Q and A - Adventures in Democracy (Panel Includes Richard Dawkins) (Part 1/6)

[jacobcake]

I don't believe in evolution.

*Silence*

*Squirm, squirm, squirm*

[andyrosebrook]

Of course religion isn't compatible with science forever. As science advances, god gets smaller. The more answers we discover for ourselves, the less we need god to answer our gaps in knowledge. Right now it co-exists uncomfortably, it's hard to see how that could continue after we unravel the mysteries of the universe(if we ever do).

[dawkins75]

I don't know the answer so it must be God...right?

[dirtyfishydishcloth]

aw...i know Steve Fielding is dumb, but he's so hot, i wanna bring him to my dark side :)

[Danvislav]

Wow. No wonder why australia is a third rate civilization. So sad.

[dilwich123]

There is NO GOD and Australians are idiots.....sweeping statement maybe but truthful.

[AlexanderMccarthey87]

Richard Dawkins will be incontrovertibly known as one of the few logical voices of our era.

[alaari1]

LOOL Steve Fielding should become a comedian that guy is seriously funny

[lewars1912]

Fielding, lol. (:o)

[Mxlsptlk]

Creationism is absolute nonsense. Most people get a flu shot every year despite the fact that creationism states that there can be only one, non-changing flu virus.If I could travel back in time and videotape the evolution of any number of species, Creationists would still cover their eyes and say, "God did it."

[OdinLowe]

I have a crush on the rabbi... I wouldn't feel bad about feeding her my pork sausage;)

Seriously though, thank christ (Or Thor, w.e) that Dawkins was here... Otherwise it would have been the dullest debate program EVER.

[GyakhabRangzen]

how can creation and evolution go together? this is intellectually insane! thats like saying you r created by god and parents at the same time. pope can believe in evolution but thats his individual choice. doesnt prove anything. yes evolution n many moral teachings can go together. but moral teachinngs are not creater.

[nutrino99]

Richard came to his conclusion after studying it for 40 years. The muppet politician arrived at his conclusion based on absolutely nothing.....

[JoshLulz]

wow.... he cant even answer a yes or no question, fck wit! he makes me ashamed to be an aussie

[yatter1]

@JoshLulz Don´t be ashamed mate, he´s first and foremost a politician and they´re all lying scum whichever country they happen to infest.

[grootzoogdier]

What a difference with the atmosphere in most U.S. debates and television programmes. I applaud the Australians for their nuance and civility.

[bayman90]

I love being australian. Was totally laughing my ass off along with the crowd.

[typhoidX]

Wow, as an American, I'm quite envious of Australians after watching this segment. There are many American public servants who wouldn't be the least bit ashamed to proclaim their faith in young-earth creationism, & unfortunately, they probably wouldn't be laughed at by the audience. The fact that this parliamentarian has to bite his tongue shows that Aussies have at least something resembling a solid grasp of reality.

[judoisoww]

@typhoidX we barely cling to it luckily the fuckwit ultra conservatives are kept in line by more intelligent moderate conservatives some of them atheists even.

[bigpappasmurff]

so gross this is absurd kill that guy

[breaneainn]

Ozzie rednecks in parliament. sucks.

[BoxRoomStudio]

Amino acids, to proteins, to molecules... Every geek just writhed in disgust there. lol

[benwebb93]

@BoxRoomStudio Yeah... she certainly isn't describing the course of evolution!

[colliric]

I'm gonna spoil it for all of you....

Dawkins expects a challenge from fielding, but instead Bishop wipes the floor with him in the end. She really embarrassed him here.

Dawkins starts the night well, but then Bishop shifted the pressure onto him, he obviously didn't enjoy this appearance...

[colliric]

I'm gonna spoil it for all of you....

Dawkins expects a challenge from fielding, but instead Bishop wipes the floor with him in the end. She really embarrassed him here.

[colliric]

I'm gonna spoil it for all of you....

Dawkins expects a challenge from fielding, but instead Bishop wipes the floor with him in the end.

