Darwin's Canine Friend

I found a couple interesting ditties relating to biologist Richard Dawkins over at Pharyngula. The first was a reference to a feature about Dawkins at Discover magazine's site called "Darwin's Rottweiler". While I found it interesting because I find the subject interesting, it was also notable for another reason. The writer was critical of his subject for what he saw as Dawkins' "aggressiveness" and for the fact that Dawkins does not suffer fools gladly. Here is the description of an incident from a panel discussion which which Dawkins took part:

Dawkins, at the far end of the table, almost levitated out of his seat with indignation. “But what does that mean?” he demanded, voice rising. The audience rewarded his indignation with combustive applause. “Is it a caricature for me to ask you, since you are a Roman Catholic, do you believe Jesus had an earthly father?”

The author of the piece, Stephen Hall, chides Dawkins for such outbursts.

The other thing that struck me was the tone of the debate—Dawkins, in his undeniably civil manner, was so aggressive, so relentless, and so pitiless toward his intellectual adversaries that it almost detracted from the quality of his argument.

And he reaches his conclusion:

This recusal underlines the most obvious contradiction about Richard Dawkins and the cultural war in which he has so much to contribute: You can be the world’s greatest apostle of scientific rationalism, but if you come across as a rottweiler, Darwin’s or anybody else’s, when you enter that marketplace, it’s very hard to make the sale.

While Hall quotes a friend or two of Dawkins' who basically say they wish he'd tone things down, there is nothing in the article to lend credence to the notion that coming across as a rottweiler makes for a hard sale. No evidence is provided to bolster the case that Dawkins and his ideas are rejected because of his ethos. Indeed, towards the beginning of the article, Dawkins is labeled "the best-known popularizer of science". I get the impression that Hall thinks that Dawkins and his ilk would be better off sitting back in their offices and writing relatively painless and non-offensive pieces to promote their ideas and agenda. While there are many religious folks who accept evolution and see the benefits of a secular society to believers and non-believers alike, they are not as vocal as their stricter, more fundamentalist kin. There is a very vocal minority who deny the validity of evolution. And they not only want creationism taught in school, they actively work towards that goal. There is also a very vocal minority that actively and loudly denounce homosexuals. While the tolerant majority disagrees with their position, it is the minority that gets amendments to state constiutions banning gay marriage/unions on ballots. These people are vocal, loudly, and active. Their agenda sits at the forefront of our political culture today. I, for one, am glad that there are people like Richard Dawkins who are willing to shout back at them and fight fire with fire. He may be mild-mannered and civil but his stentorian voice for reason and justice is a welcome and necessary antidote to the constant stream of bullshit that religion directs at us.

Also at Pharyngula is a post about a TV show produced by the BBC that features Dawkins called The Root of All Evil.

Professor Richard Dawkins, the world-renowned evolutionary biologist, whose atheism has earned him the nickname of 'Darwin’s Rottweiler', takes a personal journey through the world’s three great monotheistic religions: Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

Dawkins thinks it is time for science to stop sitting on the fence. In the light of overwhelming scientific evidence that, he believes, shows a supreme being cannot exist, and in a world in which religious conflict and bigotry are increasingly centre stage, Dawkins argues that for the good of humanity, religion needs to be challenged and disproved. Never one to shy away from a debate, Dawkins meets leaders from the Christian, Jewish and Muslim religions to find out how their beliefs fit with modern science's extraordinary knowledge of our world and the wider universe.

In The Root of All Evil Dawkins accuses the religious establishment of preying on people’s desire to believe in a greater being; abusing reason and humanity in the process. Ultimately he asks how they can defend what religion has done, and is doing to us?

PZ also directs readers to The Proper Study of Mankind where a lucky viewer in the UK actually got to see the first episode.

It is for moments like these that God invented Usenet and BitTorrent.