Richard Dawkins Stirs Controversy for 'Mild Pedophilia' Remarks

[WouldbeCentrist]

Notable atheist intellectual and author Richard Dawkins has stirred controversy for recent remarks in which he refused to condemn what he called "mild pedophilia" that took place during his childhood.

In an interview with The Times last weekend, Dawkins said that while in school back in the 1950s one of his schoolmasters "pulled me on his knee and put his hand inside my shorts."

Dawkins went on to claim that "I don't think he did any of us lasting harm" and that he could not condemn "people of an earlier era by the standards of ours."

"Just as we don't look back at the 18th and 19th centuries and condemn people for racism in the same way as we would condemn a modern person for racism," said Dawkins...............

Read the rest at

http://www.christianpost.com/news/richard-dawkins-stirs-controversy-for-mild-pedophilia-remarks-104174/

[Nye Bevan]

1. He's an ass.

There was a hilarious parody of his Twitter feed in the UK magazine "Private Eye":

[onehandle]

2. Weird as always. I don't get why some people worship him...

...so to speak.

[duffyduff]

21. If he were smart, he'd have kept his big mouth shut.

He'll do anything for publicity, I guess.

[liberal_at_heart]

3. umm yes we do condemn those who practiced racism in the 18th and 19th centuries.

My father is evangelical Christian. He is in his late sixties, and he is homophobic, sexist, prejudice against any other religion or philosophy than Christianity, and racist. I don't give him a free pass just because he grew up in a different era. And for Dawkins to claim that pedophilia didn't do other people harm is disingenious. He can't claim it didn't do any lasting damage to other people. He can't know what other people experiencing. He can only know his own personal experience, no one else's. I still love his work in evolutionary biology though. He is a brilliant scientist.

[NuclearDem]

4. Brilliant evolutionary biologist, asshole about everything else.

[seabeyond]

8. changes out religion for cult. both story telling. kinda ironic the need for

male dominance one way or another. what a fuckin hoot.

do ya think his tilted view of the world, like feeling up a child not being an issue and women being harrassed isnt a big deal, might influence his research on a bogus supposed science that is really not scientific at all but making up stories?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. I don't think there was ever a milieu where it was appropriate for adults to touch little kids./nt

[Blue_Tires]

16. Ancient Greece and early in the Roman Empire, iirc

[DemocratSinceBirth]

18. It was frowned upon by the majority, even then/nt

[Marr]

22. I don't think that's true.

Pedophilia between men and boys was practically institutionalized, as I understand it. In Greece more than Rome.

[TreasonousBastard]

6. It might not have been the schoolmaster's roving hand, but...

just what was it that turned him into such an asshole?

[DonCoquixote]

7. None of this should discredit atheism

As the clergy enjoys a hefty head start in the "excuses for pedophilia" race, no one comes as close to them.

However, it does go to show that when people criticize Dawkins for the idiotic stuff that comes out of his mouth, he should not be defended by his adorers. Noam Chomsky proved to have useful things to say about the world in general, things that were more useful than what he did in labs. , Dawkins..is the opposite, someone who is great at explaining biology, but who still seems to defend the right of Anglo-Saxon males to bully and denigrate everyone else.

With all due respect, was'nt the point of getting rid of God the hope that we may be able to form a new ethics and lifestyle without all the baggage religion had? If, after all is said and done, all we get is another excuse to make fun of Muslims and Women, another scheme to defend the privileges of the privileged, we become fools.

OH, for those that are ready with "where is your evidence?"attacks, yes, I know, BLUE LINKS.

http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2012/10/sexism_in_the_skeptic_community_i_spoke_out_then_came_the_rape_threats.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/usaama-alazami/is-richard-dawkins-a-raci_b_3086909.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/09/richard-dawkins-anti-muslim-tweets_n_3732678.html

http://ricochet.com/main-feed/Richard-Dawkins-Sexist

[liberal_at_heart]

9. As I have told my atheist daughter, if we got rid of all religion there would still be greedy and

power hungry people in the world. They would just find some other excuse to fight for power. I think some evolutionary biologists take the whole evolutionary argument that it is natural for the weak to be dominated by the strong too far. It is true that it is natural for the strong to dominate the weak, at the same time our social biology and social evolution has engrained in us a biological and social desire for social justice. You can see this all over the globe all throughout history. I do agree that these personal attacks are used to try and discredit Dawkins. All you have to do is look at the source of the article. I do still think Dawkins is a brilliant scientist. He is a bit rough around the edges personality wise. I prefer to teach my atheist children to be tolerant of others. It is wrong when Christians try to discredit atheists and I find it annoying when atheists try to discredit all religion. We should all just leave each other alone and let each other believe what we want to believe.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

25. "it is natural for the weak to be dominated by the strong"

Not with humans. They formed communities where it was (and still is) a virtue for the strong to protect the weak.

[seabeyond]

10. certainly not. one mans belief is not the whole. nor should

one christian leader be an indictment of all christians. that would be stupid.

[pnwmom]

11. Thanks for the links. n/t

[Nuclear Unicorn]

13. "None of this should discredit atheism"

Some Christians might feel the same about that jackass Pat Robertson

[DonCoquixote]

14. I agree

My whole point is that many defend Dawkins and paint those who dislike the man as idiots.

[Throd]

17. I'm an atheist who views Dawkins as a blowhard and an asshat.

What would Mr. Garrison say?

[Fantastic Anarchist]

12. When I was about 4 or 5 ...

I had a babysitter (female) that would would get completely naked and show me "everything." I remember at the time thinking that I liked it (I was aroused). I also remember thinking that there's something "wrong" about this, though I never told anyone.

Well, it just so happens that I have been hyper-sexual ever since I was about 13 or 14. My main motivation in life was to have sex. I've always had girlfriends or "one-night-stands" and basically everything else in my life (school, work, etc.) took a backseat to having sex.

Now, I'm engaged - as soon as I made my commitment to someone who I really truly love - I mean she is my life, I thought I would never meet someone like her, I'm having trouble wanting to have sex with her. It's truly a nightmare. I'm what you would call a "tough guy" ... don't show my emotions and all that. But I'm hurting now. I don't want to lose this girl. Before, I would lose girlfriends because of sex (cheating). Now, I'm afraid I'm going to lose the girl of my life because of sex (not wanting to have sex with her).

Anyway, yeah, I decided to let it all out there for DU to see. It's really painful, especially for a guy. My fiancee tells me she's understanding, but I'm fear I'm going to lose her. It all started when I put the ring on her finger.

I don't know what to do. I want to have sex with my fiancee. I want her to feel pleasure. Everything else in our life is wonderful. We are the best of friends.

I saw a doctor about this, and she said that it's because I have not been able to associate sex with love since I was hyper-sexual - I didn't love the many people I had sex with - and now that I really love someone, I can't reconcile that.

Sorry for the spilling of information. Reading what Dawkins said, and that he thinks it doesn't do damage, well, it did in my case.

Edit: I may start my own thread about this and reference this thread and the link.

[duffyduff]

20. He's an idiot. Being an atheist doesn't make one immune from idiocy. n/t

[MisterP]

23. all right, who told him about "chronological snobbery"? this isn't how you remedy it!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronological_snobbery

[Initech]

24. Another person who completely fails to grasp the concept of TMI.

[DissidentVoice]

26. Who do you mean?

Dawkins or Fantastic Anarchist?

[Initech]

27. Dawkins, that was definitely too much information.

[DissidentVoice]

28. Agreed! n/t