Do you know Dr. Dawkins?

[Abstruce]

Dr. Dawkins is a professor of science at Oxford University. He makes a case for the Insanity of Christianity, and how scary it is that there are many people in the world and the U.S. who believe the mythology of Judaism is true fact.

I argue that it is Insane to allow special interest groups with religious views run our government. George Bush is one such case and if the money from the religious special interest groups continues then I for one am sure they will fulfill their prophecies by starting or causing a Nuclear war at the expense of the World.

Remember Heavens Gate, Waco, Jim Jones, Pat Robertson, Timothy Mc Veigh, and the list goes on. How soon we forget.

Free thinkers are the minority sadly to say and we lack community. I appeal to all who are free from Religious Prejudice to educate others about the history of the Insane, Immoral, Psychotic properties of their Religious faith. I argue it with everyone I meet. I will not be silent and I will not accept any 1st century Religious fundamentalism to contradict science.

Please watch the videos and share them with your friends.

Enjoy.

These videos are on a site called youtube that has a diverse large content of videos, computers that block Adult/Mature Content will not be able to access.


Part one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PqdC...s%20of%20faith

Part two

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

Part three

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

This is an exelent documentary on the history of Religion.

Google Video

O and God Bless. LOL

[Pyrotex]

Originally Posted by Abstruce

Dr. Richard Dawkins...

Is there something you want to say about Richard Dawkins or his books? Is there some point of view you wish to discuss?

We prefer that threads, especially those that are potentially controversial, begin with some statement of point of view, or a specific question, rather than a list of links, however fascinating they may be. Just a paragraph introducing the thread, why you think it's interesting, perhaps a summary of what the links are about. Okay?

PS: my computer at work blocks all three links for Adult/Mature Content. You might begin by saying something about that.

[Abstruce]

Originally Posted by Pyrotex

Is there something you want to say about Richard Dawkins or his books? Is there some point of view you wish to discuss?

Let me know if my edit is acceptable.

[Pyrotex]

Originally Posted by Abstruce

Let me know if my edit is acceptable.

Yes! Excellent, and thank you.
For the record, some of Richard Dawkins' best books are:
*River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life
*Climbing Mount Improbable
*The Selfish Gene
*The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design
The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution
*A Devil's Chaplain : Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love
Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder
The Extended Phenotype : The Long Reach of the Gene

Those with an asterisk*, I have personally read.

[Michaelangelica]

from Chapter 2: The God Hypothesis.

The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction. Jealous, and proud of it, a petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak, a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser, a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, philicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sado-masochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.
. . .
Do those people who hold up the Bible as an inspiration to moral rectitude, have the slightest notion of what is actually written in it? The following offences merit the death penalty, according to Leviticus 20: Cursing your parents; committing adultery; making love to your stepmother or your daughter-in-law; homosexuality; marrying a woman and her daughter; bestiality, and to add injury to insult, the unfortunate beast is to be killed too; you also get executed, of course, for working on the Sabbath.

The point is made again and again throughout the Old Testament. In Numbers 15, the Children of Israel found a man in the wilderness gathering sticks on the forbidden day. They arrested him and then asked God what to do with him. As it turned out, God was in no mood for half measures that day, and the Lord said unto Moses, 'The man shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. And all the congregation brought him without the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died.'

Background Briefing - 26*November*2006* - Richard Dawkins and God

[catholiboy]

from Chapter 2: The God Hypothesis.

The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction. Jealous, and proud of it, a petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak, a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser, a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, philicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sado-masochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.
. . .
Do those people who hold up the Bible as an inspiration to moral rectitude, have the slightest notion of what is actually written in it? The following offences merit the death penalty, according to Leviticus 20: Cursing your parents; committing adultery; making love to your stepmother or your daughter-in-law; homosexuality; marrying a woman and her daughter; bestiality, and to add injury to insult, the unfortunate beast is to be killed too; you also get executed, of course, for working on the Sabbath.

The point is made again and again throughout the Old Testament. In Numbers 15, the Children of Israel found a man in the wilderness gathering sticks on the forbidden day. They arrested him and then asked God what to do with him. As it turned out, God was in no mood for half measures that day, and the Lord said unto Moses, 'The man shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. And all the congregation brought him without the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died.'



This will be controversial for die hard christians but, what the hell...

There is another possibility. A possibility suggested by a man who has been labelled the biggest heretic to date. He said that there were two Gods - an evil Old Testament God, and a Good New Testament God.

[catholiboy]

Abstruce,

Does a perfect political character have to be a free thinker, according to your definition? Or just anything besides die-hard religious?

It all depends on the politics of religion, my friend; and that is a dangerous and untrustworthy subject for religious leaders...the possibility that they have simply become political leaders.

[maikeru]

I've read parts of some of Dawkins' books, including his famous The Selfish Gene. And I read about him in the NY Times recently, being involved in a debate over science and religion. Sometimes I feel like he comes off more as a scientific zealot than an honestly concerned scientist. But I don't deny he's a brilliant scientist.

[InfiniteNow]

I do believe the term "scapegoat" and "socicioideological pressure valve" come to mind when thinking of Dr. D...

[Pyrotex]

Originally Posted by InfiniteNow

I do believe the term "scapegoat" and "socicioideological pressure valve" come to mind when thinking of Dr. D...

Indeed.

I admire Dawkins. He is so articulate and persuasive in his books and other writings. He is one of those rare folks I refer to as a "fun read". Daniel C. Dennett is another.

His anti-religion stance does sound rather heated and some of his statements could have been better thought out, but in general, I agree with him. The damage done to our world and our societies in the name of one religion or another is ghastly and heart-wrenching. Even now, mass slaughter is taking place because "God wants someone to do it". It is about time that someone speak up against this tragedy. Dawkins is a good start.