Religion Is Still Evil - Richard Dawkins

- VIDEO NOTES

Richard Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist and author of books including The Selfish Gene and The God Delusion.

- LINKS

- TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Is Religion About Truth?
5:50 Will Science Explain the Big Questions?
12:24 Is Science Separate From Religion?
17:45 Jordan Peterson’s Religious Views
22:55 The New Testament is “Appalling”
26:43 Theology is “Not a Real Subject”
32:54 The Problem With Public Debates
40:29 Why Dawkins Won’t Debate William Lane Craig
50:09 C.S. Lewis’ Argument From Desire
55:49 The Argument From Reason
1:01:26 Are You Afraid of Death?
1:04:27 Outro

- SPECIAL THANKS

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John Early
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Mouthy Buddha
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Alex O'Connor
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[docjaramillo]

I believe Dr. Dawkins is onto something about the universality of science. I’m a physician and I have lost my theistic childhood Christian faith. It’s been a long painful process, but now in my 40s I find a great peace in the natural world. Science, real science, marches on illumination reality and making our lives longer with increasing levels of flourishing. And I’m privileged to have had the education I’ve had.

[MrTomservo]

I was a devout Christian who lost faith at age 25. I was deeply practicing until I was 18, and I gradually drifted. At one point in my life I believed in god just enough to know that I was a bad Christian and that I'd go to hell if I died, but not enough to prompt me to do anything about immediately. At age 25 I stopped believing in hell, and had no concept of death. In Christianity death is but a portal to the afterlife. Without faith, death was just the end of me. My mind couldn't digest the thought of just not existing. I lost sleep for many weeks. I expressed my anxiety to a close friend who told me "You didn't exist for billions of years before you were born, right? You were fine then."
I slept like a baby that night.

[x]

Lovely conversation and it was great to see Richard in good health both physically and mentally. He obviously enjoys interacting with Alex.

[HereHelp-gg]

zero bullshit intro, straight into the interview. For that alone, I appreciate this channel. Great conversation

[happym]

It's clear Richard has an enormous amount of respect for you as an intellectual Alex. I could honestly listen to you both for hours

[lukej]

I love to see Dawkins looking great and sounding so eloquent after his stroke. At his age that could’ve taken him entirely out of the game so it’s great to see he has more in him still at the age of 82

[johnwillman]

This is the best I have seen Richard since prior to his stroke. He looks vibrant and full of life and I’m all here for it.

[dennyworthington]

"Religion began when the first scoundrel met the first fool." Voltaire

[StrangerInAustralia]

This is the most engaged and thoughtful I've seen Dawkins in an interview in a very long time. You're doing an amazing job, Alex!

[somebody]

I was born and lived in a eastern European country so I was bread in Orthodox Christianity and I deeply believed in God but around 13-15 I realized God is fictional and felt a huge relief. Living with Christian belief made me miserable, I was afraid of most things, afraid of having a "ungodly" thought, afraid of death and of living in sin. There's so much happiness in a life without any kind of God.

[Benboy]

Alex is definitely someone skilled in the art of ‘Kao wo tateru’ or ‘saving face’. I’ve noticed he never backs people in to a corner, and always gives them room to change their mind if needs be without being triumphant. He was very good at pulling on the thread of some of Richards arguments and gently asking questions that challenged him (quite fairly). Dawkins was very open to accept that Alex made ‘fair points’ and was happy to revisit and expand on them. Very good interview

[danford]

One of the most kind well spoken people ever "Be a good person and leave the world a better place than you found it" - Richard Dawkins evil hell-bound atheist.
"I am angry at the bad world I created guess I'll drown everyone on the planet other than a handful of people" - God

[craigrelyea]

Alex, I commend you on conducting an engaging and intellectual discussion while not becoming distracted by that one unbuttoned button on Dawkins' shirt. Mad props.

[stevenj]

Keep living a long healthy life, Mr. Dawkins...your voice is SO needed

[AtamMardes]

What's the difference between a cult and a religion? In a cult, there's someone at the top who knows it's all bs. In a religion, that person has died long time ago.

[renecoetzee]

I grew up in a very conservative christian church but realized early on in my life that there is something off. I live my life according to morals I was taught by my parents and, a few years ago, a colleague said I must be a very big christian. She was immensely shocked when I told her that I am not. Just because I try to be a good person and live a good life, doesn’t make me a christian. To be a good person is not the exclusive right if christians.

[bigzed]

I am do happy to see Alex getting to this point in his life. It's been wonderful folowing his journey throughout the years. Congrats Alex! I am a few years younger than you, but God damn (😉) you are one hell of an inspiration.

[transvestosaurus]

Spice level: -minty- Werther's Original

[griffoncs]

I left the Mormon church after believing it for 32 years, and I think I'm less afraid of death now than I was as a Mormon. The Mormon church is obsessed with death, and they live their lives planning for it and making sure they're good enough to live with not only God, but their loved ones as well. It's an incredible amount of stress to carry around for your entire life. Leaving the church has made me realize that even though life is still hard, I can just enjoy living, and learning, and spending time with family while I'm alive. A Mormon believes that they will go on to have even more children and create worlds and educate people who didn't believe in God while they were alive, or spend eternity regretting every choice they ever made on earth... But now as an atheist I just think of my eventual death as a well deserved rest.

[RFC]

The eventual existence of a creator doesn't really change anything, because those who believe in such a creator can just constantly change the creator's imagined goals and methods to match new discoveries about the universe. "Oh, this thing is different from what everyone thought? Well, that's just the way the 'creator' made it, then."

The problem is with *_religion_* (and the way it basically tries to limit what people are allowed to question and think about) not with the concept of a "creator". Same thing with whether the universe is "a simulation" or not. Doesn't matter. If an exact simulation of the universe _can_ be constructed, then you can treat the universe as "a simulation" (whatever that means) even if it isn't (whatever _that_ means).