In a recent interview with the Times magazine, Richard Dawkins attempted to defend what he called "mild pedophilia," which, he says, he personally experienced as a young child and does not believe causes "lasting harm."
Dawkins went on to say that one of his former school masters "pulled me on his knee and put his hand inside my shorts," and that to condemn this "mild touching up" as sexual abuse today would somehow be unfair.
"I am very conscious that you can't condemn people of an earlier era by the standards of ours. Just as we don't look back at the 18th and 19th centuries and condemn people for racism in the same way as we would condemn a modern person for racism, I look back a few decades to my childhood and see things like caning, like mild pedophilia, and can't find it in me to condemn it by the same standards as I or anyone would today," he said.
Plus, he added, though his other classmates also experienced abuse at the hands of this teacher, "I don't think he did any of us lasting harm."
https://www.salon.com/2013/09/10/richard_dawkins_defends_mild_pedophilia_says_it_does_not_cause_lasting_harm/
This is not the first time. Multiple times he has tried to normalize pedophilia.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/09/richard-dawkins-defends-mild-pedophilia-again-and-again/311230/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1iSxEtgEGs
What the hell is wrong with this man?
Wikipedia on him:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins
Dawkins has been awarded many prestigious academic and writing awards and he makes regular television, radio and Internet appearances, predominantly discussing his books, his atheism, and his ideas and opinions as a public intellectual.
He has won numerous awards and is known as one of the world's top scientists. Seriously.
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burnitalldown ago
I'm so not shocked by this. I've always hated this guy.
He's an atheist too. Never trust an atheist.
crashing_this_thread ago
I'm an atheist and I have been here since pizzagate.
burnitalldown ago
@scarlettm512
I don't like religion, have a scientific mind but can't conceive of their not being a higher intelligence that created it all. Not some man floating in the cloud but an intelligence. Nothing appears just randomly, especially something so intricate like a human being. We can say it's a result of natural selection but we can't explain how natural selection came about.
Anyway, I know some okay atheists and some very crappy theists. I stand corrected.
shoosh ago
I could label the intelligence as higher, but not healthier and not to be confused with wisdom. The world seems more like an intelligence wielded by a mad scientist. I can't wrap my head around an intelligence that produces decay and suffering without adequate instruction or reasoning. Innumerable groups, or people, all claiming to have the truth have never yet pointed humanity to highest healthiness. People are left wandering lost, and often lead to their inner core destroyed.
Whatever intelligence this is at its core produces, and enjoys or ignores its creation of a very poor model of a bds&m club with no safe-word and no instruction manual.
Instead I see teen and adults bodies overrun with sexual hormones that consume them and they don't know what to do with it. The physical and mental survival instinct to stay in this and to keep this death system propagated is huge.
Then enters millions of beliefs to keep it upheld and in place.
I see nothing wise about any of this.
burnitalldown ago
I do. You've taken a materialist view but I do understand your viewpoint as I've questioned everything before. The world is a mess. The best way I can explain it is that intelligence had to move to matter (which isn't really matter but energy but I'm simplifying), to experience life through matter, through us. This intelligence loves us but for us to really love back, we needed to have free will and have consciousness...otherwise that love isn't real. It's like 'love' from a robot. We are eternal beings so death isn't really what we think death is
When I was disillusioned, I said I was an atheist, God couldn't do such a thing as put us on this rock and leave us with these greedy monsters ruling us,killing each other, sometimes in the name of religion. It was a very bleak, cold dark time in my life. Things changed dramatically when I overcame these thoughts, I was then gifted with abilities, I will not disclose here. I know there is a creator but unfortunately I can't show you that but that creator loves you more than you've ever been loved by anyone. I'm not here to convince you either as that's impossible but that's my experience.
scarlettm512 ago
There are different types of atheists, just as there are different types of Christians, Muslims, Jews, etc. If someone is an atheist just because they need to see proof of something before they can believe in it, I respect that. Atheists like Dawkins, however, are atheist simply because they wish to destroy religion. That is a very different type of atheist. They don't mind people having blind faith in something -- they just want that blind faith to be science, not God. Many of this type of atheists actually worship science in the same way that religious people worship a god or gods. Their "holy books" are scientific tomes. Their saints and priests (who cannot be questioned but should be followed blindly) are scientists. They are pushing a religion themselves. I am a fan of science (although I am probably not smart enough to understand a lot of it when it gets beyond the basics -- I don't have a low IQ, but I am certainly no genius), but I despise "Scientism".
eucalyptus_spearmint ago
Man, you are so on point! I keep on loving all of your comments. Preach! 😁
Cc1914 ago
How long have you been atheist ? What led you there , if you don't mind me asking ?
crashing_this_thread ago
Since I was concieved I guess. I "assumed" I was Christian, but my family isn't very religious. My dad is somewhat "spiritual", but pretty secular and my mom says she is agnostic. I assumed they where Christians until I became an adult though because we didn't discuss religion much.
I've been pretty free to choose my own belief.
If I HAD to choose I'd probably be Christian, because most Christians are moderate, but just with muslim extremism, Christian extremism is pretty bad.
Cc1914 ago
Very interesting, thanks for the comment and your input 😊