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=== Advocacy of atheism ===
Dawkins lecturing on his book The God Delusion, 24 June 2006.
Dawkins is an outspoken atheist[1] and is a supporter of various atheist, secular, and humanistic organisations.[2][3] [4][5][6][7][8] Although he was confirmed into the Church of England at the age of thirteen, he started to lose his religious faith when he discovered Darwin.[9] He revealed that his understanding evolution led him to atheism[10] and is puzzled by the belief in God among scientifically-literate individuals.[11] He disagrees with Stephen Jay Gould's principle of nonoverlapping magisteria[12]and considers the existence of God to be just a scientific hypothesis like any other.[13] Dawkins became a prominent critic of religion and has stated his opposition to religion is twofold: Religion is both a source of conflict and a justification for belief without evidence.[14] He considers faith—belief that is not based on evidence—as one of the world's great evils.[15] He rose to prominence in public debates relating science and religion since the publication of his book The God Delusion in 2006, which became an international best seller.[16] Its success has been seen by many as indicative of a change in the contemporary cultural zeitgeist and has also been identified with rise of New Atheism.[17]
Dawkins sees education and consciousness-raising as the primary tools in opposing what he considers to be religious dogma and indoctrination.[18][19][20] These tools include the fight against certain stereotypes, and he has adopted the term Bright as a way of associating positive public connotations with those who possess a naturalistic worldview.[20] He has given support to the idea of a free thinking school,[21] which would not indoctrinate children in atheism or in any religion but would instead teach children to be critical and open-minded.[22][23] Inspired by the consciousness raising successes of feminists in arousing widespread embarrassment at the routine use of "he" instead of "she", Dawkins similarly suggests that phrases such as "Catholic child" and "Muslim child" should be considered as socially absurd as, for instance, "Marxist child", as he believes that children should not be classified based on their parents' ideological or religious beliefs.[20]
Dawkins with Ariane Sherine at the Atheist Bus Campaign launch in London
Dawkins suggests that atheists should be proud, not apologetic, stressing that atheism is evidence of a healthy, independent mind.[24] He hopes that the more atheists identify themselves, the more the public will become aware of just how many people actually hold these views, thereby reducing the negative opinion of atheism among the religious majority.[25][26] Inspired by the gay rights movement, he founded the Out Campaign to encourage atheists worldwide to declare their stance publicly and proudly.[27] He supported the UK's first atheist advertising initiative, the Atheist Bus Campaign in 2008, which aimed to raise funds to place atheist advertisements on buses in the London area.
Dawkin's advocacy of atheism has been controversial. Writers such as Christopher Hitchens have defended his stridency while Nobel laureates Sir Harold Kroto and James D. Watson and psychologist Steven Pinker have praised his book, The God Delusion.[28][29] In contrast, literary critic Terry Eagleton, theologian Alister McGrath, and science philosopher Michael Ruse[30][31] have accused Dawkins of being ignorant of theology and therefore unable to engage religion and faith intelligently while scientists such as Martin Rees and Peter Higgs have disparaged Dawkin's attacks on religion as unhelpful and fundamentalistic.[32][33][34][35] In response to his critics, Dawkins maintains that theologians are no better than scientists in addressing deep cosmological questions and that he himself was not a fundamentalist as he was willing to change his mind in the face of new evidence.[36][37][38][39]


