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Indybay Feature

EVENT CANCELLED - Richard Dawkins Discusses "Science in the Soul"

sm_richard_dawkins_in_berkeley.jpg
Date:
Sunday, August 06, 2017
Time:
7:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Event Type:
Speaker
Organizer/Author:
bob baldock
Location Details:
First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley

In a world grown irrational and hostile to facts, "Science in the Soul" is an essential collection by an indispensable author. Richard Dawkins is an English ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was the University of Oxford's Professor for Public Understanding of Science from 1995 until 2008. Dawkins first came to prominence with his 1976 book "The Selfish Gene", which popularised the gene-centred view of evolution. In 2006, he founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. Dawkins is an atheist, well known for his criticism of creationism and intelligent design. In "The Blind Watchmaker" (1986), he argues against the watchmaker analogy, an argument for the existence of a supernatural creator based upon the complexity of living organisms. Instead, he describes evolutionary processes as analogous to a blind watchmaker in that reproduction, mutation, and selection are unguided by any designer. In The God Delusion (2006), Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a delusion. He opposes the teaching of creationism in schools.

Among his other books are: "The Extended Phenotype", "The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution", "An Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist", "Brief Candle in the Dark: My Life in Science, Science in the Soul": Selected Writings of a Passionate Rationalist".
In it the legendary biologist, provocateur, and bestselling author mounts a timely and passionate defense of science and clear thinking with this career-spanning collection of essays, including twenty pieces published in the United States for the first time. Though it spans three decades, this book couldn’t be more timely. Dawkins calls on us to insist that reason take center stage and that gut feelings, even when they don’t represent the stirred dark waters of xenophobia, misogyny, or other blind prejudice, should stay out of the voting booth. Dawkins has equal ardor for “the sacred truth of nature” and renders here with typical virtuosity the glories and complexities of the natural world.

“In this golden age of enlightened science writing, it is stunning that no scientist has won the Nobel Prize for Literature… No living scientist is more deserving of such recognition than Richard Dawkins. . . . —Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic magazine, columnist for Scientific American

Local contact: Ken Preston ken [at] kpfa.org 510.967.4495
Publicist contact:
Added to the calendar on Wed, May 24, 2017 2:12PM
§CANCELLED - KPFA Statement on Cancellation of Richard Dawkins Event
by KPFA blog repost
https://kpfa.org/blog/statement-decision-cancel-richard-dawkins-event/

 

EVENT CANCELLED: Statement on Cancellation of Richard Dawkins Event

 
07.24.17 - 4:09PM


KPFA cancelled a book event with Richard Dawkins when members of our community brought our attention to Dawkins’ abusive speech against Muslims. The speech we reviewed included assertions during his current book tour that Islam is the “most evil” of world religions, Twitter posts denigrating Muslim scholars as non-scholars and other tweets.

We serve a broad and diverse community, including many Muslims living under threat of persecution and violence in the current political context. Islamophobic rhetoric stokes that threat. While Mr. Dawkins has every right to express his views, KPFA has every right not to sponsor and profit from an event spreading them. That is what we’ve done.

KPFA’s events organizers notified Mr. Dawkins’ publicist at Random House when we first started considering cancellation of his event, and again once we made the final decision to do so, which was before notice was sent out to ticket holders.

We have since extended an offer to Mr. Dawkins to discuss this matter on KPFA’s airwaves, a forum where his assertions can be engaged and challenged, but KPFA will have no financial stake in promoting them. He has not yet responded.

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