Thank you! I very much remember these times, and how completely unacceptable and taboo it was not to be a believer. Also, depending on exactly WHERE you lived in the US, it very well might have been the type of thing to get you run of town or threatened with violence, and certainly would make you unhireable. It is supremely frustrating that younger people who either were not alive, or were too young to remember what it used to be like and how thoroughly repressive the social atmosphere was on religious topics, are always crapping on these pioneers as if their points were so lame and tired and boring. At the time, it really WAS taking a big risk and massively controversial in the US. On this measure, Bill Maher and Ricky Gervais also deserve ample credit for making it okay to come out of the closet.
I’ve no love for Dawkins - I’m a Christian who grew up in ultra conservative Northern Ireland at a time when you’d have struggled to find anywhere in Europe that followed the Scriptures more closely. But I did have a chuckle when he felt the need to take to the media, to assure people that he absolutely did not pray when he had a stroke in February 2016. Oh dear, he did go on a bit. Methinks he doth protest too much.
I’m sure he did!!! Lots of people messaged him to tell him they were praying for his recovery which must have ‘triggered’ him somewhat. I used to be an academic in English universities; that world used to be the natural habitat of a certain type of misanthropic, solipsistic old geezer and Dawkins does come across a bit like one of them at times. I’m not a fan.
I haven't kept up with him for years but he is a brilliant writer. Seriously. If you are at all interested in the animal world, give The Ancestors Tale a try. He wrote that before he got involved with the New Atheism business.
Ancestor's Tale was a masterpiece, and had he not written TGD, people might still be talking about it.
I always hear about these sophisticated philosophical arguments that Dawkin's apparently doesn't confront, but nobody has ever pointed to a specific one as an example. I've read Dennett, I don't recall there being arguments that Dennett took on that seemed beyond Dawkins' abilities to argue. Does anyone know of one I should read?
Thank you! I very much remember these times, and how completely unacceptable and taboo it was not to be a believer. Also, depending on exactly WHERE you lived in the US, it very well might have been the type of thing to get you run of town or threatened with violence, and certainly would make you unhireable. It is supremely frustrating that younger people who either were not alive, or were too young to remember what it used to be like and how thoroughly repressive the social atmosphere was on religious topics, are always crapping on these pioneers as if their points were so lame and tired and boring. At the time, it really WAS taking a big risk and massively controversial in the US. On this measure, Bill Maher and Ricky Gervais also deserve ample credit for making it okay to come out of the closet.
It was a strange time!
I’ve no love for Dawkins - I’m a Christian who grew up in ultra conservative Northern Ireland at a time when you’d have struggled to find anywhere in Europe that followed the Scriptures more closely. But I did have a chuckle when he felt the need to take to the media, to assure people that he absolutely did not pray when he had a stroke in February 2016. Oh dear, he did go on a bit. Methinks he doth protest too much.
Haha! I'm sure he thought about it.
I’m sure he did!!! Lots of people messaged him to tell him they were praying for his recovery which must have ‘triggered’ him somewhat. I used to be an academic in English universities; that world used to be the natural habitat of a certain type of misanthropic, solipsistic old geezer and Dawkins does come across a bit like one of them at times. I’m not a fan.
I haven't kept up with him for years but he is a brilliant writer. Seriously. If you are at all interested in the animal world, give The Ancestors Tale a try. He wrote that before he got involved with the New Atheism business.
Ancestor's Tale was a masterpiece, and had he not written TGD, people might still be talking about it.
I always hear about these sophisticated philosophical arguments that Dawkin's apparently doesn't confront, but nobody has ever pointed to a specific one as an example. I've read Dennett, I don't recall there being arguments that Dennett took on that seemed beyond Dawkins' abilities to argue. Does anyone know of one I should read?
Yeah. I love that book. I've read it several times.