The Comfort Of Religion And The Purpose Of Life

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The Comfort Of Religion And The Purpose Of Life - Richard Dawkins @ UC Berkeley.

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Richard Dawkins is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and popular science author. He was formerly Professor for Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. He was voted Britain's leading public intellectual by readers of Prospect magazine and was named one of Time Magazine's "100 Most Influential People" for 2007.

Dawkins came to prominence with his 1976 book "The Selfish Gene", which popularised the gene-centred view of evolution and introduced the term "meme". He is a prominent critic of creationism and intelligent design. In his 1986 book "The Blind Watchmaker", he argued against the watchmaker analogy, an argument for the existence of a supernatural creator based upon the complexity of living organisms. Instead, he described evolutionary processes as analogous to a blind watchmaker. He has since written several popular science books, and makes regular television and radio appearances, predominantly discussing these topics.

Richard Dawkins is an atheist, secular humanist, sceptic, scientific rationalist, and supporter of the Brights movement. In his 2006 book "The God Delusion", he contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that faith qualifies as a delusion − as a fixed false belief.

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[rawssremix]

@jejo02 Well, what you've got to realise is that death is not to be feared. Dying is to be feared, but once you are dead, there is nothing to fear because there is no you to experience anything. As Mark Twain said, just like before you were born. We have but a short time to make a difference, and I intend to use mine for good.

[boc1953]

Religion is all a hoax guys. We have come a long way from the bronze ages...Why haven't we grown up as a species and left all this behind? The reality that we now know exists is far more beautiful and awe inspiring than anything you can read from a holy book. It's time to move on from bronze age superstition - whatever name you give it, it is mostly just a wretched skane of fable.

[TriviumCrusader17]

Closing statement was beautiful.

[going2sleep]

There is no eternal death. There is eternal paradise or eternal hell. That gives meaning to life.

[alexxxnewzealand]

I have to admit that although I am an atheist myself, I often dislike Richard Dawkins' patronising, elitist and often borderline bigoted mannerisms. I respect him a scientist, but as a human being I'm afraid I am not so fond of him.

[getitherereloaded]

what a douchebag

[getitherereloaded]

wtf

[x234gm]

So if the universe doesn't have any consciousness, why then would it be offended by the childishness and whining of ungrateful humans who need comfort. While publicly denying that there is a purpose, Dawkins seems to subconsciously believe there is some higher constraint that applauds him for his superior way of thinking.

[SummerSunshine1988]

There is a Comforter. He is called the Holy Spirit.

[theNCGstudios]

Religious people do need comfort and it appears that Dawkins is using that comforting scheme towards His followers, but to his credit, Dawkins seems to be a bit more honest than the religious. So, I do question his method of distraction, but i do applaud his desire to be honest, but that might be my comfort....

[TheDolefish]

@PhysiologicAli He never said he has the key to understanding the universe, he just knows that all religion is bronze age bull shit to control human beings. It's an outdated and dangerous control mechanism that kills millions of people a year, slows the progress of science and dumbs down billions of people in to a unrealistic way of thinking. Dawkins is a hero to us, because he is not affraid to say it how it is. Screw you!