Posted by Hemant Mehta in In case you missed the show tonight, Richard Dawkins was interviewed on Real Time with Bill Maher. Norm at onegoodmove has the clip.
***UPDATE***: And now, so does the Youtube:
Definitely fun to watch.
Does anyone know if there is any truth to the Francis-Collins-believes-in-the-Talking-Snake statement?
[tags]atheist, atheism[/tags]
I have read the first chapter in his book “The Language of God” where he starts to argue that belief in God can be justified from a belief in absolute right and wrong. Personally, I think one can have a belief in absolute right and wrong without having a belief in God. He has complete chapters dedicated to debunking the extreme positions for both religion and atheism so I would be surprised if he actually believed in a “talking snake”.
As someone schooled in the biological sciences, he would probably be more comfortable in just considering a talking member of the Squamata order limited perhaps to either the Serpentes or Amphisbaenia sub-orders
I was disappointed in the interview.
I don’t think Collins believes in the talking snake. I read his Language of God and he embraces evolution as well as Christianity but, from what I understand, he doesn’t believe in a literal Adam & Eve & Talking Snake.
I love Dawkins, but I think it was wrong of him to say that Francis Collins is not such a bright guy, but even worse to downplay the important role that Francis had on the completing the human genome project. It’s one thing to say that he’s not so bright b/c he believes in talking snakes, but another thing to makes jabs at Francis’ skills and importance as a scientist. Come on D. Don’t start letting me down, b/c I do look up to you because he mostly comes off as a rational, compassionate fellow.
And Dawkins really feels he’s a 6.9 when 7 is “I am absolutely convinced/sure that there is no god” ?
I cannot wait for Maher’s documentary. I hope it’s awesome and intelligent and not crass fratboy humor.
I was disappointed about what Dawkins said about Collins as well. I hate when atheists try to make evolution an us vs them issue. As atheists, we have to be careful about not making a belief in evolution synonymous with atheism, and creationism synonymous with Christianity. Ken Miller is a Christian, and a brilliant biologist; the textbooks he writes are used in classrooms around the country. I don’t want moderate/liberal Christians to distrust evolution, and join the dark side (ie Intelligent Design).
Dawkins is just calling a theistard a theistard. Good for him.
Fellow Atheists… read on!
Expelled…
Btw… Dawkins is an shmuck.. his elitist attitude have done a great deal of harm to atheists and science as a whole.
I’m with Fyurien - Dawkins can be a bit pretentious for my tastes. However, he has greatly increased the discourse about the pernicious effects of religion.
If we’re ever going to convince society that atheists aren’t baby killing, then we need to stop the name calling and the ad hominem attacks.
Well he’s not downplaying Francis Collins at all, it’s obvious to scientists that one person does not single-handedly “discover the human genome”, as Dawkins was clarifying. And he wasn’t attacking Collins’ skill as a scientist, I mean c’mon, the guy discovered the gene for CF.
It is a little bit telling if Collins literally believes in parts of the Bible like the talking snake, and I think it’s absolutely justified that Dawkins thinks anyone who believes in things like that are… not the brightest people.
I don’t think Dawkins is elitist or pretentious. Usually, I find him to be soft spoken and a consummate gentlemen. I guess it was Dawkins having a hard time saying Collins was a bright guy until Maher compared him to Tony Blair (who RD doesn’t like at all). Also, down playing Collins role to just an administrator seemed a little unfair. I’m assuming he only said the last part about Collins not being bright as a sort of joke since Maher mentioned the talking snake. I’m actually going to have to find that clip with Collins saying that.
I am a huge fan of Dawkins, and consider him an asset to the atheist and scientific community. I was just a little disturbed by the dismissive attitude about Christians; I don’t think they’re stupid, although I think their beliefs are irrational. I just don’t want to turn off moderate/liberal Christians to evolution because of attacks on Christian intelligence. If we’re going to beat the fundamentalists, we’ll need their help as well.
As one of his converts, I love Richard Dawkins. On the other hand, I wish he hadn’t downplayed Collins’ intelligence, and I think it’s a mistake to cast aspersions on the intelligence of believers in general.
I heard an interview with Francis Collins on Fresh Air about a month ago, and I didn’t get the impression he was a “talking snake” kind of a guy.
Watched the show last night. Dawkins says right out that Collins doesn’t believe in the talking snake, and referenced Collins’s book to make the point. So why is this even a question?
writerdd: “Watched the show last night. Dawkins says right out that Collins doesn’t believe in the talking snake”
I finished watching the show a few minutes ago (and after Maher’s comments about girls’ bullying it may be the last time I watch his show), and Dawkins appeared to change his mind about whether Collins believes in the “talking snake” after Maher told him that Collins did believe it. I rewatched the interview from the clip, and not only did I not hear him refer to Collins’ book, but Dawkins seemed to not even know that Collins was a Christian.
That’s not true… Dawkins knows full well that Collins is an Evangelical Christian. Their names graced the cover of Time magazine because they debated on the existence of God. Several times, Collins’ Christianity was brought up.
I think Dawkins thought his Christianity was limited to saying God created us via evolution… Dawkins didn’t think Collins believed in Genesis literally. And when Maher mentioned it, Dawkins was taken aback.
Hemant Mehta: “Dawkins knows full well that Collins is an Evangelical Christian.”
Yet a little after four minutes and fourteen seconds into the interview, Dawkins said of Collins, “Maybe he believes in some kind of God. Maybe he even believes in Jesus Christ.” There’s be no reason for those maybes if Dawkins had recalled that Collins was an Evangelical Christian. Perhaps Dawkins’ memory of his debate with Collins was fuzzy, but in any case, he did not show in the interview that he knew that Collins was a Christian.
It was really Maher who said that Collins believed in the talking snake, and all Dawkins said was, “IF that is true, then he goes right down in my estimation. He is not a bright guy.”
The if clause there is important.
We believe in talking birds (African Grey Parrot). Why is a talking snake such a stretch? We have evidence of an animal that speaks today, yet no one can prove that snakes have never spoken. It all seems so silly. If atheist want to label faith as fantasy, perhaps they should pick better examples.
I saw the interview. Thanks for posting the clip.
And I love the Dawkins analogy on “imaginary friends.” Isn’t that so poignant? That is my new anti-religion slogan, “I don’t expect you to play with my imaginary friends, why must you insist I play with yours?” I’m always looking for a quick way to sum up the lunacy of insisting someone ELSE adopt your supernatural belief system.
‘I don’t think Dawkins is elitist’
He’s an Oxford professor, you’d hope he would be.
This is the thing … Dawkins is a heavyweight academic, schooled in the English education system. When he’s arguing with someone, he’s going to have the courtesy to bring facts and logic and reasoning and authority to the table - if someone debating him doesn’t have the courtesy to even define terms, it’s going to look like steamrolling.
He’s not *arrogant*, he’s *right*. If you disagree with that, explain how he’s wrong, and explain how using words that mean what words normally mean and worked counterexamples. If you can’t, don’t be surprised if you look and are treated like an idiot.
To CJ…
Snake species do not have vocal chords. Please explain how they could possibly ‘talk’ as you refer to the specific way in which parrots mimic speech without having any biological systems with which to properly intercourse.
I agree with Struby
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