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Richard Dawkins Equips Science to Battle Harry Potter
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| couch-potato |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/325...rd-Dawkins.html
The prominent atheist is stepping down from his post at Oxford University to write a book aimed at youngsters in which he will warn them against believing in "anti-scientific" fairytales. Prof [D]awkins said: "The book I write next year will be a children's book on how to think about the world, science thinking contrasted with mythical thinking.
"I haven't read Harry Potter, I have read Pullman who is the other leading children's author that one might mention and I love his books. I don't know what to think about magic and fairy tales."
Prof Dawkins said he wanted to look at the effects of "bringing children up to believe in spells and wizards".
"I think it is anti-scientific – whether that has a pernicious effect, I don't know," he told More4 News.
"I think looking back to my own childhood, the fact that so many of the stories I read allowed the possibility of frogs turning into princes, whether that has a sort of insidious affect on rationality, I'm not sure. Perhaps it's something for research."
But Prof Dawkins, the bestselling author of The God Delusion who this week agreed to fund a series of atheist adverts on London buses, added that his new book will also set out to demolish the "Judeo-Christian myth".
He went on: "I plan to look at mythical accounts of various things and also the scientific account of the same thing. And the mythical account that I look at will be several different myths, of which the Judeo-Christian one will just be one of many.
"And the scientific one will be substantiated, but appeal to children to think for themselves; to look at the evidence. Always look at the evidence."
Prof Dawkins is targeting children as the audience of his next project because he believes they are being "abused" by being taught about religion at school and labelled Christian, Jewish or Muslim from a young age.
Speaking recently at a conference of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain, a group of Britons who have renounced Islam, Prof Dawkins said: "Do not ever call a child a Muslim child or a Christian child – that is a form of child abuse because a young child is too young to know what its views are about the cosmos or morality.
"It is evil to describe a child as a Muslim child or a Christian child. I think labelling children is child abuse and I think there is a very heavy issue, for example, about teaching about hell and torturing their minds with hell.
"It's a form of child abuse, even worse than physical child abuse. I wouldn't want to teach a young child, a terrifyingly young child, about hell when he dies, as it's as bad as many forms of physical abuse." |
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| couch-potato |
Woah this is from 2008? Saw it posted on another site and thought it was new. lol did this already come out? :rolleyes:
Oh whatever.
ARE FAIRY TALES CORRUPTING OUR YOUTH? |
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| EddieZilker |
| quote: | Originally posted by couch-potato
ARE FAIRY TALES CORRUPTING OUR YOUTH? |
No. If anything, it's an absence of them that leads to corruption. |
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| Amduscias |
| Whoopsie moment |
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| netroM |
| quote: | Originally posted by couch-potato
Woah this is from 2008? Saw it posted on another site and thought it was new. lol did this already come out? :rolleyes:
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"But Prof Dawkins, the bestselling author of The God Delusion who this week agreed to fund a series of atheist adverts on London buses"
When I read that I was like... "Wait, what? Didn't he do that like two years ago?"
I agree with Eddie though. The world needs more fantasy, and children need to be taught that books can be great and that it can be fun to read, from an early age. |
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| The17sss |
perfect opportunity to post this pic. ever wonder why you never see these two in the same place? hmmmmm
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| Spam |
One day Cinderella wanted to go to the ball, but she had no clothes to wear! She hoped and prayed for her magical faerie godmother to appear and save her from her abusive step mother and step sisters.
She hoped and prayed and prayed and hoped, but she never got to go to the ball and make the prince fall in love with her, because faerie godmother's aren't real. Her step-mom gave her a black eye after the ball for missing a spot while mopping the kitchen floor. And she lived the rest of her life hopeless and miserable.
The End. |
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| SuspicionVandit |
once upon a time there was a boy who liked to play records
he became a billionaire |
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| woscar |
| quote: | Originally posted by The17sss
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This was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the thread title.
:stongue: |
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| pkcRAISTLIN |
| If that’s a serious quote I think richard’s a little off. Some people...ahem...thrive on speculative fiction because they don’t get that kind of feeling/belief IRL. |
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| Chimney |
| Dr. Attention Whore. |
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