Dawkins is seen at Mass-what a turnaround.

[dahamsta]

I did. I assumed you'd taken it for a parody. Surely no one would parody one of those. Too easy!

Replace parody with nutty and you have me.

[SkStu]

Replace parody with nutty and you have me.

but "Surely no one would nutty one of those" makes no sense...

I read the God Delusion a while back and Dawkins came across as too arrogant to ever admit to being wrong so even if he was in a church, i doubt he was "at mass" in the usual meaning of the word... one question - do you guys think that his beliefs should stop him from going to a friends funeral or a wedding or something that most people (believers or not) would attend? Would his attendance make him a hypocrite of sorts?

For what its worth i hated the book and found his scenario for the beginning of the universe just as likely/unlikely as it being designed.

One thing is, it didnt make me believe in no God as such but it did confirm my belief that organised religion is good for nothing.

[eamo1]

ill definatly scan this article and get it up here because it states hes been to Mass FOR A FEW SUNDAYS now in the recent weeks.thats either a hell of alot of funerals,weddings etc or he has had some sort of conversion or is at least thinking of it.
my catholic faith is extremely dear to me so to insult that is to insult me,ye may think its garbage etc but i certainly dont.ive had a few answers to prayers which i just CANNOT put down to coincidence.
richard dawkins did have a heated debate with david quinn on the ryan.tub show on rte radio.dawkins was stammering and stuttering when quinn asked him if he doesnt believe in God then what does he base moral decisions on etc?dawkins was shaken by this question and AVOIDED answering it by cleverly changing the subject.a tougher interviewer would have pressed him to try answer it,maybe he couldnt though.

[dahamsta]

Is it not possible to go to church as research?

[Dodge]

richard dawkins did have a heated debate with david quinn on the ryan.tub show on rte radio.dawkins was stammering and stuttering when quinn asked him if he doesnt believe in God then what does he base moral decisions on etc?dawkins was shaken by this question and AVOIDED answering it by cleverly changing the subject.a tougher interviewer would have pressed him to try answer it,maybe he couldnt though.

I'd have just said common decency...

Anyway I agree with you that you have a right to believe in whatever religion you want and think anybody who attacks any religion should receive an infraction. I mean people were censored for using the word prod earlier this week...

[MyTown]

I'd have just said common decency...

Anyway I agree with you that you have a right to believe in whatever religion you want and think anybody who attacks any religion should receive an infraction. I mean people were censored for using the word prod earlier this week...

Hear Hear Dodge.

As a practicing Catholic, I still haven't forgiven you for putting up that poll to get rid of our manager yesterday --, but let's have a bit of consistency around here.

My kind of catholicism got a boost today with the news that the Bishop of Kilaloe has given lands for social housing in Ennis to the value of €10m. When Mr. Dawkins makes an comparable gesture, I'll be more tolerant of his arrogance.

[Macy]

When Mr. Dawkins makes an comparable gesture, I'll be more tolerant of his arrogance.

What, give away land that someone had probably donated to him anyway?

[Jerry The Saint]

I'm very fond of the idea put forward by Armando Iannucci that Dawkins is actually the Messiah, sent by God to test our faith, and everyone should treat him as such

[MyTown]

What, give away land that someone had probably donated to him anyway?

Source?

Come on Macy, you can do better than that. I thought unattributed claims were the exclusive preserve of us unenlightened catholics.

[John83]

I'm very fond of the idea put forward by Armando Iannucci that Dawkins is actually the Messiah, sent by God to test our faith, and everyone should treat him as such

I love it. The Armado Iannucci shows are on the top of my wish list on amazon.

... one question - do you guys think that his beliefs should stop him from going to a friends funeral or a wedding or something that most people (believers or not) would attend? Would his attendance make him a hypocrite of sorts?

I've attended several such functions while an atheist. I know a Muslim who is a guest at a Christian wedding this week. I don't see the problem. It's not about God, Buddha or Vishnu at those times.

[Macy]

Source?

Come on Macy, you can do better than that. I thought unattributed claims were the exclusive preserve of us unenlightened catholics.

It's an educated guess. Most church property has been donated at some stage, or sold to them below market value. Not a bad thing, but sometimes it's worth remembering that churches, their property and buildings actually belong to the congregation - the good Bishop wasn't donating it out of his own pocket as you seemed to be suggesting.

[Lionel Ritchie]

my catholic faith is extremely dear to me so to insult that is to insult me,ye may think its garbage etc but i certainly dont.

Too bad. Get over it.

