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Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins Quotes

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Famous Richard Dawkins Quotes

“My last vestige of 'hands off religion' respect disappeared in the smoke and choking dust of September 11, 2001, followed by the 'National Day of Prayer,' when prelates and pastors did their tremulous Martin Luther King impersonations and urged people of mutually incompatible faiths to hold hands, united in homage to the very force that caused the problem in the first place.”

PeopleFirstsProblemHandsLastsReligionForcePrayerUnitedAtheismKingsDustSmokeSeptemberPastorLutherChokeSeptember 11HomageHolding HandsSeptember 11thNational Day Of Prayer
Book:A Devil's Chaplain
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“The alternative which I favor is to renounce all euphemisms and grasp the nettle of the word atheism itself, precisely because it is a taboo word carrying frissons of hysterical phobia. Critical mass may be harder to achieve than with some non-confrontational euphemism, but if we did achieve it with the dread word atheist, the political impact would be all the greater.”

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Author:Richard Dawkins
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“The distribution of species on islands and continents throughout the world is exactly what you'd expect if evolution was a fact. The distribution of fossils in space and in time are exactly what you would expect if evolution were a fact. There are millions of facts all pointing in the same direction and no facts pointing in the wrong direction.”

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Author:Richard Dawkins
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“In childhood our credulity serves us well. It helps us to pack, with extraordinary rapidity, our skulls full of the wisdom of our parents and our ancestors. But if we don't grow out of it in the fullness of time, our ... nature makes us a sitting target for astrologers, mediums, gurus, evangelists, and quacks. We need to replace the automatic credulity of childhood with the constructive skepticism of adult science.”

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Author:Richard Dawkins
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“I do think the Roman Catholic religion is a disease of the mind which has a particular epidemiology similar to that of a virus... Religion is a terrific meme. That's right. But that doesn't make it true and I care about what's true. Smallpox virus is a terrific virus. It does its job magnificently well. That doesn't mean that it's a good thing. It doesn't mean that I don't want to see it stamped out.”

ThinkingWantMindWellsMeanDoeCareJobsAtheismParticularDiseaseCatholicGood ThingsI CareTerrificVirusesMemesRoman CatholicSmallpoxEpidemiologyCatholic Religion
Author:Richard Dawkins
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“If you are offended by reading views that disagree with yours, then yes, you will be offended. However, it is not gratuitously offensive, it simply puts an argument, and if your views are strong enough, as I believe they are, you will be able to defend your views. You will not say, "Oh, it's offensive, it's offensive." You will say "No, you are wrong here and you are wrong here," and that's what you should do.”

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Author:Richard Dawkins
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“I suspect the reason is that most people [...] have a residue of feeling that Darwinian evolution isn't quite big enough to explain everything about life. All I can say as a biologist is that the feeling disappears progressively the more you read about and study what is known about life and evolution. I want to add one thing more. The more you understand the significance of evolution, the more you are pushed away from the agnostic position and towards atheism. Complex, statistically improbable things are by their nature more difficult to explain than simple, statistically probable things.”

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Author:Richard Dawkins
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“The God of the Old testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction.”

CharacterGodReligionReligiousFictionAtheismAtheistDelusionSecularTestamentAgnosticOld TestamentThere Is No GodOrganized ReligionIf There Is A GodTheistAnti ReligiousControl FreakThere Being No GodUnforgivingHomophobicReligion ChristianVindictiveGod DelusionFaith ReligionReligion In SocietySelfish GeneAnti AtheistAnti GodEvil GodReligion Today
Book:The God Delusion
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“The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.”

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Author:Richard Dawkins
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