cynicalbastard

Has fundamentalist athiest Richard Dawkins finally taken one step too far? Suggesting the not-exactly-pretty woman at the centre of the BA cross scandal had ‘one of the stupidest faces I’d ever seen’ is one thing. It’s all in a day’s work for the arch-rationalist bully covering his ears and shouting ‘la la la I can’t hear you.’.

But taking on Peter Kay, one of Britain’s most-loved comedians? Not very bright at all really. Certainly, it won’t be wise to come up to Greater Manchester any time soon.

And what’s the nature of his complaint? That people who happen to believe in God find comfort in it. Well, shucks, maybe that’s the point? And maybe the search for that comfort is rather central to the human experience—it hasn’t done badly for our culture in terms of art, music and all that stuff that makes life worth living after all. We can’t all find our sense of purpose in a blinding lack of self-awareness, a surfeit of smugness and total intolerance, as does Dawkins.

Funny, though, that he suggests his problem with religion is about ‘truth’. Never mind the rather deep philosophical nature of the search for truth, Dawkins’ connection to fact is somewhat lacking throughout ‘The God Delusion’. The permanent scar in my wall from the book being bounced against it was caused by the book’s lack of understanding of history, philosophy, ethics, or, well, anything very much.

And, patently, what ordinary people tend to think and feel. Course, they’re all ’stupid’ as far as the dear Prof. is concerned. And why should stupid people be allowed to publish books? It might affect Dawkins’ own future plans, of course.