I have a strong belief that I couldn't possibly enjoy supporting any football teams beside Limerick, Leeds and Ireland. I don't get my knickers in a twist when people laugh at my highly improbable hypothesis.

richard dawkins did have a heated debate with david quinn on the ryan.tub show on rte radio.dawkins was stammering and stuttering when quinn asked him if he doesnt believe in God then what does he base moral decisions on etc?dawkins was shaken by this question and AVOIDED answering it by cleverly changing the subject.a tougher interviewer would have pressed him to try answer it,maybe he couldnt though.

Wow ...sounds like Quinn wiped the floor with him. Though I'll have take your word for it.

[SkStu]

my catholic faith is extremely dear to me so to insult that is to insult me,ye may think its garbage etc but i certainly dont.ive had a few answers to prayers which i just CANNOT put down to coincidence.

thats fair enough but would you put it down specifically to your catholicism?

[SkStu]

I've attended several such functions while an atheist. I know a Muslim who is a guest at a Christian wedding this week. I don't see the problem. It's not about God, Buddha or Vishnu at those times.

A muslim guest at a christian wedding is different though. Different beliefs but a defined belief structure all the same. And weddings and funerals are centred around God. Youre declaring your love for each other in front of God. Or the priest is asking for God to accept you into heaven at funerals. Theyre really religious ceremonies and i would have imagined that as devout an atheist as Dawkins would consider his own attendance at such events as hypocritical. I totally respect your opinion though John and your right to attend whatever ceremonies you want to.

[jebus]

Too bad. Get over it.

In fairness (and I'm not Catholic) the amount of abuse Catholics get on these boards is ridiculous, if it were any other faith you and a few others would have been banned long ago Lionel

[Schumi]

funerals are centred around God.

I disagree. Maybe for you they are but for me, funerals are centred around the dead person and the people who loved them. Any religious aspects are distinctly secondary, even for most religious people in my experience.

[Vitruvian Man]

Comparing the donation of land by a bishop to a donation by a private individual is daft. That would be like some middle mananger in Microsoft Ireland claiming that their philthropy programmes was his own work or something like that. In fact the RC Church and Microsoft have a lot in common what with both being global corporations with multi-billions of dollars worth of assets. Not to mention predatory practices against customers, illegal action against competitors to maintain a monopoly and selling many duff products. In fact 10 mil from the coffers would probably equate to Dawkins buying a scratch card off the guide-dogs-for-the-blind stall outside his local centra.

I'm not calling you a liar eamo1 but "how can athiests be moral if they have no religion" is one of Dawkins set piece questions to which he has his pre-prepared stock answers so I very much doubt that question flustered him. You might have heard what you want to hear there.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/10/09/dp0901.xml

[jebus]

Just getting back to Dawkins Jewish comments, what do his supporters make of this direct quote from the man?

When you think about how fantastically successful the Jewish lobby has been, though, in fact, they are less numerous I am told - religious Jews anyway - than atheists and [yet they] more or less monopolise American foreign policy as far as many people can see. So if atheists could achieve a small fraction of that influence, the world would be a better place.

It's mildly anti-semetic, whilst also ignoring large parts of history to make a point against the Jewish lobby (the bold part). I only bring it up because Dawkins supporters tend to believe that the man's word is infalliable and this statement is one of the more ignorant I've read from a 'leading mind' in quite some time.

[SkStu]

I disagree. Maybe for you they are but for me, funerals are centred around the dead person and the people who loved them. Any religious aspects are distinctly secondary, even for most religious people in my experience.

cannot agree fully with that. Plus you kind of took that quote out of its context. A funeral is a religious ceremony - from prayers being offered to the dead person to the dead to the priest asking for the souls acceptance into heaven to the person being buried on blessed land.

The wake and the removal and any post church gathering is about celebrating the person but the funeral from church to graveyard is deeply religious and full of religious imagery.

anyway this has probably gone a bit off topic...

[micls]

cannot agree fully with that. Plus you kind of took that quote out of its context. A funeral is a religious ceremony - from prayers being offered to the dead person to the dead to the priest asking for the souls acceptance into heaven to the person being buried on blessed land.

The wake and the removal and any post church gathering is about celebrating the person but the funeral from church to graveyard is deeply religious and full of religious imagery.

anyway this has probably gone a bit off topic...

Have to disagree with you. Of course the service itself is religious but as an atheist I dont see how my attending would be hypocritial.

If someone I know and loved died there would be no questiont hat I would go to the funeral. It is a sign of respect for the person that died. They chose their religion and how they'd like to be remembered and I would respect that and attend.

Similarly with weddings and baptisms, I wont marry in a church and if i had children i wouldn't baptise them but I will attend both. It is a celebration for someone else in the way they want it.

The last funeral I was at, id wager the majority of the people there were not there because of the religious aspect. It was to be there in memory of my grandfather, in support of my grandmother and in support of one another in a time of grief