Who is Richard Dawkins and what are his thoughts about Atheism?

Answer 1

Answer

Richard Dawkins was born 1941 in East Africa. A British Zoologist, he is the Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University; Fellow of New College; Fellow of The Royal Society

Brought up in an Anglican family, Richard Dawkins is an atheist.

Views on atheism

Perhaps the best of the available euphemisms for atheist is nontheist. It lacks the connotation of positive conviction that there is definitely no god, and it could therefore easily be embraced by Teapot or Tooth Fairy Agnostics. It is less familiar than atheist and lacks its phobic connotations. Yet, unlike a completely new coining, its meaning is clear. If we want a euphemism at all, nontheist is probably the best.

The alternative which I favour is to renounce all euphemisms and grasp the nettle of the word atheism itself, precisely because it is a taboo word carrying frissons of hysterical phobia. Critical mass may be harder to achieve than with some non-confrontational euphemism, but if we did achieve it with the dread word atheist, the political impact would be all the greater. By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out. I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world.

Religion teaches the dangerous nonsense that death is not the end.

== By Richard Dawkins