[annata12]

It's nice that he is ashamed of his stupid faith

[2CSST2]

lol the HYPOCRISY of Fielding is at such heights. Damn politician, trying to phrase his opinion so that everybody aknowledges it. Well it's a total fail, everybody has seen through his babyish game.

[adventurem1]

"Go See the World for FREE?

View My Video Channel"

[Newenlightenmentnow]

The rabbi should: renounce judahism, join a freemason lodge, and finally become a deist.

[Freethinker12341]

@Newenlightenmentnow why not an atheist? there's no evidence for the deist god either...

[Newenlightenmentnow]

@Freethinker12341 Oh you're right, but I was just commenting on how weak sauce his arguments are. I mean his arguments don't get you any further than deism.

[Newenlightenmentnow]

This is the kind of ridicule we need in the US. That parlimentarian will probably lose his seat after this.

[Fromanttodugong]

@Newenlightenmentnow Sadly he has a fair bit of support in his electorate - they are either as dumb as him or hump the same bible.

[colliric]

@Fromanttodugong

No, he's a very nice guy and very very personally likable. Personality is pretty important in Australian politics.

[mandolinroad]

Damn... this dude won't get re-elected, I think.

[longulbogdan]

They should have invited Sam Harris.

[chype]

He believes in Crayshism? lol

[anzwertree]

I swear, I keep expecting the guy with glasses to bust out saying "It's Saturday Night Live!"

[hurbyfatboy666]

This is very interesting to watch however...THAT GUY IS A SENATOR?!?! "God" help Australia! It's like GWB sent his cousin over there to help. Scary!!

[MRaverz]

Amino acids to proteins to molecules?

Anyone else spot what's wrong there?

[flumberg]

The panel was off ... Dawkins should be more aggressive.. The Hitch needed to be unleashed there...

[ShaolinViolin]

the guy at 5:00 is a classic politician. completely spineless

[fr0ber]

So glad they got laughed at... repeatedly.

[F1NGER]

Dawking is seated next to a Creationist from Family First!

Oh shi--

[llHyRaXll]

WOW i guess australia is a stupid country!!!!!!!

[chessfan6]

why... WHY do I ever think politicians will change?

[magnusjsolberg]

The redhead PERFECTLY described the Argument from Ignorance and God of the Gaps when she talked about how she views the world. I'm sorry, but she really should be ashamed.

[parlezuml]

Interesting how some poltician's seem almost too embarrassed to state their beliefs openly about creationism. Like they know how ridiculous it sounds. And yet they still cling on to it.

[oliversenord]

Its hard to tell, but is the hysterical laughter at 5:32 because of Dawkins expression or are they just laughing at the creationist ?

[fruitikay]

I hate that Dawkins assumes that all Christians are Catholic. -_-' I do not worship Saints, the Pope, Mary, or anything like that. I'm a Protestant! Research it, Dawkins.

[MojoLikesPie]

I am appalled that such prominent people can say that the scientific theory of evolution by natural selection is compatible with the Biblical creation myth found in Genesis (at least the part about animals). They are, on the whole, incompatible.

Speciation is happening as we speak. The process of speciation begets new species, descending from common ancestors.

However, one can believe in two conflicting ideas if they so choose. Personally, I wouldn't bother with the one without evidence.

[fredrikhcs]

You'd have thought they would get on to the next question after Dawkins's answer.

[XJaggedgeX]

We need programs like this in the US.

[zivanlee]

Tony Burke makes an arse of himself later on in the program

[ClintSevilla]

When did people start respecting what the pope says? Remember he told africans to not use condoms even though there is an aids epidemic going on. If you say that it is hard to take you seriously.

[RichardForkins]

I love hearing the many different ways in which Richard Dawkins gets introduced...

[Evorus]

Steve Fielding is a retard. "I believe that people started from being created".

[wilsopup]

@Evorus He is such an embarrassment not just to Australians but the whole human race!

[Encryptsan]

I'm ashamed that I missed this on TV. Thanks for posting it!

