1. Comment #391360 by Mango on June 26, 2009 at 12:54 pm

Thank you, Primate, for the news.

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2. Comment #391365 by ashley on June 26, 2009 at 1:43 pm

Okay, who around here has been treating the Prof like a cult leader?

OWN UP NOW SO YOU CAN BE BURNED FOR EMBARASSING OUR BELOVED LEADER, WHOSE RATIONALITY IS AN INSPIRATION TO US ALL IN THIS TIME OF GREAT UNREASON.

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3. Comment #391367 by cam9976 on June 26, 2009 at 1:58 pm

HOW DARE THAT NON-BELIEVER IMPLY THAT WE FOLLOW THE HEAVENLY ORDAINED CHOSEN ONE, RICHARD DAWKINS, WITHOUT QUESTION!!!

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4. Comment #391370 by KRKBAB on June 26, 2009 at 2:10 pm

There it is. It's out there. The cat is out of the bag. Richard Dawkins has officially announced that he would become a follower of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster" (if he absolutely had to choose a religion). Eat your heart out, Mormons.

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5. Comment #391371 by fullyladenswallow on June 26, 2009 at 2:11 pm

A really great interview. Had to chuckle at Richard's direct reply of YES to the question of whether or not believers are wasting their time tending to their religion. Loved it.

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6. Comment #391374 by HarlanEllisonFan on June 26, 2009 at 2:37 pm

Love the zebra tie

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7. Comment #391376 by Mark Smith on June 26, 2009 at 2:59 pm

Love the answer to the 'Is there a faith gene?' question. He gives a properly scientific answer, which is rather more difficult than a simple 'Yes' or 'No', but enormously more illuminating. It seems to be in the nature of things that they are more difficult to understand than we would like, but when we take the trouble it is worth the effort.

[Edit: not so keen on the zebra tie myself]

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8. Comment #391377 by Dhamma on June 26, 2009 at 3:07 pm

I second the zebra tie-love. Dawkins is a funny man!

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9. Comment #391395 by mordacious1 on June 26, 2009 at 4:20 pm

Who knew that there were 5 science books written in New Zealand in one year? *ducks*

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10. Comment #391397 by BathTub on June 26, 2009 at 4:27 pm

Wow, Sean Plunkett isn't looking so great these days, hope he's well.

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11. Comment #391430 by RightWingAtheist on June 26, 2009 at 6:53 pm

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12. Comment #391435 by silent mike on June 26, 2009 at 7:01 pm

Champion of Atheism

I don't think Dawkins is a champion of atheism. I don't even think that "The God delusion" is about atheism. i think it's religion criticism, or anti-supernaturalism. It's not atheist proselitism

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13. Comment #391436 by robotaholic on June 26, 2009 at 7:01 pm

I can't wait for Dawkin's next book.

do you think that some people would think you're saying your wasting your time by going to church..."YES"

priceless

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14. Comment #391437 by prolibertas on June 26, 2009 at 7:02 pm

'Who knew that there were 5 science books written in New Zealand in one year? *ducks*'

I'm telepathically throwing several hard objects at your face.

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15. Comment #391452 by madame_zora on June 26, 2009 at 9:30 pm

I found it refreshing that Dawkins admitted he simply doesn't understand how scientists can be *truly* religious, confession is good for the soul, haha. I think the research is very close to complete on what's going on in the brain and how we form connections and patterns, especially when we are taught from a young age that these things are foundational, and true. The other way people "find god" is in times of crisis- death of a loved one or recovery from addiction being two strong motivators.

Having experienced the second route, I can attest that I intertwined god belief with my recovery in such a way that to forfeit the belief (I felt) would risk my recovery. I'm happy to report that it was not the case, that I am alcohol-free for sixteen years now, and god-free for five. It's definitely been a slow process of re-wiring my thinking patterns though, and even now I occasionally find some ridiculous leftovers from religion still lurking about.

