Richard Dawkins: Religion isn’t the problem in the Middle East

[rug]

The new atheist reluctantly concedes Islam can't be blamed for the actions of terrorist organizations like ISIS

Tuesday, Oct 14, 2014
06:45 AM EDT
Dan Arel, AlterNet

Is Richard Dawkins changing his tune on Islam and terrorism? In a recent interview with Russia Today, the evolutionary biologist and noted atheist was questioned about the Islamic religion and its ties to ISIS and just how much responsibility it bears in the brutal beheadings carried out by the terrorist group. Dawkins said:

“Religion itself is not responsible for this… It’s also this feeling of political involvement. It’s a feeling that it’s ‘us against them.’ And I think that quite a large number of young Muslims feel kind of beleaguered against the rest of the world. And so religion in some sense might be just an excuse, but I do think that a dominant part of the motivation for these young men has to be religion.”

Dawkins’ statement is a huge divergence from the opinions of atheists like Sam Harris and Bill Maher, who continue to claim that religion is the primary motivator for radical terrorist groups like ISIS.

Harris’s anti-Islamic statements have been notable. Back in 2006, he posted a statement on his blog that bordered on xenophobia: “Unless liberals realize that there are tens of millions of people in the Muslim world who are far scarier than Dick Cheney, they will be unable to protect civilization from its genuine enemies.”

http://www.salon.com/2014/10/14/richard_dawkins_religion_isnt_the_problem_in_the_middle_east_partner/

[Goblinmonger]

1. He's not changing his position.

This is pretty consistent with what he has been saying most of the time.

But if it's an excuse to write a hit piece on Harris, then all's good, I guess.

[rug]

2. You can take it up with Alternet, where it originally appeared.

[Goblinmonger]

4. I'm discussing it here.

I'm assuming you wanted to discuss it since you posted it. Apparently that isn't the case.

Why post something if you don't want to talk about it?

[edhopper]

5. Flame bait ?

[cleanhippie]

6. Ding ding ding! Winner!

[rug]

8. What happened to your regular flamebait in here?

You didn't like the results?

[cleanhippie]

9. Got locked out of your own thread, huh?

That's gotta sting a bit.




Go ahead and come back with some lame, witless snark as you usually do. I'd hoped you gotten control of that compulsion by now.

[rug]

7. Since you called it a hit piece you should know Alternet isn't known for hit pieces.

[edhopper]

3. In this

“…though religion can play a vital role in the recruitment and motivation of potential future suicide bombers, their real driving-force is a cocktail of motivations including politics, humiliation, revenge, retaliation and altruism. The configuration of these motivations is related to the specific circumstances of the political conflict behind the rise of suicide attacks in different countries.”

He is saying that religion does play a roll, and initially a big one. But then other factors take more prominence.

I think one could argue both ways on what is the bigger factor. But it is all entwined and one can't eliminate any of it.