Center For Inquiry Uses Manufactured Outrage For A Payday

image of Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist, had a recent book tour appearance in California canceled because of past insensitive remarks about Muslims. It fanned the flames of misunderstanding about ‘free speech’ as a concept. No matter how many times it’s explained, some people refuse to understand. It also doesn’t help when a freethought group tries to make some money on that misunderstanding.

I thought it was cute to get a fundraising email from the Center for Inquiry (CFI) last week complaining about Dawkins having his free speech blocked by a California radio station. It seems that the station came across some abusive comments Dawkins has made over the years about Islam. The weird neo-con/alt-right/Christian conservative/angry atheist intersection showed how easy it’s for people, including those who should know better, to get the “free speech” concept wrong.

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Is It Time To Remove Richard Dawkins As The ‘Face’ Of The Atheist Movement?

image of Richard Dawkins
Supposed smart guy Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins is seen as a rock star by some in the atheist movement. He’s had best selling books, too many keynote speeches to count, awards and honors out the wazoo, he’s the media’s go to person on religious issues and atheism. He also has a problem with shooting his mouth off about some topics that cause distress and anger in the atheist and secular community. Dawkins seriously needs to join Twitter’s Anonymous because for a man known for thousands of words to explain his atheism he has a terrible time trying to express himself in 140 character bites on Twitter. After his latest foot-in-mouth maybe it’s time to remove Dawkins as the public face of the atheist movement.

Dawkins latest twitter war erupted after he retweeted a video that not only equated some feminists with ISIS but the cartoon also included a character based on a real woman who has been the subject of constant harassment and death threats online for THREE years.

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Atheists Support Islamophobia? No, Atheists Don’t Support Any Irrational Beliefs

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Richard Dawkins, Islamophobe?

On Saturday, Salon posted an article by Nathan Lean that took to task famous atheists like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens for attacking Islam. Lean insinuates these atheists have a streak of Islamophobia. But the real facts show the article is yet another hit piece against atheists. Atheists see all religion as irrational and mostly results in bad treatment of people (“evil”). It is disappointing when religious apologists cherry pick the good parts while ignoring the overall bad parts of religion especially in publishing an attack against those who have no religion.

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