Dawkins is lucky to be free of this, but I understand the deeply indoctrinated very well. It's not hopeless, but it takes a lot of actual effort, which human beings are disinclined to put forth without a good reason. I think he gives people a good reason to investigate by making intelligent, cogent arguments that at the very least get people curious. I find it easy to understand that a certain portion of people who discover science (and reality in general) because of him will re-focus some of their newly-displaced religious adoration on him. It would be odd if it were otherwise, I'm afraid it's his "cross" to bear.

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16. Comment #391471 by Steve Zara on June 26, 2009 at 11:45 pm

Comment #391452 by madame_zora

What an honest and revealing post.

I can understand how a scientist can be religious. What it seems to involve is ignorance of certain other fields of science. There may be physicists who are religious because they are ignorant of evolution and the failure of the argument from design. There are well-known biologists who fit God into gaps in their scrappy understanding of physics.

On another matter related to this interview, I personally would be far more critical of the apparently nice vicars and bishops than Richard is. They seem nice most of the time, but they frequently support rather unpleasant prejudices, such as against gay rights. There was an interesting report in The Times on this matter, which might even be worth putting up as a main article here:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6586450.ece
Overall, 68 per cent of the public back “full equal rights” for gay men and lesbians, suggesting that the Church, the final bastion of formal discrimination, is out of touch with public opinion.

I don't consider bishops happy to be within a bastion of formal discrimination to be nice people!

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17. Comment #391476 by Consciousmess on June 27, 2009 at 12:47 am

Brilliant!!

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18. Comment #391485 by Beachbum on June 27, 2009 at 2:22 am

Very good indeed!
I am always impressed with Richard's interviews.

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19. Comment #391487 by Friend Giskard on June 27, 2009 at 3:14 am

An mp3 of this would be nice. I need something to listen to in the oil bath.

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20. Comment #391492 by TNathan on June 27, 2009 at 4:34 am

Outstanding, except I must object to one point. At around 21:00 Richard says that children are threatened with eternal hellfire "if they are bad". But that's not correct, at least in the version of Christianity I was raised in. No, ALL people are born with original sin, all come short of the glory of God, "no one comes to the father but through me", ... and thus ALL are bound for hell. However, there is "good news" - you can be saved. I trust you all know how that is done.

Perhaps Richard's early Anglican upbringing was different, but that's what it says in the Bible, and that's how it's done in large parts of the US. Raises it to a new level, don't you think?

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21. Comment #391493 by LeeLeeOne on June 27, 2009 at 4:46 am

In this interview, Richard has once again reaffirmed that he is truly one of the greatest educators of our time. I am thrilled to have such a great teacher!

If only more educators out there would follow his lead to educate the masses in clear, succinct, and entertaining ways, there may be more of an intellectual revolution rather than a religious revival.

Thank you, rd.net, et al., for posting this interview.

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22. Comment #391507 by Zzyx1170 on June 27, 2009 at 6:22 am

Friend Giskard wrote:

An mp3 of this would be nice. I need something to listen to in the oil bath.

I placed an mp3 of this at for you:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?mo4wrnjdjtl

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23. Comment #391521 by Michael Gray on June 27, 2009 at 7:44 am

I have sent the terminal quote to Bobby Henderson, (of FSM fame).
He may have quite the most famous convert of which it is possible to imagine!

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24. Comment #391547 by Friend Giskard on June 27, 2009 at 10:02 am

Much appreciated, Zzyx1170. You are very kind!

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25. Comment #391552 by Steve Zara on June 27, 2009 at 10:16 am

Comment #391492 by TNathan

I think this is a really good point to raise. I think the matter of Hell is even worse than you describe. Many Christian groups consider that those who aren't converted to their group are certainly doomed to hell. This means that a child will worry about the fate of their friends. When I was young and a Catholic this doctrine was being questioned, but I remember being shocked that so many billions of people would be neglected by God because they weren't born Catholic. I now remember that this injustice was one of the reasons for me starting to lose my religion.

