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The Occult
27 August 2011, 02:07 AM
What do you think about Richard Dawkins,the hardcore atheist

I have seen some of the programs where he tries to investigate the the beliefs and methodology behind religions and "supernatural" work like mediums,dowsing

They are in different titles :"The Root of all evil"(Religion) ,"Enemies of reason" and "The God Delusion"

In the part of the program he tries to explain why science should be followed instead of things that he considers as "Mumbo-Jumbo"

Sometimes I do feel that he makes sense.Like when he talks about how scientific proofs holds validity - whatever evidence that gets collected,gets backed by more evidence to point out at the same thing and its years and years of evidence that gets collected to finally come to a statement

In part one of Enemies of reason, he investigates the psychics to find out if what they do has any basis.He finds out that most of them rely on guesswork and probability

I also have to agree with him on this count because even though I have heard so many ghost stories,I have never experience any such things myself

Even when I hear noises,I just tell myself that its my own imaginations and the noises disappear

However I dont totally discredit paranormal phenomenon like telepathy or precognition.I believe it could be possible


Then on the other half, he explores alternative medicine and tries to explain why they are not valid

This is where I started to feel that he is way too obsessed with science when he tries to totally negate ancient health practices like Ayurveda or Siddha

Obviously they may not be effective for all ailments but they have been effective for some ailments which modern medicine have failed to cure

He then tries to say how much of extensive research has been done to get an approval for every drug sold i the market while these people do things without anyone monitoring them

He may be correct but then still that does justify him to devalue a system of medicine thats 5000 years old

What do you think of this guy inline with other rationalists

Ananda
27 August 2011, 02:26 AM
Hello The Occult,



I think Richard Dawkins is a very nice man with good intentions. I agree with his pleas for a more rational world, a more skeptical one. I've watched pretty much all of his programs and many of his lectures and I think, for the most part, the points he makes are all valid. However, Dawkins generalises a lot. Most of his arguments are against stereotypical theological ideas, and weak ones at that, so to a certain degree I think he misrepresents a great deal of his perceived opponents in order to make his own position appear stronger. He takes religion at face value, and doesn't know or attack anything deeper than the popular caricatures of superstition and fundamentalism prevalent today. However, he is not a scholar of religion, not an expert, so his broad brush-strokes of all religious types, while misguided, are understandable.

It is worth noting, however, that despite his broad generalizations of religious people, Dawkins does admit that his knowledge of eastern religion is very limited, so his polemics are directed mostly at the Abrahamic religions, and new age beliefs. In fact, Dawkins even posted this statement on his website;



Hinduism and Buddhism offer much more sophisticated worldviews (or philosophies) and I see nothing wrong with these religions.



:)

Mana
27 August 2011, 02:45 AM
Dawkins is reacting against Abrahamic Dharma, it would appear that he has a limited exposure Eastern philosophy.
His notion of "Memes" coined in "The selfish Gene" and the book its self are very harmonious with Sanatana Dharma in that it explains the growth of these philosophy's, I highly recommend it as a read.

To my mind he is saying, albeit in another language and with different words; Genes and DNA are prakRti, forget your ego as it is irrelevant to the growth of prakRti. He does however neglect Purusha some what.

I have seen him pit his wits with religious people of different creed but I have often thought that it would be interesting to hear him converse with a Jnana Yogi conversant in both scripture and science.

The modern Physics view of the philosophy behind the science is "If we spent all our time thinking about what it means, we would get no work done." thankfully Biologists are stepping in.

Mana

sanjaya
27 August 2011, 11:39 AM
Ah Dawkins...where to begin?

I don't like him for one main reason, namely that he's rude. When someone is rude, you tend not to pay attention to whatever point it is that they're trying to make. Dawkins needs to stop telling Christians and Muslims (and anyone else he debates) that they're stupid or clinically insane, and he needs to stop saying that religions are unworthy of respect. As a general rule it's good to respect everyone until they give you personal reason to do otherwise.

Now as to his polemics, I haven't read that many of them. I know he rejects all forms of the supernatural, and of course he and I would differ there. But I think his distaste for religion comes from having grown up in the West. When Christianity is the only religion around you, you will of course equate belief in the supernatural with belief in Christianity, and this I think has caused him to throw out the baby with the bathwater. I have the same distaste for Christianity that he does, but since I grew up Hindu I've never assumed that the opposite of Christianity is atheism. I think Dawkins does Hindus more good than harm. After all, because of him fewer people will become evangelical Christians, and thus fewer people will become missionaries to India and convert Hindus. For that alone, I can't fault him too much.

I know he's made positive statements about Hinduism, but don't be fooled into thinking that Dawkins would like Hinduism upon further study. There are plenty of Indian atheists who make the exact same claims as Dawkins about Hinduism: it's a support system for the weak-minded, it's a means of control, etc. The one difference I have noticed is that Indian atheists tend to have more respect for Hinduism as a cultural artifact than American atheists do for Christianity.

I think that ultimately some people just don't want to believe in the supernatural, and they are of a like mind with Dawkins. I can't say I entirely blame them; you don't see the supernatural at work in a very powerful way in this world. Sometimes I wonder why it is that I believe in God at all. Maybe I'm just weak-minded and out to control others. :)