Richard Dawkins CBC Interview (Dec. 16, 2007) (1/2)

[effyleven]

CBC got some facts wrong.

"The God Delusion" was published in September 2006, when the TV program on which it was based aired in the January before. Therefore, the documentary was made into a book, and not the other way around.

What's more, the program was called "The Root of All Evil?" NOT "The God Delusion"..... and the BBC didn't broadcast it, either, Channel 4 did.... (Ch 4 is the UK's "other" Public Service broadcaster.)

[effyleven]

These slip-ups would have annoyed Dawkins, who is a stickler for accuracy. This probably accounts for the sour expression on his face as the interview opens.

[joescmu]

A person would have to all knowing to say that there is no God, because there is always the possibility of something existing outside of ones knowledge.

EVIDENCE THAT DEMANDS A VERDICT BY JOSH MCDOWEL

[jinxxedlikeshit]

Which god? There are trillions of possible gods and no one can neither prove nor disprove any of them.

To believe without evidence is not an intelligent thing to do since it closes your mind to all other possible explanations.

Ask Galileo about it. He was killed because the church called his argument about a non earth centric universe was blasphemous.

[paulicrack]

Dawkins is always careful with what he says. He would believe in God if there was evidence and he is the first to say that he doesnt know everything.

It's the religious people who say that they have the ultimate truth and close their minds to things outside their own so called 'knowledge'.

[Saboriit]

pussy

[mrattu]

ur comment was gay

[brendant19]

I am not sure where your from but I watch a fair number of Canadian interview shows and they always ask questions as if they're representing the opposition, so I would doubt the interviewer is nervous or feeling overwhelmed by Dawkins. Asking those sorts of questions and representing the opposition to some degree is just being a good interviewer.

[brendant19]

Aside from the fact that your statement provides no evidence that all atheists are gay, I would be more than happy if Dawkins actually were gay, and just as happy if he weren't. His desires in the bedroom are immaterial to my feelings about what he says.

[loserella55]

Globetrekker2, you need some help. What does sexual preference have to do with athetism? You can throw the word "fag" around all you want but all it does is make you look like an unintelligent coward.

[glazinq]

I imagine Dawkins must have come up against quite a lot of the beligerant stupidity displayed by this interviewer in America.

[EdmOil83]

The guy interviewing Dawkins is just a condosending douche bag

[Efferts]

Living without religion is existing with one less argument.

[uvgarden]

China is not vilifying Dalai. China is merely speaking her perception. It is the West who must drop his radical anti-China stands. Chinese embassy should sermon the biased Canadian CBC for its persistent anti-China bias. It seems these hateful Christian White Canadians have neither respect nor interest in facts. They just hate China period.

[jcadwell1172]

6:02, checkmate

[jcadwell1172]

It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.

-Carl Sagan

[peteq1972]

A world without religion, Great.

A world where religion wasn`t even thought of, we never dreamt it up, we don`t have any concept of it,

Even better.

[morgandrim]

It seems to me, peteq1972, that if there is no God, then we are - all of us - our own God. Problems exist either way ! To rid the world of belief in God solves nothing.

[Chapps88]

Listen to this reporter. Way out of his intellectual league.

[neftalireyes8]

Plus, he's trying to undermine Dawkins and only being humiliated by him.

[Craighill9]

Dawkins leaches the benifits of having grown up under Christian morality yet he fails to recognize that Christianity is where western civilization derives its moral mindset. He is intellectually dishonest.

[earthling770707]

I would say that our morality goes back way longer than Christianity - the sense of morality is universal, common to all people! And our juridical and democratic systems are based on principles from Rome and Ancient Greece.

[Craighill9]

that is an ignorant view of the facts

[earthling770707]

No, it's an educated and accurate view. Or can you give a specific example of a factual error in what I said? And please try to answer properly, i.e. not with the usual religious ramblings that we see so often in these comments.

[earthling770707]

I don't think Dawkins is bitter but he is frustrated that religious people have begun to try to push their religious beliefs into realms where they do not belong, like education or medicine.

[MatthewHudghton]

erm, why must the atheist world view be the only one presented in education?

[earthling770707]

In science classes, only scientific views should be taught, i.e. views based on scientific evidence. If creationism be taught, I demand that astrology and alchemy are also taught! But lessons in philosophy or religion can deal with views that go beyond scientific evidence.

[cjthibs]

...because there is no 'atheist world view' as you put it. The 'atheist world view' is the world view which has not been taught to disregard evidence, but one that is rooted in evidence.

If we ever discover proof that the Earth is less than 10,000 years old then I will gladly agree to have my kids taught that in science class.

[Jeremyguru]

Well said.

[feshberd]

not atheist, but secularist, and you can be a secularist without being an atheist...

and you can be atheist and part of a religion (Buddhism for example)

I think that a skeptical view should be thought as basics, we should ask questions.

a religious view should only be taught in an organized way in churches

[Jeremyguru]

Please tell me what an "atheist world view" is.

I thought atheism only means "having no belief in a god(s)."

[Craighill9]

Modern medicine is a product of the Christian world view. Many contributions to modern medicine were provided by devout Christian, and the hypocratic oath is based on Christian thinking. Dawkins is a violent little man that has a vicious hate for Christians its like racism.

[earthling770707]

No, modern medicine is a product of the scientific method. I praise Dawkins for standing up against those who try to push superstitious beliefs like creationism into the science classes.

[Craighill9]

nonsense you need an education

[feshberd]

you need an education, in your own religion even,you're ignorant on a whole new level, to the truth and the bible , The bible is full of bullshit, contradictions, completely Immoral beliefs, we are moral because if we are nice to others our dispositions with them favor our survival. and Christianity took that from primal survival instinct long before they even thought up the bible

[earthling770707]

Well said, feshberd! "Modern medicine is a product of religion", how can someone even make up that kind of statement?

[thijs12345]

what education would you suggest? I doubt that you can name one academic course that would convince me you're right...

[Jeremyguru]

You may be right, because you're brainwashed and your mind is closed to reason.

[hegelsvacation]

Good question! Moreover, if the gospels cannot be trusted, as he claims, then on historical what basis does he conclude that Jesus was in fact a "good teacher" and a moral visionary?

[hegelsvacation]

How can Dawkins, a thoroughgoing atheist, talk about "deep evil" with any substantial meaning? Isn't that phrase as equally 'empty' as the ineffability of love?

And are we to believe that the 'good Samaritan' is the product of a biologic misfiring? Would that make our ignoring the destitute and needy stranger an instance of a properly functioning biology (the selfish gene getting its way...)? And this doesn't demean human dignity?

Surely, this is a moral genius!

[tubalooney]

Lucid, articulate, learned and modest.

Hurragh for Dawkins...someone who can see through all the BS...

[Kujien]

very bias interviewer it seems

[irishmauddib]

Can you give an example of what you mean by real things you cant bang on with a hammer?

[irishmauddib]

What religious order is that.... oh no wait you cant tell us because you are making it all up.

[evoneal]

LOL i disagree but good insult

[imjoerock69]

DAWKINS IS THE MAN!!!!

[mjr256]

Dawkins--as eloquent as always.

[sadetec]

The documentary was a Channel 4 production -- the BBC had nothing to do with it. The book came from the series, not the other way around.