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26. Comment #391611 by locutus7 on June 27, 2009 at 1:54 pm

To the ear of the religious believer, Richard undoubtedly sounded strident, militant, and vitriolic. To those whose beliefs are rooted in reality, he was, as always, polite and mild-mannered.

I especially liked his comments on sci-fi and its influence on him. It had a similar influence on me. I think sci-fi is the one form of convention-challenging literature that is permitted in grammar school libraries, at least it was in the 50's and 60's.

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27. Comment #391654 by Shuggy on June 27, 2009 at 3:18 pm

9. Comment #391395 by mordacious1 on June 26, 2009

Who knew that there were 5 science books written in New Zealand in one year? *ducks*

What? Not every year? I'm astounded. Earthquakes, volcanoes, thermal regions, native birds (that used to occupy all the niches mammals think belong to them), unique marine fauna, unique flora, Southern Hemisphere astronomy (and clear windswept skies), last stop before the Antarctic, - only five? Edit: sorry, I see that was the shortlist and mordacious1 was just being silly.


Correction to the header. RD is not being interviewed "by" the RSNZ, he is being interviewed for it by Sean Plunkett, who is best seen on radio. Plunkett co-hosts "Morning Report" on the non-commercial national programme from 6am to 9am. He often takes the role of bad cop, trying to drag headlines out of people who don't want to give them. He recently got the National (Conservative) bye-election candidate for former PM Helen Clark's old seat (Labour these 63 years) to say she "hoped to come second" (rather than third to the Green candidate), further reducing her chances. He's a surprisingly good choice of interviewer: both his co-host on Morning Report, Geoff Robinsion, and the "other media person" he mentions, John Campbell who says "Marvellous!" a lot, would have given more genial interviews but with perhaps less bite.

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28. Comment #391706 by nonsuch on June 27, 2009 at 7:15 pm

22. Comment #391507 by Zzyx1170 on June 27, 2009 at 6:22 am

I placed an mp3 of this at for you:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?mo4wrnjdjtl

Thanks Zzyx1170 for doing that. I am sure there are others here who appreciate it too. I only wish Josh could, as a matter of standard procedure, provide mp3s of all the video lectures and interviews here.

And 8 kbps sounds great! Makes you wonder why non-music talk-only mp3s are regularly put out at such high bit rates it takes forever to download.

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29. Comment #391732 by Perry Bradley on June 28, 2009 at 2:35 am

6. Comment #391374 by HarlanEllisonFan on June 26, 2009 at 2:37 pm

Love the zebra tie

And it would go terrifically well with that Hawaiian shirt of Richard's.

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30. Comment #391736 by mattincinci on June 28, 2009 at 3:24 am

great interview, loved it

to download the video go to

http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2008/04/download-youtube-videos-as-mp4-files.html

and you can find info for downloading any utube video you wish

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31. Comment #391748 by windfall on June 28, 2009 at 4:57 am

Great interview. Loved the response to the last question (FSM). Very quick on your feet, Richard, assuming that wasn't a set up.

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32. Comment #391763 by Ygern on June 28, 2009 at 6:04 am

This was such a good interview - interesting, intelligent, humorous in places. @Madam_Zora - I think you've hit the nail on the head with your insightful comments. I have long noticed that their is a stong correlation of belief with fear in people who have used religious belief to help them battle an illness or depression or some other serious life challenge.

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33. Comment #391778 by Layla Nasreddin on June 28, 2009 at 7:06 am

That was a fascinating interview, very informative. I have to agree with madame_zora about people being drawn to religion, often in times of crisis. It may be very difficult for somebody who's never gone through something like that to really understand the appeal religion may hold for somebody in that situation (and I'm glad for those fortunate enough not to experience that!). But it's a phenomenon that needs to be understood more fully and not just dismissed as something that only "weak-minded" or "foolish" people fall into if it is to be (more) successfully fought, because intelligent people can be victims of this too given the right (or rather wrong) circumstances.