[bpbusstop]

Steve Fielding :(

[damaniseman]

Can you imagine the responce this would have gotten 100 years ago with religous scholars.

[slickwick45]

wow that guy sidestepped the question of is he a young earth creationist by a mile

[gbortuhno]

religious people=people with imaginary friends!

[niinja2]

i dont agree with what dawkins is saying but now i can understand him much more lol

[TrulyEvilBob]

Why is Steve Feilding embarrassed about his creationist beliefs? Because he knows he can't defend the view. The more he speaks the more the crowd laughs at his statements.

[Strike2k2]

The look on dawnkin's face at 5:39 is priceless.

[gothstar14]

Richard Dawkins FTW

[allthatisrealislove]

I kept yawning when someone other then Dawkins spoke!

[Splooshiba]

ANSWER THE QUESTION YOU IDIOT

[philthy122]

Just because we don't have all the answersdoesn't mean that "God did it". When one understands the implications of evolution with regard to the Abrahamic god, then it is clear that the two ideas (creation/evolution) are incompatable. Religion has retarded humanity for far too long, its time ti consign it to the history books.

[thisisalsomypassword]

i love that the audiences laughs at fielding. 100% win.

[TheNicomacheanEthics]

Oh my God... what the hell has happened to Australia?!?!

[Tenebrous76]

@TheNicomacheanEthics

Religion.

[bayesianconspiracy]

Bravo to the audience for laughing at Fielding's weaselly "each person... own conclusion... many faiths..." nonsense.

[Eikus89]

I don't want to answer the question, so I'll say the same sentence over and over again, rather than admit that I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Is it a surprise he is a polititian?

[aziansn4k3]

why is every other country's tv so much better than our american tv :[ all we get are shitty sitcoms and reality shows while they get like top gear, this, japanese game shows, etc.

[TheFashionophile]

I hope its not trivialising of the issues and of Dawkins brilliant mind and arguments to say i find him super cute. That voice, the floppy hair, the way he takes his glasses off b4 he starts speaking....he can teach me biology any day.

[UbiquitousChe]

Glad they mentioned a book other than the God Delusion for a change.

[Azurite22]

"We don't know how X happened! Thus, God did it!"

[uhila24]

lol @ the dying clap at 7:16

[elvebrothergenju]

Instead of claiming that Religion was false in this area, they flexed it to say that God caused the Big Bang and thus Evolution and Religion are now compatible. As you can see Religion is easily able to match any arguement since it has no rational basis and is taken solely off of Faith. This is the real reason that Science hasn't already shut Religion down.

[elvebrothergenju]

The issue I see with the arguement is that Religion and Evolution are not compatible in my eyes. Religion has this power that it can bend and flex in any which way it wants to meet any standards demanded of it by Science. At first Religion just had Creationism, Science nearly proved it wrong with the theory of Evolution and had undeniable evidence.

[Yukonpiggy]

The Australian senator sounds like Nonstampcollector.

[hf2kr]

Dawkins for world president? Hellz Yeah.

[niginit]

Ignorance and intelligence are always present. Unfortunately, ignorance has a great head start on intelligence. That's why we still have religion. However, intelligence is slowly gathering speed, thanks to people like Dawkins.

Hopefully in the next 20 years, we will become much more intelligent and thus much less religious. I could see religion being a very small fringe in the next 30 years and probably almost completely depleted shortly thereafter.

It will take a lot of education.

[ExtremeBogom]

Although Australia is a majority Religious nation, I would say they are a lot more secular minded than America.

[ExtremeBogom]

Cheers dude.

[paintitblack01]

Poor Family First bloke gets Steam Rolled....can't answer the question because he knows he's next to a bloke who is sooooo sooo intellectually superior to him...

[9revolta]

I respect Dawkins, and other atheist as a whole. But the problem arises when you ask them why wouldnt they believe in God? If you live your life of decent moral standards, and respect and love one another, why not believe in God? THATS the main question now, its not the infamous debates that has been the norm...

