Richard Dawkins accused student protesters of antisemitism at his panel event - he then runs away when stumped on follow-up question

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/4479372

Richard Dawkins accused student protesters of antisemitism at his panel event - then runs away from questions about it

  • davel [he/him]
    ·
    7 months ago

    Racist atheists. Western chauvinist atheists. Imperialist atheists.

    I’m not familiar with New Atheism’s origins, but if it wasn’t created as War on Terror apologia, it certainly was used that way by Dawkins, Harris, Hitchens, and many others. As a lifelong atheist who saw through the Iraq WMD lies from the start, I was horrified to watch how New Atheism played out.

    Why the arguments of the 'New Atheists' are often just as violent as religion

    Celebrity atheists such as Richard Dawkins appear to claim the moral high ground when it comes to violence. Dawkins, along with Sam Harris and the late Christopher Hitchens, insist that because religion is intrinsically violent, then atheism is inherently more pacific. After all, if all the evils in the world can be blamed on religion, then arguably eliminating religion is not only desirable but a moral obligation for atheists who believe in peace.

    Yet our research shows that in the War on Terror, these atheists have been surprisingly willing to align themselves with policies which are at least as violent – and in some cases more so – than many of those perpetrated in the name of religion.

    • aaaaaaadjsf [he/him, comrade/them]
      ·
      7 months ago

      Exactly. Watch the debate between Michael Parenti and Christopher Hitchens to see exactly what you are talking about. Showcases all the limits of the new atheist movement.

      https://youtu.be/jzkmP3XFFX8

    • BelieveRevolt [he/him]
      ·
      7 months ago

      I don’t think it was created as such, but all the guys you mentioned were either naive useful idiots or really believed in the US state department line. Hitchens was an Iraq War cheerleader and considering the rest have proven they care more about being Islamophobic than atheist, I wouldn’t be surprised if they had been as well.