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Friday, October 13, 2006 12:00 AM

The flying spaghetti monster

Why are we here on earth? To Richard Dawkins, that's a remarkably stupid question. In a heated interview, the famous biologist insists that religion is evil and God might as well be a children's fantasy.

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  • Thursday, October 12, 2006 08:17 PM

    The emotional IQ of a gnat

    Don't get me wrong. Rationality is definitely the way I like my science, my education, and my governance-- Dawkins is a great scientist and I admire his work and writings, especially in the dangerous years where we teeter on the edge of theocracy and wallow in truthiness.

    But when Dawkins dismisses "why are we here?" as a question that doesn't deserve an answer, he glibly sweeps aside the centuries and limitless landscape of yearning, philosophy, literature, and art that explores what it means to be self-aware. The wonder and hope of being human is not only of no interest to him, he declares that it is unimportant and therefore of no use to anyone.

    And that's some big-time arrogance.

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