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34. Comment #391930 by T0psp0T on June 28, 2009 at 5:08 pm

Yet another wonderful interview. Some of the things Richard said reminded me of one of my best friends, who happens to be a Christian. I consider him quite intelligent (whatever that means) and I have known him for several years now. He converted from sort of an agnostic to a Christian during our friendship. Because before that moment I had always considered him a rational individual, it baffled me too. I was about sixteen at the time, and as I enjoyed a secular upbringing I found his conversion quite interesting, and you could say it was that moment religion became of any personal interest.

I wasn't living an easy life at the time, and I suspect that contributed to my naivety back then. Yes, I tried. I tried so hard to receive any sign of His existence. I tried to believe. Because surely, if even my ever sceptic, rational, best friend sincerely said he felt His presence, why couldn't I experience it too? It was not much later when, after reading bits of the 'holy' scriptures, I realized there was nothing in there that held any credibility. Most, if not all of the things I could find consisted of inconsistencies, contradictions and immoralities, the kind of which could only be derived from the mind of a disgusting character.

Nowadays, about nine years later, I know better. I know that even if the Christian God (or any other Abrahamic God) exists, I would reject Him solely because of His horrible character. My friend is still a believer. And although I always enjoy our discussions concerning religion, I have the feeling his mind can never be freed of the virus my brain so happily resists.

He is a sceptic of science. Or, in other words: he is sceptic of sceptics; ironic, is it not?

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35. Comment #392276 by Canadian Eh-theist on June 29, 2009 at 6:22 pm

I do think some people are more "pre-disposed" to being religious than others and this can account for the ability of some people to compartmentalize their minds. I come from a large family and only myself and 1 brother are not religious. I used to think that they didn't indocrinate me quite as much as my other siblings and that is why it "wore off" when I became an adult. But I now believe that this is not true. I think that it just was not "natural" for me to be religious not too dissimilar to the way a homosexual would feel after discovering their orientation after being in denial about it in their youth.

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36. Comment #392333 by zengardener on June 29, 2009 at 11:40 pm

They (american scientist) have to waste their time fending off a yapping chorus of ignorant descent.

priceless.

And this is why it is worthwhile to debate creationists..

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37. Comment #393102 by Frumiousme on July 3, 2009 at 4:35 am

I was there, it was fabulous! And those books are pretty awesome too.

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38. Comment #393615 by CK76 on July 5, 2009 at 5:37 pm

Response to

Comment #392276 by Canadian Eh-theist

I would agree in part that other elements of our nature can lend themselves to finding gods or religion more or less appealing. I am naturally skeptical, curious and not the biggest fan of singular authority. I use this in other parts and part of what made me natural question things (much to the annoyance of teachers and preachers growing up) and I found answers that were more "pleasing" to my mind came from the classroom than the church.

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39. Comment #394887 by anetchi on July 10, 2009 at 12:53 am

I must say, there are not many 68 yr olds who if I ran into somewhere would send my heart rate through the roof and basically make me feel like a teenager in love--Richard Dawkins is the only one! I could listen to him talk for hours. I wish they had edited it to show Richard responding happily to the question "Are they wasting their time£" haha! Thanks Richard for all you do, you are absolutely brilliant!!

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40. Comment #398618 by sarp on July 22, 2009 at 12:55 am

It is very sad to know as being a turkish citizen that dawkins.net is still banned officially in Turkiye. But still I do follow the site almost everyday and watch the videos.
I already read The God Delusion which is on the turkish bookstore shelves.
Although I am coming from a religious family, I am not a believer. When I told my mother that I was not muslim, I still remember her face in horror. But then I bought her a copy of The God Delusion. She read it. And she found the book very informative and not sided. I think she enjoyed it.
I cannot change her belief of God and religion. But I am glad to see that she is questioning and she does not think anymore that me being a non believer I will burn in hell.

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41. Comment #398623 by phatbat on July 22, 2009 at 1:17 am

40. Comment #398618 by sarp

That's a great story.

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