[baronsengir187]

@9revolta I do not believe because i dont believe in things that are just beeing told to me. Why should i believe in a version just because i dont know the answer to something? And by the way. We know why we have moral standards.

So there is no reason to believe in god just because we have "morals".

 I grew up without even hearing this strange story. And when someone told me that later on i thought "are you totaly out of your mind?".

[mecdawg]

@9revolta Because a belief in a deity is irrational

[devo85x]

The younger guy sitting next to Mr. Dawkins is a moron. If he doesn't have an opinion he needs to keep quiet and let the big boys (and girls) talk.

[DerLamer]

That australian minister is a joke. Seriously, this is not an issue of "coming to your own conclusions" - it's a question of being able to deduce facts from evidence or not. It's a question of being capable of intelligent, scientific inquiry, of being capable of rational thought even. Even worse, he didn't even try to give reasons, but refused to answer the question and admit his ignorance. He is content with being blind and his own uncertainty doesn't bother him at all.

That's scary.

[NeroJoe83]

Wow did that guy squirm!

[CartervonRiedel]

I'm an Auzzie and the politicians in my country are fuckin embarrassing - not one of the panel members could carry Professor Dawkins luggage

The professor comes all this way and has to deal with imbeciles

I saw him in Brisbane at Qpac days before this interview - Dawkins for prime minister

[PluripotentBrain]

The best part for me is how the Creationist doofus sounds like NonStampCollector.

[JohnWoo]

Oh dear. A Young Earth Creationist law maker in Australia....

[gskowal]

lol.. funny how he wouldn't admit that he believes in a 10,000 year old earth, he knows he would be laughed out... what a fool

[dickyguapo]

Shit. Steve Fielding is a total dickhead. Who voted for that tit ?

[mirandansa]

3:48

Senator: I actually believe in Creationism.

Dawkins: (What the fuck...)

[Tazer05]

I love the look on Richard Dawkins' face when the guy next to him says he believes in Creationism! Priceless!

[gavbag1234]

He's being ridiculed for being an idiot. That's the beginning.

[ZOMIBErevolution]

it's better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a cow.

[Resenbrink]

Fielding you fuckwit, if you believe in something at least have the fucking guts to admit and defend your view point...what a complete twit.

[Alistarb25]

Brushles83= so true! the fact that fielding is too ashamed to say the world is 10.000yrs old, speaks for itself!

[nausinora]

Fielding got owned not just by Dawkins but by the sounds of the laughter during his first response - the audience as well.

[qqs764]

And himself.

[bigswano]

dawkins owns fielding as soon as it starts haha

[purbrookian]

That Fielding cretin ought not to have been allowed on that panel.

[L1ttl3J1m]

True. I have, IIDSSMS, a very highly developed sense of the ridiculous, and I didn't find anything Richard said in the time just before Tony felt that Richard had ridiculed the Christian faith funny.

Some of his earlier remarks were, but what else can you do when faced with someone who bases their worldview and their moral code on a demonstratably absurd belief?

What if they engage in sort of heavy-lifting denial the maintenance of their belief requires while controlling my future? Yeesh!

[hedleypanama]

The most ancient evolution proponents who live is a Spanian Christian called Francisco Ayala.

He debated LW Craig.

He thinks that God just "set the machine" and the evolution diversified the life species afterwards without its intervention.

[Brushles83]

The fact that this guy is too ashamed to say he believes the world is 10,000 years old should speak for itself.

[mysocraticmethod]

you all think you are so rational - but have u even studied rationality? do you know what it means to be rational? at the highest levels of logic, logic contradicts itself. rationality is overrated when it is overstated, because when pursued to its logical conclusion, every thought action and belief including dawkins is irrational. its amazing how many people believe him. look at the romantics from 1820-1900, they were onto something.

[exxcalibur1973]

@mysocraticmethod

I was on the verge off procliaming that Shelley, Byron, were so smashed that they weren't onto shit, but I pause. Capser David Friedrich, Schiller and the rest of them, in their admiration of the sublimity of nature, may well have brought us closer to a real sense of the divine than anyone else.

