Here’s an audio track of Richard Dawkins discussing his new book, The God Delusion, on the Alan Colmes show on FOX. I thought that Colmes did a good job allowing Dawkins to bring out his points. Some of the call-in comments are amusing, especially toward the end of this 24 minute show.
For a new video of Richard Dawkins being interviewed on BBC, click here.
For me, the most conspicuous thing about the various recent interviews given by Richard Dawkins is this: Numerous people calling in to these shows or directing written questions to Dawkins show a profound failure to understand the basic principles of evolution. Yet, they are all-too-willing to criticize Darwin (and Dawkins). For instance, many callers can't believe that our complex and beautiful world could have come about as an "accident, as Darwin argues."
I do admire Dawkins for his empathic and careful responses to people making this misguided assertion. He often starts by correcting the record: Darwin is not proposing that evolution is based on a massive "accident." Natural selection is the opposite of an accident. That is why natural selection encompasses the term "selection." It is not called "natural accident."
In all sincerity, Dawkins finds the need to remind the questioners that they "need to read a book on evolution."
It seems that people are just all too willing to weigh in on a complex topic without doing any homework, a topic I've previously discussed here.