Dr. Richard Dawkins is Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University, and author of The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, Climbing Mount Improbable, Unweaving the Rainbow, The Ancestors’ Tale, and The God Delusion
The God Delusion, by the Oxford University evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, is based on his controversial BBC documentary, The Root of All Evil? Dawkins presents his view of religion as a cultural virus that, like a computer virus, once downloaded into the software of society corrupts almost all programs it encounters. It isn’t hard to find examples to fit this view; one has only to read the dailies coming out of the Middle East to see its nefarious effects. And Dawkins is so compelling in his narrative — both on-camera in his cultured British accent, and in print through a literary style unmatched by any living science writer — that when you reach the end you are convinced that the answer to the rhetorical question posed in the documentary’s title is a resounding YES! Of course, religion is so pervasive around the world and throughout history that it is a two-edged sword that cuts both ways — a force for unspeakable evil as well as unmitigated good. It is Dawkins’ belief that the former outweighs the latter and that it is time for humanity to grow beyond it.
This lecture is now sold out. Seating is available on the grass outside of the building for those who want to listen by outside speakers. For those of you who will miss it, do not worry. A couple weeks after the event, it will be available on DVD from Shop Skeptic, and we will make an announcement in eSkeptic to let you know when its ready. In the meantime, the following items featuring Richard Dawkins are available:
- The God Delusion (hardcover book)
- The Root of All Evil? (two-part documentary)
- The Ancestor’s Tale (hardcover book)
- The Ancestor’s Tale (lecture audio-visual)
- The Blind Watchmaker (paperback book)
- The Selfish Gene
(paperback book) - Climbing Mount Improbable (paperback book)
- Unweaving the Rainbow (paperback book)
- Skeptic Vol. 3 No. 4 Cosmology & God
(includes an interview with Dawkins) - Skeptic Vol. 7 No. 2 Cloning
(features a Dawkins’ article on evolution) - Skeptic Vol. 10 No. 3 Evolution, Intelligent Design
(features Dawkins’ article, “A Devil’s Chaplain”)
