Ask Richard Dawkins About Evolution, Religion, and Science Education

Richard Dawkins is an author and an evolutionary biologist. For 13 years, he held the Simonyi Professorship at the University of Oxford. His 1976 book The Selfish Gene helped popularize the gene-centric view of evolution and coined the word "meme." Several other of his books, including Climbing Mount Improbable, River Out of Eden, and The Greatest Show on Earth have helped to explain aspects of evolution in a way non-scientists can more easily understand. Dawkins is a frequent opponent of creationism and intelligent design, and he generated widespread controversy and debate in 2006 with The God Delusion, a book that subjected common religious beliefs to unyielding scientific scrutiny. He wrote, "One of the truly bad effects of religion is that it teaches us that it is a virtue to be satisfied with not understanding." Most recently, Dawkins wrote The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True, a graphic book that aims to introduce kids to science. He's also recently begun a video series titled "Sex, Death, and the Meaning of Life" about how our world would look without religion. Mr. Dawkins has graciously agreed to answer some questions for us. Post your suggestions in the comments below, but please limit yourself to one question per post. We'll post his responses sometime next week.

Comments

Why do you deny God?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is it because you are jealous of Him?

Re:Democratic society without religion?

[CubicleZombie]

Good post. You've thrown all kinds of contradictions into the issue.

As you'll see very soon, a newborn baby is no different than a near term fetus. No difference at all. In fact, the only reason they pop out at ~40 weeks is because they don't fit anymore, not that they're done developing. For at least the first three months, your baby will be an eating pooping blob. Books even call that time the "fourth trimester" of pregnancy. So by the logic of no-difference-between-blastocyst-and-baby, abortion should be legal up to 3 months old. And it should still be called "abortion". So if the outside-the-womb-fetus cries too much and you change your mind about being a parent, just carry it down to the clinic and have it aborted.