Wednesday, June 20, 2007 | Reason : Interviews | print version

Interview with Richard Dawkins

CFRB Toronto, Leslie Roberts, Richard Dawkins

Reposted from:
http://www.cfrb.com/media/collection/544265/The+God+Delusion

Controversial author and world-renowned atheist Richard Dawkins joined Leslie Roberts in studio to discuss his book "The God Delusion" and why God doesn't exist.

Click here to play audio

Add to del.icio.us Posted: Wednesday, June 20, 2007 | Permalink

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1. Comment #50896 by FoundLink on June 20, 2007 at 10:49 am

The subsequent links connect to live web-cast. Use the first one.

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2. Comment #50898 by DNAtheist on June 20, 2007 at 11:12 am

These links are not mp3 files. They should be changed so that they don't look like mp3 files.

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3. Comment #50918 by ThomasB on June 20, 2007 at 12:32 pm

This was so well done.

The one devout caller invoked the "behaving well out of fear of God's judgment" phenomenon and in a sense, RD's derision was appropriate. But I found the caller's self-referential scheme somewhat chilling. Is it possible or likely that some people, like this caller, who are predisposed or inclined to hurt others, seek out, perhaps in an adaptive way, highly prescriptive (and punitive) institutions like religion and the military?

Is a religious person with a conduct disorder, i.e., one who cannot empathize but fears hellfire, less likely to do harm than an atheist with a conduct disorder?

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4. Comment #50923 by Rtambree on June 20, 2007 at 1:06 pm

3. Comment #50918 by ThomasB

Yes, there are some profound issues raised by that exchange and your comments.

Does the same underlying insecurity in some people predispose them to religion and/or violence depending on the circumstances?

So it's not that religious causes violence directly, it's that people who have a certain personality (genes, environment) that makes them more intolerant of uncertainty, also causes them to strike out at things that are different. Just as people vary according to their height or weight, they also vary according to their ability to tolerate uncertainty. And to someone who can't deal with it, uncertainty will seem threatening.

It's almost as if there's a self-loathing there - e.g. Ted Haggart or the homophobe father in American Beauty.

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5. Comment #50928 by tiff_seattle on June 20, 2007 at 1:26 pm

FYI: Direct link to the files.

http://www.cfrb.com/files/srimedia/Dawkins1.mp3
http://www.cfrb.com/files/srimedia/Dawkins2.mp3
http://www.cfrb.com/files/srimedia/Dawkins3.mp3

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6. Comment #50982 by Insightful Ape on June 20, 2007 at 9:13 pm

The same person also said something like "God is your heart, not in your mind".
I would have said to that: I am sure the followers of Brahma and Apollo would tell you the same thing.
I also liked it when RD told him: people should give you a wide breadth!

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7. Comment #50986 by youmemeyou on June 20, 2007 at 9:28 pm

Insightful Ape
"God is your heart, not in your mind".

Steven Colbert lanced that one through the heart with his exceptional "Truthiness" speech.

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8. Comment #50991 by wezza_ on June 20, 2007 at 11:17 pm

Very good interview,
seemed to cover some new ground, which is good after hearing hundreds of Dawkins interviews

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9. Comment #51046 by CF1 on June 21, 2007 at 9:20 am

Insightful Ape
"God is your heart, not in your mind".

Too bad they (like so many) forget that a heart pumps blood. When someone says "In my heart", what they really are refering to is emotion, which of course is a product of thoughts, which are of course from within the brain.

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10. Comment #51165 by HappyPrimate on June 21, 2007 at 8:06 pm

Least anyone not realize it, the reference to the heart being the dewelling of the soul, etc. goes straight to ancient Egyptian belief that gave the heart organ the status we now give the brain. When anyone invokes their heart, that is ancient Egypt through and through. Over time, we have decided it meant emotional feelings, but those feelings really come from the brain. Knowing and feeling both come from the brain and the heart simply and wonderfully is just a pump.

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11. Comment #51402 by TIKI AL on June 22, 2007 at 4:44 pm

"Knowing and feeling both come from the brain and the heart simply and wonderfully is just a pump."...(Happy Primate)

...It is comforting to know that in the event I receive an artificial heart I will retain my misanthropic leanings.

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12. Comment #51525 by flyingscot on June 23, 2007 at 9:16 am

I enjoyed this interview. Lesley Roberts was fair and conducted the interview well. I wish it had been a bit longer.
"Moderates encourage sloppy thinking" I liked that one Richard.

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13. Comment #51666 by BT Murtagh on June 24, 2007 at 2:59 am

The phrase "Moderates [in religion] encourage sloppy thinking" is for me the core of why I oppose religion in general, rather than simply opposing fundamentalists.

It's akin to opposing both the chronic and acute expressions of a disease; a total opposition, while it may seem extreme to those who are personally only mildly inconvenienced by the chronic, is in the long run the only hope for those dying from the acute expression.

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14. Comment #51809 by logical on June 25, 2007 at 5:13 am

The "bad parents" (part 1) unable to explain anything would, without religion, probably not have children at all, and therefore no need to teach what they themselves do not know or feel.
AND: as for "Atheist proselytizing"(sp?) - the biggest group grateful for The God Delusion and other Atheist bestsellers are the people FREED from religious-only discourse! In the last 10 years I had to dismiss or fight more of the "if you do not believe this, then you believe that (including the nonexistent satan)"- people than in my ugly childhood in the sticky fifties!!!

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15. Comment #54028 by logical on July 5, 2007 at 2:31 am

Part 3: Infallibility in the Catholic Church was introduced in 1870 during the First Vatican Council, but discussions of this idea exist since the Middle Ages.
The "Immaculate Conception of Mary" = virgin birth dates from 1854 and was introduced using the procedure described as necessary in 1870.
So the perfect hierarchy was put to paper after people could no longer be burnt on the stake.
In his job as grand inquisitor, Josef Ratzinger, now "infallible", compiled a list of infallible teachings, saying that anyone who does not believe them excommunicates herself or himself!
(Hope that many Catholics are being told this fact - who, if taken serious, would still be a member of this church?)

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