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Richard Dawkins -- Evolution compared
to Disbelief in God/Creationism/IDism 
(Top Posts -
Distance From
Belief
in christianity - 030609)
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Tapei Times
March 5, 2009
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2009/03/05/2003437601
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Excerpt:
Cardinal William
Levada, head of the Vatican’s
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said
the Catholic Church didn’t stand in the way of
scientific realities like evolution, saying there was
a “wide spectrum of room” for belief in both the
scientific basis for evolution and faith in God.
“We believe that however creation has come
about and evolved, ultimately God is the creator
of all things,” he said on the sidelines of the con-
ference.
But while the Vatican did not exclude any area
of science, it did reject as “absurd” the atheist
notion of biologist and author Richard Dawkins
and others that evolution proves there is no God,
he said.
“Of course we think that’s absurd and not at all
proven,” he said. “But other than that ... the Vati-
can has recognized that it doesn’t stand in the way
of scientific realities.”
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Comments:
First
off, the Vatican Cardinal misstated the case
that Dawkins has made.
As
for the God definition being an ever-changing
entity, varying from person to person and from
event to event and from religion to religion, sup-
posedly all-powerful, all-knowing, all-responsible
and at the same time powerless, helpless, irrespon-
sible, supposedly judging and immortality-granting
and immortality-damning, supposedly human-cen-
tric and earth-centric and oblivious to or by-and-
large for or against human welfare and earth wel-
fare (based on how the supposed God is feeling
at any particular time), well, I think most can see,
with a logical and reasonable approach, that it's
difficult to evidentially support such an amorphous
and self-contradictory notion.
That
being said, some YouTube videos from
Richard Dawkins serve well to counter the Vati-
can Cardinal's misrepresentation of Dawkins'
position, as well as presenting Dawkins' power-
ful case with clarity and strong appeal to those
who either doubt or disbelieve or have unanswer-
able questions regarding the God notions iterated
above:
Richard
Dawkins -- "What If You're Wrong"
There's Probably No God!
- Richard Dawkins,
Ariane Sherine, and the Atheist Bus Ad Campaign
Science
Can't Disprove God - Richard
Dawkins @ UC Berkeley
In
this video, Dawkins uses the following scale to
discuss degree of belief in a God:
1 =
Know there is a God
4
=
50/50 chance of there being a God
7
=
Know there is no God
Dawkins charecterises himself as 6, although in
another video, he characterises himself as a 6.9 .
Interestingly enough, in a recent audio interview,
the interviewer mentioned the number 6.5, which
he didn't dispute, so it would appear that any-
where from 6 to 6.9 describes Dawkins' view
of where he fits on the '1' to '7' scale. However,
later in the audio interview, he corrected the
interviewer and characterised himself as being
at 6.9 .
I
suspect that most, depending on the God being
referred to, adopt a 6ish or 7 position on that
God unless the God being referred to is the God
favored in their culture. Zeus, for example, I think
most in America have a position close to or at 7
regarding Zeus. Allah, I think most in America
who aren't Muslims have a position close to or
at 7 regarding Allah.
The
Deistic any God who's the 'real' God will
suffice type of God, most "believers" like that
idea (reference the popularity of the "In God
We Trust" phrase) so long as it remains generic
and is not attached to a God that's far removed
from one's cultural upbringing.
Richard
Dawkins: Creationism
Richard
Dawkins: Changing Science
for Intelligent Design
Excerpt from end of video, a quote from
scientist
Isaac Asimov:
"Imagine the people who believe such
things and who are not ashamed to
ignore,
totally, all the patient findings of
thinking
minds through all the centuries since
the
Bible was written. And it is these
ignorant
people, the most uneducated, the most
unimaginative, the most unthinking among
us, who would make themselves the guides
and leaders of us all; who would force
their feeble and childish beliefs on
us; who
would invade our schools and libraries
and
homes. I personally resent it bitterly."
-- Isaac Asimov in Canadian Atheists
Newsletter, 1994
Richard
Dawkins -- The God Delusion
Richard
Dawkins: An atheist's call to arms
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The
Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence
for Evolution
http://tinyurl.com/greatestevidenceforevolution
Excerpt:
The
Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence
for Evolution is a forthcoming book by
British ethologist and evolutionary biologist
Richard Dawkins, scheduled for release in
September 2009, which will expound the
evidence for biological evolution.
It
will be Dawkins' 10th book, following his
bestselling critique of religion The God Delu-
sion (2006) and The Ancestor's Tale (2004),
which traced human ancestry back to the
dawn of life. His recent documentary series
The Genius of Charles Darwin covers some
of the same issues as the book.
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From
an article accessed at the
Richard Dawkins' website:
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June 6, 2008
Hints of 'time before Big Bang'
by BBC News
http://tinyurl.com/hintsoftimebeforebigbang
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Excerpt:
...
Professor Carroll urged cosmologists
to broaden their horizons: "We're trained
to say there was no time before the Big
Bang, when we should say that we don't
know whether there was anything - or if
there was, what it was."
...
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By
the way, I recently watched a TV
show called "Parallel Universes", a fas-
cinating discussion emcompassing the
possibilities regarding multiple universes
and naturalistic explanations of how our
particular universe may have begun.
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Minnesota Public Radio : Dawkins seeks
more converts to atheism
Broadcast: Midmorning, 03/04/2009, 9:06 a.m.
http://tinyurl.com/dawkinsseeksconvertstoatheism
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Complete
article:
[see
article for link to 54 minutes : 13
seconds audio interview on March 4]
Richard Dawkins says atheists should be
just as forthright in their views as those
who believe God is real. The prominent
atheist talks about why he wants to con-
vert more to his way of thinking.
Guest
Richard
Dawkins: Evolutionary biologist
and author most recently of "The God
Delusion." He's also the author of "The
Selfish Gene." His new book, "The Great-
est Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evo-
lution" is due out in the fall.
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