Richard Dawkins - Speaks in Lynchberg Virginia
PART 1: Richard Dawkins reads excerpts from The God Delusion and answers questions at Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia on October 23, 2006. This Q&A features many questions from Jerry Falwell's Liberty "University" students.
PART 2: Richard Dawkins reads excerpts from The God Delusion and answers questions at Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia on October 23, 2006. This Q&A features many questions from Jerry Falwell's Liberty "University" students.
I found the second video where Professor Dawkins takes questions from the audience to be the most interesting. So, if you have time, watch at least the second video. You will be glad that you did.
LINKS:
"The meme for blind faith secures its own perpetuation by the simple unconscious expedient of discouraging rational inquiry." - Richard Dawkins
posted by beepbeepitsme | 9:25 am
9 Comments:
Interesting
Only what we see is real - yet we see so much that is unreal, bad acting and not just on tv. So we cannot trust our eyes you see, for how can we know for sure what we see is real or unreal, true or false - put our finger on the pulse
Death, suffering, pain, disease, greed, selfishness, killing are they the only reality (or illusion)
Birth, kindness, selflessness, joy, pleasure, happiness are they reality or just fleeting illusion
Somewhere between the two states we oscillate - is there a right or wrong in the eye of the beholder it appears both are equally strong.
We can test for the natural world. No test that I am aware of, for the existence of the supernatural world.
That's Lynchburg, Virginia. Had I been aware Dawkins was in my own state I would've gone to hear him (its about a 4 hour drive). But now I can just watch from my own computer. Thanks.
RE darwin:
Virginia has got to be a tough act for an atheist, agnostic or a skeptic.
Yeah, I spelt Lynchburg incorrectly in the title, but ok in the text. I gotta learn to spell check.
I think if I went to the states for a holiday, I would need to stay out of the bible belt. Frankly, the place scares the crappola out of me.
Similar thing happens in small towns around australia. People get fixed in their ways, they are very insular and change happens extremely slowly...
If I go back to my smallish hometown, I am always appalled at what is considered fact. It is like they live in a timewarp.
I watched that several times on C-Span. The Q&A segment was a little annoying because apparently the lights were shining so brightly on Dawkins that he could not see his questioners, and he kept having to walk to the edge of the stage and use his hand to shield his eyes from the light.
There are some places in rural Virginia where you wouldn't want to wear your "God is dead" T-shirt, that's for sure, but in the larger metropolitan areas around DC, Richmond and the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area its not so much a problem. Few people to agree with you, but they aren't going to set you on fire either.
Darwin's right. Even in Bible belted parts of the U.S., there're always folks of reason, or at least tolerance, to be found and appreciated. Why, the inimitable Coturnix lives, works and breathes in "God's Own Country" of North Carolina.
Alas, such truths are the kind o' things which feed the feeble imaginations of those who say that naught is truly knowable.
Dawkin's rocks!
Oh yeah, and you've been tagged, Ms. It's Me.
Happy Holidays!
RE michael
Ok, ty :)
I realise it's two years after this blogpost was put up but just wanted to say... yeah. it's tough being an atheist in lynchburg. and who said you can't wear a "god is dead" shirt here? I wear extremely atheists quotes all the time. if we hide... especially here in the depths of hell... then we'll have to continue hiding longer than we would like. so screw the secrecy. if fallwell's little zombies want to pick a fight then they got one. then we'll see who's really ready to die for our freedom... sorry. a little miffed about our town's blind patriotism as well.
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