Dawkins on Ted Talk

I recommend everyone hearing this Ted Talk. It's a fresh breath of sanity.

His thesis is that Darwinism and religion are incompatible. "Evolution is corrosive to religion. And vice versa. A true understanding of Darwinism is deeply corrosive to religious faith. It teaches people to be satisfied with trivial, supernatural non-explanations. It teaches them to accept authority,revelation and faith instead of always insisting on evidence."

"What I want to urge upon you (the audience at Ted Talk) is militant atheism."

When I hear him say this, considering the religious fanaticism in this country, it sounds reasonable in context. There are too many fanatics in the US. He thinks that evolution is essentially "atheistic". You can argue that point and I hope that it can be done without rancor but I'm not holding my breath on this.

A "re-mock-able" statement is made by George W. Bush. "Atheists are not patriots."

Educated religionists from the Pope on down on firm on evolution but in the US,
this is not true. They are called Creationists and their ideas should not be respected.
Again, as people, the inherent human capacities for love and social constructive behavior should be respected. Not the idea of Creationism which is predicated on a blind canard that "life is too complex to not have been designed by a "creator". Listen to Dawkins' explanation of this.

Kenneth Miller, a devout Christian has written "Finding Darwin's God" is one of the most effective attacks on "Intelligent Design".

This Talk could be the springboard for an intelligent dialogue about this issue as long as it isn't buried with accusations, name-calling, ad hominems and the usual brickbats we've found here.

Another interesting point by Douglas Adams who has given Ted Talks begins by saying that "science works through the testing of hypotheses that are framed to be vulnerable to disproof" and then says "Religion doesn't seem to work like that. It has certain ideas at the heart of it which we call 'sacred' or 'holy'. Here is an idea that you're not allowed to say anything bad about. You're just not. Why not? Because you're not." That provokes laughter and it should. "Why should it be that it's perfectly legitimate to support the Republicans or Democrats, this model of economics to that version of economics, Macintosh instead of Windows, but to have an opinion about how the universe was created, no that's holy. There's no reason why those ideas shouldn't be open to debate as any other."

Listen to the talk and we'll have something decent to talk about.

Here's a quote for you from Bertand Russell, the British philosopher:

"My own view on religion is that of Lucretius. I regard it as a disease born of fear and as a source of untold misery to the human race."