Dawkins Not Talking

Berkeley: Home of the Free Speech Movement

     Richard Dawkins was scheduled to talk about his new book, Science in the Soul: Selected Writings of a Passionate Rationalist, on Aug. 9 in Berkeley at radio station KPFA. The talk has been cancelled because Mr. Dawkins has made critical remarks about Islam.

   I am sure it is correct to say that he has been critical of every religion. He is, after all, a “passionate rationalist.” He should be allowed to speak.

  You will find here, the rationale for the cancellation offered by KPFA. You will find here, the response offered by Mr. Dawkins.

    I agree with Professor Pinker:

“Harvard professor and author Steven Pinker came out in support of Dawkins, writing to KPFA that their decision was “intolerant, ill-reasoned, and ignorant”. “Dawkins is one of the great thinkers of the 20th and 21st century. He has criticised doctrines of Islam, together with doctrines of other religions, but criticism is not ‘abuse’,” said Pinker. “People may get offended and hurt by honest criticism, but that cannot possibly be a justification for censoring the critic, or KPFA would be shut down because of all the people it has hurt and offended over the decades.”

“Pinker said that the move “handed a precious gift to the political right, who can say that left-leaning media outlets enforce mindless conformity to narrow dogma, and are no longer capable of thinking through basic intellectual distinctions”.

Sources:

The Pinker quote is found in:  “Richard Dawkins Event Cancelled Over His 'Abusive Speech Against Islam',” The Guardian, July 24, 2017.

“Richard Dawkins Event Canceled Over Past Comments About Islam,” Janice Fortin, The New York Times, July 24, 2017.

For a good background report on how grim things now are in Berkeley see: “Fighting Words: A Battle in Berkeley Over Free Speech,” Katy Steinmetz, Time, June 1, 2017.