Another Dawkins Zinger - The Story of God (Part 16 of 18)

I was just surfing through youtube and I ran across a series of videos. The first is entitled "The Story of God (Part 1 of 18) and there are 17 more parts. They were produced by the BBC and they are narrated by a very distinguished looking, Jewish gentleman named Robert Winston.

I watched the first video and then I clicked on #16 because the preview picture showed Richard Dawkins.

Part of the video is a discussion between Dawkins and Winston. Dawkins says that Winston is a very intelligent person and a very religious person, Then at 3:24 minutes Dawkins looks him right in the eyes and says "My suspicion is that an awful lot of intelligent, religious people are in it because of a deep reverence for cultural tradition. I actually doubt whether you seriously believe in a supernatural creator."

Winston gets a very embarrassed look on his face like a little boy who has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He turns away from the camera for a few seconds and when he looks back, he starts talking about the co-existence of science and religion.

He never replies to Dawkin's statement.

I would bet that most theists would react EXACTLY THE SAME WAY.

Tim

Tags: Dawkins, religion, science, vs

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Permalink Reply by Ian Luke on January 20, 2011 at 3:49am

Thanks Tim, will hunt it down and watch it.

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Permalink Reply by Mallory on January 20, 2011 at 10:22am

Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGR--6UbSJ4

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Permalink Reply by Radu Andreiu on January 20, 2011 at 11:05am

I didn't know there were so many non-religious/atheist Jews before. We don't have many Jews in my country, so I really was struck by a line in the last episode of "House M.D.", when House was asked if he was going to convert to Judaism, to which he replied that he's an atheist. But the person asking said that half the Jews she knows are atheists and that it's a cultural thing.

So, I guess that there really are many non-religious Jews, but why is that? Is it because they don't have a figure like Jesus, or Muhammad, and that the god of the Old Testament is a freaking lunatic? Or is there something special about the Jewish culture that makes non-religious people keep labeling themselves as Jews in spite of their non-belief?

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Permalink Reply by Radu Andreiu on January 20, 2011 at 11:37am

I'm glad to know that, Adriana.

Actually, I do remember a Jew saying that they are encouraged to ask questions about their religion and even criticize it. He said that even the existence of God is an idea that needs "to be wrestled with". I guess it makes sense now that Jews are less religious than members of other religions.

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