AIBU to have a bit of a crush on Richard Dawkins?

[grottielottie]

He is fantastic and I am so glad he is able to disscuss the issue of faith schools and bring up the issue of discrimination against non beleavers in school choice.

Did a very good job at not laughing at the sixthform students too.

My DP has a crush on Richard Dawkins.

Bcause otherwise it's an unsupportable position, isn't it?

If I said I didn't fancy Ronnie Corbett because, in my opinion, he beats up his wife, you'd ask me to back it up (or ignore me, obviously), surely?

I didn't realise this was a binary thread: "press y for fancy, n for not fancy. All other tangents will be baffling to the thread computer."

I despair.

I just don't "get" him tbh. Yes he is logical, scientific, male etc. But why go on a crusade against religion? Surely an atheist believes that human beings created religion in the first place? So why on earth would getting rid of it result in ultra logical, happy clappy lala land.

Crusade: he explains that in The God Delusion. Try it, it's a fun read.

He's all about the wonder, no more or less than yer religious; people who see the natural world as an absence of wonder and emotion don't seem to understand what they're contemplating.

Anyway, I don't have a crush on him, I've decided he's a rubbish dancer and I can't have that in a partner.

Oh good grief. Saying you think someone is smug is about your perception of their character. Saying you think someone beats up their wife is a totally different kettle of fish. It really should not be that hard to see the difference.

CoinOp - since so many posters are mentioning his views on religion, someone once suggested to me that he comes across as someone who's probably had very unhappy experiences of religion in his past. Like someone who's viciously anti-gay, for example, who has something to hide - anyone know about RD's past experiences of religion? Anyway, if this is the case, it would explain his crusading. And if this is case he should probably just deal with the hurts rather than crusading against relgion.

He had a perfectly normal middle class C of E upbringing, the perfect breeding ground for questioning belief.

His "crusade" is nothing of the sort, of course, but then it's usually the second tired trope wheeled out just after the "smug" accusation.

Why do all those priests insist on banging on about god, eh? They must have had a particularly nasty experience with a science teacher when they were young, am I right?

All the reasoning of an infant there...