Rabbi Sacks (Introduction)

by Balance_Maintained , U.S.A., Monday, December 31, 2012, 17:31 (4346 days ago) @ dhw

DHW: For all their faults, I do not recall Messrs Harris, Dawkins or Hitchens ever once calling upon their followers to go forth and kill the "fidel".
> ->Richard Dawkins: But here, I want to say something nice about creationists. It's not a thing I often do, so listen carefully. (Laughter) I think they're right about one thing. I think they're right that evolution is fundamentally hostile to religion.... what I want to urge upon you -- (Laughter) -- instead what I want to urge upon you is militant atheism... 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 with the word "atheist" than with the word "non-theist," or some other non-confrontational word. But if we did achieve it with that dread word -- "atheist" itself -- the political impact would be even greater...It is absolutely safe to say that if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid or insane (or wicked, but I'd rather not consider that)..It is fashionable to wax apocalyptic about the threat to humanity posed by the AIDS virus, "mad cow" disease, and many others, but I think a case can be made that faith is one of the world's great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate.-and on and on and on and on... is killing the mind any different than killing te body?-As a soldier, I have seen this same tactic employed by governments as a means of making it possible to send one man to kill another man. You dehumanize the other person until they become a faceless non-entity, a disease, a parasite, and then you eradicate them without remorse or guilt. I think it is unfair of you to lay that solely on the feet of religion, though they most certainly are guilty of it as well, despite the admonitions against such in their own holy books.

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What is the purpose of living? How about, 'to reduce needless suffering. It seems to me to be a worthy purpose.