I had a deep discussion about god this weekend with a man who has three kids, has owned several businesses, and is fifty years old.

Although I made clear to him that I was firmly atheistic, he repetitively urged me to "open your heart to god and ask him to come in" because "all the answers you need are in the bible. Open it to any page, and you will find the answer you need." I felt rather duplicitous within the conversation. On the outside, I was listening respectfully as if he were making sensible statements, but on the inside I was just marvelling at how many layers of delusion this guy has applied to every area of his life. If I were truly honest and not such hypocrite, I would have told him that we can't be friends any more because he is clearly schizophrenic and I worry what he might do if the voices in his head start telling him bad things.

good heavens I do think I would have to shoot myself in the head if I ever had to be a guest on this show.

budd, no!

Experienced a similar "persuasive" speaker. What shocked and sorta alienated me was that the person trying to convince me, of all people, was my psychiatrist. He used the same type of argument budzos mentioned, spiced up with some D.I.Y. experimentation/"homework" which pretty much = go home tonight and pray to God and if something "good" happens, then there's your evidence; viola insta-conversion! He thought he was quite clever. 1st and last time there...

richard and judy are kind of like rabbits caught in headlights, why are they so damn jittery?! they seem to have problems forming sentences and have absolutely no depth. they're just the types of people that make richard dawkins feel the need to go about teaching people how to understand basic reality.
wasnt too impressed with the first part of dawkins' new prog 'The Enemies of Reason', no way near as good as 'The root of all evil', there just wasnt enough said.

Judy is a silly cow, she really is. Sinfully ugly as well. The Richard But Not Judy show might actually be worth watching.

Much as I admire Dawkins, I do worry that he's the wrong weapon to use in the War On Stupidity. People - especially the people who need to listen to him the most - seem to find the archetypal Oxford don persona patronising and arrogant. No one likes it when beliefs that they rely on for emotional support are demonstrated to be false.

Ah well, so much for the Enlightenment.

I'm betting not a single viewer of these videos became an atheist because of them. Dawkins is no Guitar Hero.

Before anyone jumps on me, I'm not in support of these interviewers. However, it has to be said that until Mr. Dawkins adjusts the lense of his microscopic view on humanity, he will continue to miss the important point that religion and its beliefs are just one of many excuses mankind uses to justify atrocity and inhumanity to fellow human beings.

Until he gains this wider perspective, as well as a bit of empathy, compassion and humility, he will be locked into repetition of his ineffectual tirade, rather than become a real and dynamic driving force behind the eradication of ignorance and suffering in the world.

he will continue to miss the important point that religion and its beliefs are just one of many excuses mankind uses to justify atrocity and inhumanity to fellow human beings.

I'm betting not a single viewer of these videos became an atheist because of them. Dawkins is no Guitar Hero.

Did any of you two even watch this before posting? This clip focuses on the scams of astrology, new age, psychics, cold reading, dowsers and other nonsense, and leaves your imaginary friend completely be.

That being said, I dont think Dawkins/atheism videos convert people on the spot either, but I think Dawkins views are very, very far from persephones "microscopic view on humanity" (please see "Queerer than we can suppose" to see how "dogmatic" RD really is.. : http://www.videosift.com/video/Richard-Dawkins-TED-The-Strangeness-of-Science-22-min(and no there are no atheist "preaching" there either))

You also probably judge him from the title of "Root of all Evil?", a title he objected to, and has ever since tried to distance himself from, he did get the question mark in there, but I guess thats not enough for people who only reads by title.. Dawkins has never actually claimed religion truly is the root of all evil, what he does say its that it does little good and much harm.

I cant speak for Dawkins, but if I could change the title slightly, I'd perhaps call it "The root of just evil" because I cant see anything good thats ever come from believing incredibly arrogant, ignorant things about the way the world works, nor have I ever seen a good deed committed in the name of these ideas that are not -or could just as well be- a result of genuine human solidarity and a reasoned view on things.

If we humans didnt know right from wrong innatley, we would have no way to distinguish between the best ideas of Jesus and the worst of Hitler..

But when we hear stuff like "love thy next as yourself" or "do onto others" etc, it rings like music in our ears, because we already know it.

I feel sorry for Dawkins.

"No one likes it when beliefs that they rely on for emotional support are demonstrated to be false."
Ah well, so much for the Enlightenment."

haggis' throwing up of hands comment there at the end, are my own sentiments-There are those who refuse to see the place in so-called, enlightened societies, for a simple statement of mystical, operational fact, that if followed instinctively or otherwise by all sentients, would begin to correct the world's ills-"Do unto others" and "love thy neighbor", while most commonly attributed to Jesus, are to be found in EVERY religious, mystical,text, and are operational guidelines for life on the planet, necessary for evolution, for maintaining an environment for continued breakthroughs in science, medicine, and understanding of the physical universe....nothing mystical about it, you kill one another or yourselves, and the human experience, ceases to be.

Like most atheists who are unable to see the forest, for the trees of The Crusades, The Vatican, or the "atrocities" in the name of religion......this "baby with the bathwater" shit with regard to spirituality, is as fucking toxic to mankind, as mercury is to fish-eaters.

Check the Vedic or Buddhist texts if you want a road map to the stars, or need to know just what kind of planet it would be, without simple truths of the cosmos, watered down for the average monkey, in the form of "messages from God"

And to all these comments where folks feel so sorry for another in their "delusion"???....CHECK A FUCKING MIRROR!!
If you wake up in the morning, thinking that you have a handle on the finer OR simpler points of the human condition.....Then you are an IDIOT.

Like most atheists who are unable to see the forest, for the trees of The Crusades, The Vatican, or the "atrocities" in the name of religion......this "baby with the bathwater" shit with regard to spirituality, is as fucking toxic to mankind, as mercury is to fish-eaters.

As usual, most of your points here is scrambled by strange metaphorical-power-rants, but if I understand correctly, throwing out superstitious beliefs because of the atrocities done in its name, is supposed to be wrong because we fail to see the spiritual values and benefits of them? Well, I dont throw em out over their numerous and hideous crimes, I throw em out because they are not true. In addition to that they stand in the way of REAL understanding and REAL progress towards a better world for us all. Religion and unreason has never, and will never bring ANYTHING of any use to a society. we have 10000 years of history to prove it. Only when people have become LESS superstitious, has there been progress. The scientific method, reason and understanding has pretty much given us everything that is of any use to us, both materially and morally. Both directly and indirectly.

Take racism, usually its not seen as tied to science etc, and surely there is nothing specific in science that says you cant hate a skin-colour, but science and investigation widens our perspective of the world. Through science, we have seen that we are all just a bunch of lucky primates on a speck of dust in the vastness of space,and this new perspective of the world, as opposed to the ignorant, tribalized nonsense we used to trade in, has given us the heads-up on just how plain silly arguments over skin-colour can be. Religion fails to improve our perspectives like this, because it thrives on ignorance, and old, dogmatic ideas, at its best, its "the best they could do" at the time when it was invented, which is usually long ago.

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sillllllverrrrrr....glad to be able to revive a video like this.

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