Richard Dawkins: I can't be sure God does not exist

[SassyLady]

Some food for thought for the Dawkins followers:
He is regarded as the most famous atheist in the world but last night Professor Richard Dawkins admitted he could not be sure that God does not exist.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9102740/Richard-Dawkins-I-cant-be-sure-God-does-not-exist.html

[Thunderknuckles]

I don't know much about that guy but I guess he would probably say the same thing about the Loch Ness monster too so I don't think he admitted to much.
In any case, only the dead know with absolute certainty and no one is rushing to join that bunch of know-it-alls.

[Noir]

This shouldn't be news to anyone who has read Dawkins books on gods or seen him speak about them. Indeed there is a chapter in the god dilusion about 'god impossibly vs probability', which he defines on a scale marked 1 to 7.

So the only people who will be surprised by this are people that don't listen to
dawkins anyways.

[SassyLady]

He told the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, that he preferred to call himself an agnostic rather than an atheist.

The two men were taking part in a public “dialogue” at Oxford University at the end of a week which has seen bitter debate about the role of religion in public life in Britain.



Why?



Prof Dawkins told him: “What I can’t understand is why you can’t see the extraordinary beauty of the idea that life started from nothing – that is such a staggering, elegant, beautiful thing, why would you want to clutter it up with something so messy as a God?”
Dr Williams replied that he “entirely agreed” with the “beauty” of Prof Dawkins’s argument but added: “I’m not talking about God as an extra who you shoehorn on to that.”
There was surprise when Prof Dawkins acknowledged that he was less than 100 per cent certain of his conviction that there is no creator.


Interesting.

[Noir]

Not interesting at all, Dawkins has said this dozens of times, in debates and speeches, and he's even written it in black and white in a book that's been read by millions.

And Ofcourse I think he's totally right and on point about it.

[SassyLady]

Not interesting at all, Dawkins has said this dozens of times, in debates and speeches, and he's even written it in black and white in a book that's been read by millions.

And Ofcourse I think he's totally right and on point about it.

So, he's not an atheist? And he absolutely believes that he's not 100% sure there is not a creator. Hmmmm.

[Noir]

So, he's not an atheist? And he absolutely believes that he's not 100% sure there is not a creator. Hmmmm.

Why would you think otherwise?
I have never read or heard him say anything about being 100% certain in creators not existing. Infact I've heard and read plenty by him to the contrary.
If you (or anyone else) ever thought he was then you have been misinformed.

[Noir]

Good to see Dawkins sees the humour in it...

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j176/jonathan-mcc/dawkins.png

[SassyLady]

Good to see Dawkins sees the humour in it...

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j176/jonathan-mcc/dawkins.png

I guess I just don't know enough about atheists. I thought they believed God did not exist and advocated in fact that there was no such entity. I must have been mistaken. But....he doesn't call himself an atheist....that's right, he's agnostic.

[Noir]

I guess I just don't know enough about atheists. I thought they believed God did not exist and advocated in fact that there was no such entity. I must have been mistaken. But....he doesn't call himself an atheist....that's right, he's agnostic.

I've heard him describe himself as a tea-pot agnostic (in relation to Bertrand Russell's famous quip)

And the point is a simple one, I am an atheist, i.e. i do not believe there are any theist gods or a deist entity. However, i concede that there may well be one. That is the same position Dawkins holds. Anyone who says they know there is no god is a liar or an idiot (as they idoticly believe their own lie) The same goes for anyone who claims to know there is a god, 100%.

However, don't mistake Dawkins' ease with the work Agnostic to mean he's 50/50 about if there is a god or not. As again he's gone at length in his books at at debates/talks to outline the different colours of agnosticism.

[bullypulpit]

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From: http://www.atheist-community.org/