Richard Dawkins is not my guru

[Road Warrior]

Has there been a strong, religious backlash against Dawkins? So far, the only "backlash" I have seen is in the form of rip-off books that destroy ill-constructed strawmen of his arguments and about a hundred angry religious forums.

The backlash is in the form of a lack of respect for the movement. The "Reason Rally" has 20,000 attendees. Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally had at least 87,000 attendees. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" (which I attended BTW) had over 200,000.

If I understand the general desire of most atheists it's that they want freedom from religion as strongly as some people want freedom of religion. Nobody wants to have someone elses beliefs shoved down their throat. Our government should be secular as well as our schools. I think many people of faith believe this as strongly as I do. If atheists want to achieve these aims, they are better served by joining together with those of faith who seek the same goals. Atheists calling anyone of faith an idiot, hypocrite or constantly mocking and ridiculing them is not going to see much support from them.

Do as you like. I'm just making an observation. If you want to constantly accuse me of "strawman" arguments or ignore the flaws in the strategy of those who led the "Reason Rally", then don't let me stop you. Go for it.

 

[Prophet]

The backlash is in the form of a lack of respect for the movement. The "Reason Rally" has 20,000 attendees. Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally had at least 87,000 attendees. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" (which I attended BTW) had over 200,000.

While I will not disagree with you that there is a general lack of respect for the movement, I'm sure Reason Rally advocates might point out that truth is not decided upon by popularity or majority vote. The best criticism of their methods can be made through reason.

Plain and simple, they advocate being uncivil to everyone who doesn't think like them. These are science's fundamentalist crazies. They are a loud, obnoxious, vocal minority and should not be taken by anyone to represent serious science. They are no different than any other ideologue you'll find hanging around the extremes of any belief system.

 

[Road Warrior]

While I will not disagree with you that there is a general lack of respect for the movement, I'm sure Reason Rally advocates might point out that truth is not decided upon by popularity or majority vote. The best criticism of their methods can be made through reason.

Agreed with both the fact truth isn't subject to popular opinion and that the best method of revealing the truth, if that is what you meant, is through reason. However, emotional attacks like mockery and ridicule are not truth nor reason. They are simply argumentative opinions.

Plain and simple, they advocate being uncivil to everyone who doesn't think like them. These are science's fundamentalist crazies. They are a loud, obnoxious, vocal minority and should not be taken by anyone to represent serious science. They are no different than any other ideologue you'll find hanging around the extremes of any belief system.

Agreed again that people like Dawkins and Myers are both advocating being uncivil to those with whom they disagree, but also no different than any other extremist ideologue. Also agreed they do not represent serious science since there is little reason or science in creating hate and demeaning others.