Sunday, November 19, 2006

 

Godless Dawkins challenges schools

From The Sunday Times (UK) November 19, 2006: Richard Dawkins, the Oxford University professor and campaigning atheist, is planning to take his fight against God into the classroom by flooding schools with anti-religious literature.

He is setting up a charity that will subsidise books, pamphlets and DVDs attacking the "educational scandal" of theories such as creationism while promoting rational and scientific thought.

The foundation will also attempt to divert donations from the hands of "missionaries" and church-based charities.

His plans are sparking criticism from academics, religious leaders and fellow scientists. The Church of England described them as "disturbing", while others complained that Dawkins's foundation bore the "whiff of a campaigning organisation" rather than a charity.

John Hall, dean of Westminster and the Church of England's chief education officer, said: "I would be very disturbed if this project was going to be widely supported because it's not based on reasoned argument."

Dawkins, Oxford's professor of the public understanding of science, is the author of various bestsellers extolling evolution, such as The Selfish Gene (Amazon Astore UK | US). His latest book, The God Delusion (Amazon Astore UK | US), is a sustained polemic against religious faith.

Article: "Godless Dawkins challenges schools" [Education, Atheism]

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See "Richard Dawkins' New Anglo-American Charity: 'Our Mission' Video":

RichardDawkins.net has been split into two: The 'original' "The Official Richard Dawkins Website", which will continue to promote books such as The God Delusion, and the non-profit "The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science" whose 'Our Mission' video is shown below...

Books on Creationism from the Science and Evolution Bookshop: UK | US

There are a number of articles (book reviews, etc.) and videos ('The Root of All Evil? - 'The God Delusion', 'The Virus of Faith; 'The Blind Watchmaker'; 'The Colbert Report') featuring Richard Dawkins in this blog (and more) - just type "God Delusion" into the search box in the top left-hand corner of the page and look for 'Video' in the titles.

Excerpt: Chapter 1 of 'The God Delusion' (Amazon Astore UK | US) is available here from the New York Times but (free) registration may be required. [Review]

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