Cross posted at God is for Suckers!)Oh boy, Claude Mariottini just managed to be impressed by a Dinesh D'Souza article. D'Souza is going after Dawkins for saying he doesn't mind Christian symbolism in the public square. D'Souza's citations of what Dawkins has previously said on the subject are one-sided: he acts as if admitting a few good things are to be found in Christianity is something new for Dawkins, but The God Delusion talks about the beauty of the King James Version and gives a mixed review of Jesus' teachings rather than an entirely negative one. In place of the Nazi analogy, I'd suggest one from Greek mythology: I can appreciate the cultural heritage while realizing that the Greek heroes and gods were often portrayed as behaving monstrously. As a matter of fact, I even admit that the fascists produced at least one fascinating aesthetic achievement: El Valle de los Caidos, which was built under the direction of Francisco Franco. Of course there's an issue of historic distance: I feel a distance from Franco and the ancient Greeks that I don't feel from Hitler or Christianity; living in secularized Britain, Dawkins must feel a bit more distance from orthodox Christianity than I do.
Both D'Souza and Mariottini float silly speculations about the reason for Dawkins' statements, which in general aren't worth addressing, but I do find it interesting that Mariottini is still promoting the same silly misunderstanding of Dawkins' views on disproving God which I pointed out here. For the last time: Dawkins denies he can conclusively disprove the existence of God because of a general philosophical view that it is impossible to conclusively disprove anything, not because the holy spirit is getting through to him. Okay, so I hope that's the last time I have to say that, but it probably won't be.
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