Attendees of Dawkins lecture ‘naturally selected’, hundreds turned away
By HEATHER BRYANT - THE SUN STAR
Added: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:12:00 UTC
Richard Dawkins, famous biologist, atheist and author made his visit to Alaska to speak at UAF, an event causing controversy long before it happened. The UAF Socratic Society invited Dawkins, who waived his speaking fee. Dawkins’ airfare and accommodations were entirely paid for by the Richard Dawkins Foundation.
Dawkins has published many books and traveled extensively speaking about religion and science. He established the Richard Dawkins Foundation in order to encourage critical thinking, a concept he feels religion tries to repress.
The speech, scheduled at 7 p.m., had already drawn huge lines by 6 p.m. The evening started with an introduction by Eduardo Wilner, who spoke of Dawkins’ published books.
“The Selfish Gene was published in 1976, and sold over a million copies. Harry Potter and the Bible sold more, but both of those are works of fiction,” said Wilner.
Despite the controversy it was a friendly crowd, with many of Dawkins’ opinions and comments met by an audience nodding and laughing. The only sign of dissent was a table outside where Karl Sapp, of the Campus Bible Ministries, handed out a pamphlet titled “Destroying the Delusions.” Mike Sapp, also handing out the pamphlets, said that, “[they] believe the Bible cover to cover.”
The presentation “Is Religion Good for Nothing?” covered Dawkins’ theories of why religion is a natural phenomenon and how it occurs. His theories include how children are hard-wired to believe what they are told by those older than themselves, most usually their parents.
... Continue reading
Tweet
RELATED CONTENT
Richard Dawkins - Prospect 44 Comments
Richard Dawkins's review of The Social Conquest of Earth, by Edward O Wilson (WW Norton, £18.99, May)
The beauty of creation: an interview...
Heather Catchpole - COSMOS Magazine 13 Comments
The beauty of creation: an interview with Richard Dawkins
COSMOS Managing Editor, Heather Catchpole, caught up with Richard Dawkins to discuss evolution, the origin of life and his plans for his next book.
Moral Clarity and Richard Dawkins
Carson - Reasons for God 92 Comments
What kind of meta-ethical foundation has Dawkins provided for his ‘moral home’?
No blood on the carpet. How...
Richard Dawkins - RichardDawkins.net 173 Comments
[Journalists] seem to feel let down when they discover that the real people aren't anything like the way they so relentlessly portray us; as if, since they've gone to the trouble of inventing extravagant caricatures of us, we should at least have the decency to live up to them in real life.
Also in Polish
UPDATED: Why I want all our children to...
Richard Dawkins - The Observer 179 Comments
Whatever else the Bible might be – and it really is a great work of literature – it is not a moral book and young people need to learn that important fact because they are very frequently told the opposite.
Richard Dawkins - US October 2012 Tour
- - RichardDawkins.net 27 Comments



















Comments
Comment RSS Feed
Please sign in or register to comment
View Comments Page