  1. ^ Bass, Thomas A. (1994). Reinventing the future: Conversations with the World's Leading Scientists. Addison Wesley. p. 118. ISBN 978-0-201-62642-1.
  2. ^ "Our Honorary Associates". National Secular Society. 2005. Retrieved 2007-04-21.
  3. ^ "Curriculum vitae of Richard Dawkins". The University of Oxford. Archived from the original on 2008-04-23. Retrieved 2008-03-13.[dead link]
  4. ^ "The HSS Today". The Humanist Society of Scotland. 2007. Retrieved 2008-04-03.
  5. ^ "Secular Coalition for America Advisory Board Biography". Secular.org. Retrieved 2010-07-29.
  6. ^ "The International Academy Of Humanism — Humanist Laureates". Council for Secular Humanism. Retrieved 2008-04-07.
  7. ^ "The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry — Fellows". The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Archived from the original on 2008-06-15. Retrieved 2008-04-07.
  8. ^ "Humanism and Its Aspirations — Notable Signers". American Humanist Association. Retrieved 2010-02-09.
  9. ^ McNally, Terrence (2007). "Atheist Richard Dawkins on 'The God Delusion'". alternet.org. Retrieved 2012-12-30. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  10. ^ Sheahen, Laura (October 2005). "The Problem with God: Interview with Richard Dawkins (2)". Beliefnet.com. Retrieved 2008-04-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  11. ^ "Interview with Richard Dawkins". PBS. Retrieved 2008-04-12.
  12. ^ Van Biema, David (5 November 2006). "God vs. Science (3)". Time. Retrieved 2008-04-03.
  13. ^ Dawkins, Richard (2006). The God Delusion. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. p. 50. ISBN 0-618-68000-4.
  14. ^ Dawkins, Richard (2006). The God Delusion. Transworld Publishers. pp. 282–286. ISBN 0-593-05548-9.
  15. ^ Dawkins, Richard. "Is Science A Religion?". The Humanist. Retrieved 2012-12-31.
  16. ^ Powell, Michael. "A Knack for Bashing Orthodoxy". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-12-31.
  17. ^ Hooper, Simon. "The rise of the New Atheists". CNN. Retrieved 2010-03-16.
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference belief interview was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ Smith, Alexandra (27 November 2006). "Dawkins campaigns to keep God out of classroom". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2007-01-15.
  20. ^ a b c Dawkins, Richard (21 June 2003). "The future looks bright". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2008-03-13.
  21. ^ Powell, Michael (19 September 2011). "A Knack for Bashing Orthodoxy". The New York Times. p. 4. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
  22. ^ Beckford, Martin (24 June 2010). "Richard Dawkins interested in setting up 'atheist free school'". London: Telegraph. Retrieved 2010-07-29.
  23. ^ Garner, Richard (2010-07-29). "Gove welcomes atheist schools – Education News, Education". The Independent. London. Retrieved 2010-07-29.
  24. ^ Dawkins, Richard (2006). The God Delusion. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. p. 3. ISBN 0-618-68000-4.
  25. ^ Chittenden, Maurice (23 December 2007). "Dawkins to preach atheism to US". London: The Sunday Times. Retrieved 2008-04-01. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  26. ^ Dawkins, Richard (24 October 2007). "Richard Dawkins speech at Atheist Alliance International Convention 2007". The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. RichardDawkins.net. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
  27. ^ "The Out Campaign (original announcement)". RichardDawkins.net. 30 July 2007. Archived from the original on 2008-04-30. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
  28. ^ "The God Delusion — Reviews". RichardDawkins.net. Archived from the original on 2008-07-02. Retrieved 2008-04-08.
  29. ^ Hitchens, Christopher (February 3, 2012). "In Defense of Richard Dawkins". London: Free Inquiry. Retrieved 2013-01-01.
  30. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/nov/02/atheism-dawkins-ruse
  31. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2012/oct/02/richard-dawkins-humanists-religion-atheists
  32. ^ London Review of books, Vol. 28 No. 20 · 19 October 2006 pages 32-34
  33. ^ McGrath, Alister (2004). Dawkins' God: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life. Oxford, England: Blackwell Publishing. p. 81. ISBN 1-4051-2538-1.
  34. ^ Dawkins, Richard (17 September 2007). "Do you have to read up on leprechology before disbelieving in them?". RichardDawkins.net. Retrieved 2007-11-14.
  35. ^ Jha, Alok (29 May 2007). "Scientists divided over alliance with religion". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2008-03-17.
  36. ^ Dawkins, Richard (2006). The God Delusion. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. p. 56. ISBN 0-618-68000-4.
  37. ^ Dawkins, Richard (2006). "When Religion Steps on Science's Turf". Free Inquiry magazine. Retrieved 2008-04-03.
  38. ^ Dawkins, Richard (2006). The God Delusion. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. pp. 55–56. ISBN 0-618-68000-4.
  39. ^ Dawkins, Richard. "How dare you call me a fundamentalist". Richard Dawkins Foundation. Retrieved 28 December 2012.



Dawkin's advocacy of atheism has been controversial, and he has received both praise and criticism from prominent scientists, theologians, and writers alike.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

  1. ^ London Review of books, Vol. 28 No. 20 · 19 October 2006 pages 32-34
  2. ^ McGrath, Alister (2004). Dawkins' God: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life. Oxford, England: Blackwell Publishing. p. 81. ISBN 1-4051-2538-1.
  3. ^ Jha, Alok (26 December 2012). "Peter Higgs criticises Richard Dawkins over anti-religious 'fundamentalism'". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
  4. ^ "The God Delusion — Reviews". RichardDawkins.net. Archived from the original on 2008-07-02. Retrieved 2008-04-08.
  5. ^ Ruse, Michael (2 November 2009). "Dawkins et al bring us into disrepute". The Guardian.
  6. ^ http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n20/terry-eagleton/lunging-flailing-mispunching
  7. ^ http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/dawkinsthedogmatist/
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