about witches and curses was some kind of crazy metaphor. But without 2 people being tricked by a talking snake into eating a magic fruit, the rest of the stories no longer make sense. So our knowledge of evolution is a more important contradiction than germ theory or heliocentric theory etc, but it doesn't contradict any less.

  • Or you could mention Lucifer is called Morning Star in Isaiah and Jesus calls himself Morning Star in the end of Revelations, pretty big mistake. Or the fact that the Gospels lineage of Christ does not match or the fact that Jesus was not a bloodline of David bc he was not the biological child of Joseph.

  • Comment removed

  • science cares about the beginning of the universe, the origins of morality, our ability (or lack thereof) to communicate telepathically with the "creator of the universe" or to change water into wine etc... so i'd have to disagree and say science is very much opposed to religious faith!

  • Comment removed

  • Science finds facts, presumably to be utilized to our advantage. When facts are ignored and progress stifled, i can understand then why Science is allowed an opinion on the matters your talking about.

  • lets just make those earlier ideas of mine disappear and i'll get back with this later, i managed to confuse myself with myself. that wasnt really what i ment :D

  • No mate. You're problem is you think to little. Philosophy is directly linked to rational thought and looking at facts and of course science "cares" about god if it is part of what can be used against the superstition that created him.

  • hmmh. true. now that i slept over it, i hear ya, sadly my vocabulary fails me and my mouth rather severely to convey my thoughts right. heh. lemme try again. outside the thinking out of the box-scenario, isnt it in our best interest to have our scientists prioritize their work on actual science? with greatest of effort, they spend their time pushing off these freeloading pigs (creationists), the actual progress slows down. that worries me.

  • Actually, there r very few popularizers of science and I think thats a problem. With people like Dawkins doing science for a career and attending speeches, talks etc. at the same I think normal people get a better undestanding of science and are more enthused by it. Unfortunately creationists are more vocal than scientists and thats the problem.

    I wouldn't know whether progress has slowed down or not. But it seems to be at a realitvely normal accelerration. I mean look games consoles + phones

  • fair point. public pressure affects lawmaking, if theres only people with their cranium stuck in their rectums describing science to common people like me, the playing field soon morphs into something completely impossible. sounds rather bleak, doesnt it? i mean, there always seems to be a primus motor for the good guys (dawkins comes to mind) and then plethora of freeloading pigs who dont understand any of this, but demand to have it their way anyway. when will we learn...

  • absolutely

  • If scientist didn't spend the time to prove religion a fraud, in particular the three main religion will end up with a holy war that kills us all. Why do you think the US (A Christian nation) is sending almost 3 Billion a year to fund the Israeli war when our country is in an econo crisis? There is an agenda to get the Temple Mount (Gaza) to start the daily sacrifices, so that the Anti-Christ will stop it, then 3 1/2 years Jesus returns, it is biblical prophecy. Then you factor in Islams agendas

  • only true messiah can deny his divinity xD

    it's a nice talk, but the interviewer could be less polite and be more conversation partner than Dawkins fan. nice to hear Dawkins but the interviewer is omitable.

    I like monty python too ;D

  • Carl Sagan's book, Contact, I bought when it was first published. His observance of American society, religion, and science was the same then as Dawkin's point of view, now.

  • Good interview. Dawkins is one of my heroes.

    And yes, I agree with a comment below me, you're totally right; Atheism is not a belief.

    It's the exact opposite, it's the lack of belief but there's no set system you can put to atheism as it's simply independence.

  • I wonder what Bishop Tamaki and the dickheads at Destiny Church think of interviews like this one. New Zealanders should be concerned at the steadily growing numbers of followers across the country attending chapters of Tamaki's maniacal organisation.

  • This was a very good interview, it covered so much.

  • 31:10, pig squeal?

  • lol wtf

  • A wheezing cough, methinks. :)

  • Dear Mr. Dawkins, thanks so much for what you do. I and thousands of true fans like myself wish you well. You have given a new meaning to the lives of those who have understood just a fragment of what you say in your books and interviews. It is unfortunate that it will take several centuries before the majority of mankind will truly understand you and your unprecendented work in The Selfish Gene.

  • could it be that the nature of some energies are illusionary and when combined become into reality, or are begotten in some way

  • Great

  • poor video quality, how come ?

  • ideal candidate for cloning

  • Richard Dawkins should recieve a nobel prize or his contribution in the spreading of scientific thought and knowledge.

  • absolutely, its only a matter of time.

  • Richard, please please don't die :(

  • What makes you think he's gonna die? His father is actually still alive, so he probably got a long time before he dies :)

  • thats always reassuring, know how old his dad is?

    its just that the people you take for granted are dropping like flies nowadays - michael jackson, farrah fawcett, bernie mac.... makes you wonder whos next :(

  • mike117..., I don't want to question your assessment of your own knowledge level. I just hope you're not an example of Dunning-Kruger. ;)

    no offense. it just reads that way.

  • does anybody else feel terribly sad knowing this luminous individual will be dead in the next few decades?

  • Well he's 68. Life expectancies being on the rise and all he may yet live to see 108. Hell, I'll be 61 by then :P (Ok that kind of optimism didn't work well for Jacko)

    That is just how these things go. Someone else will step up to the plate I'm sure.

  • in all i'm glad i've had the chance to see so much of him in my lifetime, carl sagan was dead before i had ever heard of him and so many of my intellectual heroes are either fossils (Dennet, Randi, etc) or living frighteningly unhealthy lifestyles (hitchens hitchens, hitchens...) it's a little unnerving. do devastatingly interesting people come along very often? i think not.

  • Calling Dennet a fossil is kinda harsh. Also, I think Hitchens said he quit smoking? ;)

  • On the sad day that this man passes from our world, there will be a mass awakening and global propagation of rational thinking. We owe him that much, and I suspect that is what will happen. In fact, I hereby prophesize it. He's carved his name into the very fabric of history. History will not forget Richard Dawkins.

  • 3RMITE: Much to my dismay:

    To the victors go the spoils, including writing history.

    For the vast majority of people on this planet who believe in some sort of religion, and who have never heard of him, his passing will go un-noticed. Those believers who are awareof him will be happy to see him pass.

    Even Darwin gets short shrift in science books.

  • 3RMITE: I hope the rational thinking / prophesing thing is meant with some irony.

  • Richard Dawkins is brilliant. I am thankful his voice is loud enough for such a large number of us to hear.

    Embrace the accessibility of information so easily taken for granted. Learn and provoke thought in others. Knowledge is essential in overcoming the adversity brought upon our civilization by primitive ways of thinking. The hindrances of intellectual progress must be overcome. Evolution will prevail.

  • It's the same as when we laugh at a child for being scared of the poopy monster in the toilet. ROFL. I'm sorry creationist. I know some of you mean well.

  • You cant indoctrinate people to atheism because its not a doctrine. All people are born atheist. They are born a(any)ism.

  • possibly the best comment ive ever seen.

  • all people are born helpless but we dont call it a virtue

  • hey slow down, lets not start a cult here, hat would be horrible!