Richard Dawkins on The Late Late Show - RTE

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Comments

[Jama]

I’m so sorry to keep posting on this topic, but the light just went on, it’s dim, but it’s on. I have felt a bit frustrated with the intellectual arguments. One, they make me sick to my stomach because of the sheer emotion on the part of the ones disagreeing. Two, I keep thinking that maybe I’m just not as advanced intellectually. Maybe that’s true because all he had to say is a belief in god is like that of having an imaginary friend, and OHHHH! Now, I’m getting somewhere. My imaginary friend was very real to me, but eventually I grew out of it when it no longer met my needs.
I continue to struggle with what he says because my mind can’t grasp a world without a divine creator. It’s too beautiful, too mysterious. Now, I’ve read and listened and watched him argue this point over and over. I still can’t let that go.
He is ahead of his time and yes he cuts to the point with such a sharp, unforgiving honesty. I think more people should be like that. I love how he continues to stay calm while the “believers” continue to argue what to him is a completely moot point and they prove his point without him having to say anything, really. Some, I think, are angered to the point of violence. Their arguments and mine all seem so terribly foolish.

With that being said I wish you a very Merry (American) Christmas.

[Jett Loe]

Please feel free to comment as much as you like Jama!

Yes, there can be in discussions of this kind the problems you allude to re: struggling intellectually - a lot of the folks you see asking questions of Dawkins in these series of videos do not have his conceptual abilities - that, and anger, gets in the way.

Lots of folks just don't get it - evolution for instance - they get hung up on the idea of humans as animals, "I didn't come from no monkey!", and fail to see that we're living in a GIANT SYSTEM that's EVOLVING all around us; including us. We're evolving, so are all the plants, bacteria and the rest of the animals.

Jeez, you know, all of our ideas - the things we state as existing independent of ourselves are just constructs - love, beauty, etc. Who's to say another civilization on a far away planet could even recognize the idea of 'love', (this comes to mind in reference to those who've told me that 'God is love' - what hubris to think that something that evolved in this tiny little grain of sand amongst a billion beaches is some sort of universal construct?).

And, as one of the folks in the audience in this clip points out, once you've read The Selfish Gene - oh man. To see evolution through natural selection not as a competition between species or even individuals - but as a fight between competing genes, even within a single animal, oh boy - the idea of ourselves as Robots - gladiators for our genes - comes into play. We can certainly view ourselves, our culture, our whole history as just the puttering of biomechanical machines, unaware until recently of the reasons behind why we act the way we do.

And on that note - I wish you a Merry (Belfast) Christmas as well.

[Jama]

You lost me with the Selfish Gene stuff. Add that to the book list I guess. I skipped ahead to Chapter 10 tonight and I do feel very Consoled and Inspired. Dawkins is kind in that for someone like me, who sees the world through emotional eyes and makes decisions from an emotional base, he is able to speak to me. I know rationally that there cannot be a "God" in a parental sense, or even as an ultimate creator sense. But, I've been heartbroken by these thoughts. When I look at something like a sunset, my instict is to say a prayer of thanks to the God that created it. But, if I remove God from the equation and replace that with science it still has the ability to move me to tears. And when one really sits with it, the science I mean, it can create a greater sense of gratitude and awe. It's crazy! Really amazing. I need more time with this but I do feel in some way relieved that I feel that I'm not the only one concerned with what I should fill the "God-sized hole" in my life with. I don't know what the answer is yet. Who knows. Maybe once I really take a good look at it, I will see that the hole isn't really that big. And I suppose, while I'm at it, I should also add something good on Quantum theory to that book list, too.

Thanks for putting all of this on your blog, Jett. It's been so fun to explore and have a place to put my ramblings. :-)

[Jett Loe]

Sorry to hear about the 'God-sized hole' in your life; how bout this: love your fellow human as you would yourself / try to leave the world a better place than you found it. Stuff like that.

And don't forget how lucky we are - we've got clean drinking water for goodness sakes. Food. Shelter. A lot of people don't.

Do something nice today for someone. Ok, that's enough for now! :-)