Dawkins disappoints

Is Professor Richard Dawkins really a voice of reason? We were left with this question at the end of his talk on Sunday at Page Auditorium.

Professor Dawkins provided a lucid and rigorous exposition of the factual basis of evolution by natural selection. But, we believe that he fell well short in addressing issues related to religion, especially in the Q&A session following his talk. His comments were peppered with disparaging references to the need for educating “religious people,” falsely implying that “religious people” by definition do not accept the science of evolution.

But most shocking was his response to a question on the appropriateness of the presence of a divinity school and chapel on Duke’s campus.

Professor Dawkins’ comment that the chapel was only good for its pretty stained glass windows and good music completely disregarded the important healing, guiding, sustaining and reconciling roles of worshipping communities in the lives of countless people. Similarly, his comment that the Divinity School is appropriate only for studying history and literature betrayed a lack of understanding of the mission of the Divinity School to train ministers in all aspects of congregational life. This mission is in keeping with its professional character, consistent with the nature of all the other professional schools which give Duke its unique flavor.

The lack of a nuanced and intellectually compelling exposition of the fact that both science and religion are powerful and valid forces in the world today (perhaps as a result of human evolution itself?) was disheartening. In the end, we left feeling that we had heard a fundamentalist discourse—the very type of discourse that Professor Dawkins purports to stand against.

Prasad Kasibhatla. Associate Professor at the Nicholas School of the Environment