[GeminiPrimeX]

The australian PM may be a creationist? The australian PM? He is joking right? Australians cant be that backwards, it would mean that every joke the brits said about them could be true.

[anwyll]

Something to keep in mind is that 64% of Australians said they are Christian of some sort (according to the government census) however the National Church Life Survey found only 8.8% of the country attend church.

The majority of Australians are "cultural" Christians, at best.

Meanwhile the census says almost 20% of the country is not religious (broad category) and is the fastest growing religious demographic across the last three censuses.

[Norlick]

I can vouch for this; I live in the Australian Bible Belt(Adelaide) and most people I know are very light believers indeed.

[Anonyzilla]

Do you found this on anything other than 'most people I know' ? Adelaide has one of thehighest incidences of non belief in any Australian capitol (short of Darwin). 1 in 4 Adelaidians is not associated with a church. Where in most other capitols it is around to 1 in 5. Maybe you should look up the Census results.

[Norlick]

So your point is what exactly?

I was stating that what he said fit with what I see, relax motherfucker.

[Anonyzilla]

That you use the term 'Bible Belt' when referring to one point and that you call Adelaide the 'Bible Belt' even though the evidence is to the contrary. If you want to live in the 'Bible Belt' go live in Sydney.

[Norlick]

@Anonyzilla The term is common here, and if you lived down here, you'd see all the churches and realize why.

[Anonyzilla]

Lots of churches means nothing. It points more to our origins than anything else. As I already pointed out, less people are affiliated with any religion in SA than any of the other state capitol. Bible belt? - I haven't heard it and I live in Adelaide. Maybe if you are referring to cherry picked suburbs of Adelaide, but that can be the same with any city...

[Norlick]

@Anonyzilla So they nicknamed Adelaide 'The City of Churches' because of how meaningless the churches are?

What, you think the things are still around because nobody goes to em?

Actually fuck all that, this is a very arbitrary and pointless argument.

[GodTheHypothesis]

@anwyll

That's exactly the same as the UK. I saw a recent study that said 70% of Britons are christian. I'm like "hold on, I don't know a single person who actually believes in God". It sounds like they ask these surveys in a cultural context and don't have the 'non-religious' option. Only about 7% go to church so it's a silly statement.

[PR0GRAMMING]

Dawkins annihilated them with his reasoned arguments. The only rebuke they had was to irrationally giggle or play the 'offense' card. It's embarrassing to know that my country has so many idiotic people in charge with make believe friends. That's a worry. Come on guys, it's time to let go of superstition. Please.

[deconverts]

@PR0GRAMMING,

I presume that your country folk aren't all like this. They kept playing the 'offense' card as if that's a rational response to a difficult and yet simple question that they cannot wriggle out of.

You need a decent moderator for debates like this to at least push the point and get people to answer questions clearly.

[DistantJ]

@PR0GRAMMING At the same time though imagine how much less dignified this Q and A would have gone if it had been in America.

[mrhnm]

@PR0GRAMMING This is Britian no? The US is just as bad man.

[swisscheesepotatochi]

@PR0GRAMMING You used a zero in your name didn't you?

[PR0GRAMMING]

@swisscheesepotatochi

yeah.

[jazzx251]

Nice to see the Aussie version of "Question Time" - this is the closest to the UK format I've seen (right down to the set design), which is probably why Dawkins agreed to go on it.

[Katalyzt]

Interesting... How does Eve coming from Adams rib reconcile with the fact of Evolution?

Katalyzt

[ClumsyRoot]

Jesus Hussein Christ, are all Aussies this dense???

[Nahasapasa]

It's mostly just the politicians.

[laminator100]

Richard is really the only rationally minded one on the panel. A belief in god can and does exist along with a belief in evolution . . . but that's really a s-t-r-e-t-c-h!!!!!!!!! Complete understanding in evolution obviously leads to the truth, and the wonderful truth that their are no evil invisible dictators like god and jesus, thus no HELL, and that's a good thing!

[mrbluesky323]

YES!

This clip is absolutely amazing.