{"id":80496,"date":"2011-02-04T14:04:48","date_gmt":"2011-02-04T21:04:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/?p=80496"},"modified":"2012-10-02T21:21:43","modified_gmt":"2012-10-03T03:21:43","slug":"a-couple-of-notes-on-richard-dawkins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2011\/02\/a-couple-of-notes-on-richard-dawkins\/","title":{"rendered":"A Couple of Notes on Richard Dawkins"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Today, I noticed Scott Derrickson posting this link on Twitter<\/a>. It\u2019s a link to an article by Marilynne Robinson, author of Gilead<\/em>, contesting the claims of Richard Dawkins. So, of course, I had to drop everything and read it.<\/p>\n

Then, when I posted the link on Facebook, a friend answered with this quote from\u00a0Camille Paglia on Richard Dawkins\u00a0\u2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I was recently flicking my car radio dial and heard an affected British voice tinkling out on NPR. I assumed it was some fussy, gossipy opera expert fresh from London. To my astonishment, it was Richard Dawkins, the thrice-married emperor of contemporary atheists. I had never heard him speak, so it was a revelation. On science, Dawkins was spot on \u2014 lively and nimble. But on religion, his voice went \u201cPsycho\u201d weird (yes, Alfred Hitchcock) \u2014 as if he was channeling some old woman with whom he was in love-hate combat. I have no idea what ancient private dramas bubble beneath the surface there. As an atheist who respects and studies religion, I believe it is fair to ask what drives obsessive denigrators of religion. Neither extreme rationalism nor elite cynicism are adequate substitutes for faith, which fulfills a basic human need \u2014 which is why religion will continue to thrive in our war-torn world.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Thanks to Luanne Brown Austin for the link, from Salon, Nov. 2009<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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