Richard Dawkins’ US Tour

We’ve written before about the new book by Richard Dawkins — here it is at Amazon: The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution.

Dawkins has been on a US tour, and his appearances always seem to generate news. Here are a few items of interest.

At the blog of the neo-theocrats at the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture (a/k/a the Discoveroids) they have this interesting item: Richard Dawkins Runs From a Good Fight. Excerpts:

Today [08 October] on the Michael Medved show, arch-Darwinist Richard Dawkins, author of The Greatest Show on Earth, was asked point-blank by Discovery Institute President Bruce Chapman why he wouldn’t debate Stephen Meyer, author of Signature in the Cell. His response? Weak sauce:

[Alleged quote from Dawkins on the show:] I have never come across any kind of creationism, whether you call it intelligent design or not, which has a serious scientific case to put.

The objection to having debates with people like that is that it gives them a kind of respectability. If a real scientist goes onto a debating platform with a creationist, it gives them a respectability, which I do not think your people have earned.

Perfect! We’ve often urged exactly that response, and for the very same reason. By the way, Medved is quite a curiosity. He’s a Discoveroid “fellow” who has said that ID isn’t even a theory!

We’ve been looking for a reliable transcript of that 08 October interview, but we can’t find one. The Discoveroid article from 08 October has some additional dialogue which is allegedly from the Dawkins-Medved-Chapman affair. However, it’s posted on the Discoveroid website, so it’s not necessarily accurate. Read it for what it’s worth.

It was a couple of days later that Dawkins had his Food Fight with Bill O’Reilly.

Both of those events — the Medved-Chapman encounter and the O’Reilly appearance — were discussed at the website of Christian Post in this article: Dawkins Refuses to Debate Intelligent Design Scholars. Excerpts:

In the book, Dawkins expounds the evidence for biological evolution, insisting that evolution theory is not a theory, but in actuality a fact, as much as it’s a fact that the earth is round. “This book is my personal summary of the evidence that the ‘theory’ of evolution is actually a fact – as incontrovertible a fact as any in science,” Dawkins writes.

Here’s more:

In his appearance on the Michael Medved show last week, Dawkins criticized Intelligent Design as just another version of creationism and an idea unworthy of discussion. “I will have a discussion with somebody who has a genuinely different scientific point of view,” he said when asked why he won’t have a debate with Intelligent Design proponent Stephen Meyer. “[But] I have never come across any kind of creationism, whether you call it intelligent design or not, which has a serious scientific case to put,” Dawkins added.

More recently, Dawkins appeared at the University of South Carolina. In their student newspaper, the Daily Gamecock we read: Atheist speaker draws crowd — Pastafarians invite bestselling author Richard Dawkins. Here are some excerpts, with bold added by us:

What would New York Times bestseller, world-renowned biologist and former Oxford biology chairperson Richard Dawkins tell children taught creation by their parents? “Your parents are talking complete and utter rubbish,” Dawkins said.

And how does Dawkins classify religion in general? “Like a computer virus.”

Dawkins isn’t one to speak in ambiguities. More:

The event, co-sponsored by the campus atheist group Pastafarians, drew no outside protestors and remained civil for the entire discourse, surprising some who said before the lecture they expected the debate to turn vitriolic.

Even during some of Dawkins’ most controversial statements the majority of the audience clapped. No boos or derogatory comments were audible, and when audiences were posed with the opportunity to ask Dawkins questions, none were defamatory or attacking.

Dawkins said he wasn’t surprised. “The more I do these events in the so-called ‘Bible Belt,’ the more I see enormous support from people who feel beleaguered and even oppressed in their own communities,” Dawkins said. “Then they see that they’re not the only one.”

Interesting article. Click over there and check it out. And here’s a link to the remaining events scheduled in Dawkins’ US calendar.

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