'The Biggest Damage Religion does is Brainwashing Children' Richard Dawkins in an interview with Vineet Gill Jan 25,

2012, Richard Dawkins is amongst the most provocative thinkers of our times. The Oxfor d University geneticist has waged a blazing intellectual war on religion, callin g for the rule of science and rationality. At the recent Jaipur Literature Festi val, Dawkins spoke with Vineet Gill about why he prefers science over faith, whe ther he is an 'atheist fundamentalist', - and issues such as immortality: What are your views on moderate religion today? You've earlier called this 'a se edbed for extremists'? I have said that a I fear it's true that if children are taught, however moderate ly, that faith is a virtue, that you don't need evidence to believe something, t hen that paves the way for a minority to be extremists. Everybody has been indoc trinated with this view that if it's their faith, you can't argue with them. I t hink that is pernicious. If children are taught they don't need to defend their beliefs with evidence, that paves the way for extremismathe biggest damage religi on does is indoctrinating and brainwashing children. You believe passionately instead in science - but what happens when science gets it wrong? Science doesn't actually claim to know all the truth. It works hard by getting c loser and closer to the truth, but of course science learns by its mistakes and advances by disproving hypotheses and getting things wrong. One of the virtues o f science is that it is prepared to change its mind when the evidence warrants i t. Public sharing is an important part of science. No scientist will ever say 'Oh, it's true for me, it may not be true for you.' Science gets space for research and development - why can't we look at religion too as a living laboratory with people developing their thoughts, rather than ju st dismissing it? It would be very nice to study religion in anthropological and psychological way s. By the way, i do think children need to be educated about religion. They just shouldn't be told you belong only to this or that religion. They should be told , there is this religion and that religion. And when you grow up, you may - or m ay not - choose to join any of those. If science were to triumph over time, would you like to become immortal with its help? No. I think if there's something frightening about death, it is eternity. And it 's equally frightening whether you're there or not. Actually, it's more frighten ing if you are there. Just imagine billions and billions and billions of years terribly boring! I prefer to spend eternity under a general anaesthetic - and t hat is exactly what's going to happen. Stepping out of science, how do you explain the powerful effect faith has on peo ple? It is fascinating. What is it about faith that can make somebody kill? Patriotis m is another one - people believe my country is right or wrong. In the World War s, people were perfectly able to shoot other people just because they belonged t o the wrong country, without ever asking what their opinions were. Faith too is like that.

Rejecting belief outright, are you an atheist fundamentalist? The term 'fundamentalist' means you stick to a holy book and never change your m ind. I will change my mind whenever the evidence warrants it. Finally, your thoughts on your friend and legendary fellow atheist, the late Chr istopher Hitchens? Christopher Hitchens was a great warrior, a magnificent orator, a pugilist and a gentleman. He was kind, but he took no prisoners when arguing with idiots. Source: The Times of India, New Delhi URL: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamIslamSpiritualMeditations_1.aspx?Arti cleID=6473

COMMENTSI believe this piece of information does belong here for the sake of rel ated information. "Dawkins made it to my sociology class". It does affect our thinking one way or other. http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/10096/dawkins-made-it-to-my-sociology-class/

By Syed Rizvi - 2/10/2012 9:29:31 PM I just ran into this old piece again while browsing around the site and a thoug ht occurred to me that I want to share; maybe some readers would like to comment on it. Am I correct in my observation that people with faith and a set of a belief syst em are easily disturbed when reason and logic are brought into the equation? B ut it is not the other way around. By Syed Rizvi - 2/10/2012 11:00:36 AM Rashid Sb is right regarding the following Ayat 5-35, that if any one slew a per son --unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the landit would be as if he slew the whole humanity and if one saved a life, it would be as if he sav ed the life of a whole humanity. In fact, there are many fine Ayas of that sort --- no question about it. The good part is that the book has everything for everyone where people can pick and choose depending upon their own upbringing, temperament and convictions.

By Syed Rizvi - 1/28/2012 5:44:55 PM Mr Rizvi, your point is valid looking at the state of affairs of the Muslim worl d and in particular what the young-passionate-religious man says in the link you p rovided. There are many such links in any one day around for the world at large to read and watch, more than enough to form a particular opinion of so called Mu slims, based on them only.

But in all mature fairness, if one quotes just one reference from the Book, will we be correct in concluding that it was quoted out of context? Here it is just in relevant part as an example:-

5-35, that if any one slew a person --unless it be for murder or for spreading misc hief in the landit would be as if he slew the whole humanity and if one saved a l ife, it would be as if he saved the life of a whole humanity ..yet even after tha t many of them continued to commit excesses in the land. Verse 36 and 37 form a c onnecting chain for this argument, and there are others such as 8-39. The emphases of the italics are just to draw the readers' attention to the conte xt of spreading mischief in the land, obviously a crime against humanity!

This is only because I was specifically addressed. By Rashid - 1/28/2012 7:37:13 AM Mr. Rashid says: if it is predicated on killing a person of another faith to pro ve its own correctness, obviously cannot be a faith in the meaning of myriads of faith -philosophies that have sprouted in Humanity over the ages. However, I am not sure he speaks for all faiths. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=670qHZBM5Is&feature=share I admire this man in the video because at least he is telling the truth what the scripture actually says in black and white. Although it is very easy to say he is taking it "out of context." . If that happ ens to be the case, then we need to compile an extensive list and spell it out w hich of the Ayas if quoted at their face value are to be considered as "out of c ontext" and which ones we can use as they are without having to worry about them being taken out of context. However, that would be a huge task and will require a major review and scrutiniz ing of the book. And I am not sure our Mullahs and their followers will buy that . Labeling embarrassing lines as "out of context" is a good cop-out but I am not s ure how far we can stretch that.

By Syed Rizvi - 1/28/2012 3:19:13 AM