[grifpete]

You're entitled to your opinion on his crusades against religion. But let's bear in mind that there are those of us who consider religious irrationalism a key challenge of our age, nationally and internationally, and hence that such a crusade is important.

[lotsofmangos]

Yes, but he is royally screwing it up by being such a complete and utter arse about everything.

Also, you can't go and identify religion as being the biggest peril of our age when you have folk like Stalin lurking in the background of the 20th century to suggest that maybe it just might be blind adherence to dogma that is the actual issue here and that atheist political theories are just as susceptible to that particular meme as the religious when it comes to justifying blood with false utopias. I got no problem with people of a book, or not of a book, or whatever. I just have problems with the ones who take it seriously enough to kill over whose interpretation of the unknowable is correct.

And you cannot have a crusade against religious irrationality. A crusade is a religious war. It just doesn't work.

[socceroos]

Where do I subscribe to your magazine...

[droopyEyelids]

Let's also remember there are people who believe that insults and condescension are the least effective ways to help someone see they are acting irrationally, and that attacking a group of people's shared identity is the worst way to work with them on the substance of the challenges of our time.

[MarkPNeyer]

> attacking a group of people's shared identity is the worst way to work with them on the substance of the challenges of our time

"when we insult their intelligence and mock the things they hold sacred, they fight harder against us. maybe we should try something different?"

"are you crazy? they're bad guys. they believe what they want, regardless of what empirical reality says. now let's do the exact same thing again, maybe it will work better this time."

[deciplex]

You're right it's a poor way to change someone's mind, and certainly doesn't foster inclusion, but what of people who are still making up their mind? Mainly, I'm talking about young people who have been raised in a mostly religious context, but haven't gone head-over-heels yet.

It might be that challenging superstition in the most brutal way possible (outside of physical violence, that is), serves to promote more rational beliefs among this group.

[ende]

But it sure puts food on the table if you're a starving Princton economist!

[dllthomas]

Some of us have sympathy for his cause and still think his writings on evolution (out of a sense of "check out how amazing and exciting this stuff is!") are overwhelmingly better than his writings on religion (even if we frequently appreciate snark).

[wisty]

The problem is, Dawkins preaches to the converted. Only atheists and creationists listen to him, and neither are likely to change their minds.

[k-mcgrady]

>> "The problem is, Dawkins preaches to the converted. Only atheists and creationists listen to him, and neither are likely to change their minds."

This is very true. Over the last year I've been swayed towards atheism but people like Dawkins turn me off. Despite his protests that he isn't arrogant and people just mistake his confidence for it he is a smug, arrogant git. He's right about a lot of things but it seems he and a lot of 'famous' atheists just trade in religious fanaticism for science fanaticism. His fanaticism drives me away from atheism the same way that fundamental Christian fanaticism drives me away from religion.

[mikeash]

Just because it's important doesn't mean Dawkins does anything useful for it.