Here are some quotes from his interview with Richard Dawkins on BBC Newsnight.
Paxman (0:49): ...from our earliest years, we have learned to suspend disbelief. And that, apparently, is how we condition impressionable brains to absorb religious hogwash.
Dawkins (7:58): The problem is that 40% of the American people think it [the Genesis creation story] is literally true. And they probably think Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt as well, for that matter.
Paxman (8:07): Do you really care that there are a lot of stupid people around?
Dawkins (8:11): I do, actually, yes. I care that children are being mislead by those stupid people.
4 comments:
I agree with him on the children's education and I congratulate myself I didn't pass along the Good Book God Jesus Holy Trio Deal Meal from Above as I was fed at the youngest age.
For the unfortunate choice of words well we'll see how it unfolds for Richard.
I wonder if Mitt still reads british press... nah.
I thought it was a rather even-handed review. The objectionable word, "stupid", could have been omitted, but Paxman wasn't talking about *all* religious people... just the ones who take Genesis literally, or believe Lot's wife was really turned into a pillar of salt. Those people could fairly be described as "stupid", though maybe "feeble-minded" or "credulous" might have sounded better. Anyone who believes the story about Mrs. Lot also has to believe that Lot's two daughters committed pre-meditated drug-assisted incest with their father. Hmmm... inbreeding is a known contributing cause to intellectual deficit... maybe these people *are* descended from Lot. ^_^
Steve Weeks
I wish I would have learn the truth of creation from a very early age. For 20 years I believe in genesis and now I look back and I think, 'how ridiculous I sound it.' I defended this stories and literally stop talking to people who believe differently. Now I feel stupid for my past but smart about the future after I learn a more accurate science studies. I would never let my children experience what I experience when I was religious, I can't blind them to the beauty of discovering the unknown by giving them myth as the answer to all of our questions
I can't believe that at one time I was dumb enough to think like Dawkins and believe we are related to monkeys. But after studying the myth of evolution I came to turn against it. I have 3 of Dawkins books, and when I look back at them they seem so silly and childish now.
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