More Epiphanies from Richard Dawkins
I WAS NEVER A VERY GOOD BIRD-WATCHER or bug hunter. It was always the philosophical questions, the deep questions of existence. THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO CANNOT BEAR CLARITY. What theyre used to is a kind of muddled, obfuscating obscurantism. And when they hear somebody talking clearly and straightforwardly, its so unexpected that it sounds aggressive. ...
I WAS NEVER A VERY GOOD BIRD-WATCHER or bug hunter. It was always the philosophical questions, the deep questions of existence.
I WAS NEVER A VERY GOOD BIRD-WATCHER or bug hunter. It was always the philosophical questions, the deep questions of existence.
THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO CANNOT BEAR CLARITY. What theyre used to is a kind of muddled, obfuscating obscurantism. And when they hear somebody talking clearly and straightforwardly, its so unexpected that it sounds aggressive.
I WAS CONFIRMED INTO THE CHURCH of England at the age of 13, and [I remember] it gave me a sort of warm, glowing feeling. But I think, even at the time, it was pretty baffling. It didnt make sense in the way other subjects like history and mathematics made sense. And it didnt take me very long after that to get rid of it altogether.
I WOULD NEVER SAY THAT I HAD [RELIGION] RAMMED DOWN MY THROAT in an indoctrination kind of way. At school, we went to church every Sunday, and we had prayers every night and every morning, come to think of it. But I wouldnt call that really unpleasant indoctrination the way it would have been if Id been brought up Catholic.
ONE OF MY FATHERS FAVORITE MAXIMS is Its never too late to start. You should never say, Oh no, its too late to start that now. I should have done that 20 years ago.
[MY CRITICS] use words like strident and shrill and aggressive and dogmatic and fundamentalist [to describe me]. I suspect that people who use those words probably havent actually read [my book] The God Delusion, which I like to think is a funny book.
WE ARE EMOTIONAL ANIMALS. Im actually almost ashamed to admit that if I try to read certain poems aloud, I find that I cant go on. My voice cracks, and it is happening increasingly as I get older. But its very easy to mistake that kind of feeling in the pit of the chest for a religious impulse. Its nothing of the kind.
Richard Dawkins is Charles Simonyi professor of the public understanding of science at Oxford University and author, most recently, of The God Delusion (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006).
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