Louise Duffy
Staff Writer
With millions of books sold, hundreds of TV appearances made, and an on-going live tour in progress, Richard Dawkins comes off as more of a full-time celebrity than an evolutionary biologist.
That said, I wouldn’t be inclined to be jealous. This isn’t the kind of fame that most people dream of; Richard Dawkins has been called it all; arrogant, intolerant, condescending and just plain rude. He has been sent death threats and the jury is still out among some groups as to whether he is in fact ‘the antichrist.’ It is easy to see why people hate the man; the more interesting question is why he is such an overwhelming success.
Richard Dawkins has become a media sensation because a large group of people just can’t get enough of him. Richard Dawkins, intentionally or otherwise, has become the leader a non-religion.
If you ask me, the world needs a Richard Dawkins. Religion is a pretty big thing. Your religion determines the way you view life, death and morality. It gives you consolation and comfort, joy and cause for celebration. It is a unifying force among many people, and that is wonderful.
The problem, unfortunately, is that believing in God is not something that you can necessarily force yourself to do. This leaves a large group of scattered people that can be missing a sense of common vision and common purpose with everyone else. This isn’t something that is apparent every day, but certainly comes into play, for example, at times of crisis or grief. While if you have a religious belief you might turn to God and prayer, atheists or agnostics can be left with helplessness and a sense of isolation. This is where Richard Dawkins comes in.
It would be just plain silly to claim that Richard Dawkins represents exactly the view of all atheists or all agnostics; and indeed many would be insulted at the suggestion. After all, for all I know there are as many ways of not believing in God as there are ways of believing. This, I would argue, doesn’t actually matter though. Richard Dawkins acts as a symbol of the fact that there is a large community of people who similarly find themselves unable or unwilling to believe in a ‘God’.
That’s not all though. It isn’t only Richard Dawkins’ non-belief that makes him an important figure in atheism; it’s his strong belief in the beauty of even this ‘non-magical’ world. It is an important belief in many religions that it is the presence of God in the world that creates beauty, with the unfortunate effect that atheist are relegated, in their view, to a bleak and ugly world, devoid of wonder. Richard Dawkins not only refutes this view, but also advocates the positive atheists’ view that the world can be appreciated still more richly with a non-religious eye. See? He does other things besides pick fights.
All religions have a figure or figures to provide unity and focal points for religious (or non-religious) belief. Religions find their public representation in the forms of bishops and popes, imams and ayatollahs. Atheists and agnostics find their solidarity and representation in respected public figures too; albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Marie Curie, and, most recently, Richard Dawkins.
Atheism is a difficult thing to talk about. Sure enough, religion is always a touchy subject. It is very possible that Richard Dawkins is misguided in what some have called his ‘intolerance of mindless acceptance’ and others his ‘evangelical atheism.’ Indeed, the argument that he should mind his own business seems a strong one. However, his persistent questioning may well be the guilty pleasure of many a quiet atheist. This is particularly true of those who attended religious schools but were never able to accept the religion that was being passed on to them. Of course, while most schools in Ireland are accepting of religious diversity, the emphasis on ‘faith’ as a virtue has left some children believing that they are ‘bad at’ religion, and I think it is clear that this is the wrong message to be sending.
At a time when religious views and practices are changing in Ireland, Dawkins is increasing in popularity, and recently delivered a talk to a full house in the National Concert Hall as part of Dublin writers’ festival.
Richard Dawkins asks difficult questions, but the fact that so many people are listening and supporting him show that he is fulfilling a major need in an international community that is struggling, as every generation has struggled, to come to terms with who we are why we are here, and where we are going.
