Richard Dawkins and His Genocide of Faith
Richard Dawkins and His Genocide of Faith The prominent evolutionist Richard Dawkins has emerged as the leading spokesperson for the point of view that a belief in evolution demands atheism. Dawkins is a brilliant author and speaker. He teaches at Oxford University and in 2006 published a book titled The God Delusion, where Dawkins argues that a God most certainly does not exist and so therefore faith, qualifies as a delusion. In 1996 Dawkins was named "Humanist of The Year" and in his acceptance speech, (which was later published in The Humanist) Dawkins called for the eradication of what he regarded as one of the greatest evil of our time. He states that, “It is fashionable to wax apocalyptic about the threat to humanity posed by the AIDS virus, ‘mad cow’ disease, and many others, but I think a case can be made that faith is one of the world 's great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate. Faith being belief that isn 't based on evidence is the principal vice of any religion” (Dawkins). Then, Dawkins continues in his speech to illustrate what he views as the dangers of faith. He draws many examples from world events, such as the turmoil in the Middle East and Northern Ireland. Dawkins considers these conflicts to be a direct result of the religious beliefs held by these opposing cultures infected with the “brain virus” of faith (Dawkins). I hesitate in taking on an argument against such a respected and accomplished scholar such as Dawkins, however I can’t help disagreeing with his statements. There is so much I think he is missing or at least not addressing. To begin with, I disagree with Dawkins’ idea that faith is evil, because he sees it as a belief that isn’t based on evidence. I would argue that everyone believes some things to be true without evidence. For example, when I was a kid my dad explained to me that the earth was round and it revolved around the sun, and I believed him without any evidence. I still believe him,
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