New Atheist Richard Dawkins Dis-Invited to Speak by Liberal Berkeley Radio Station for Criticizing Islam
I’ve written a post or two, such as this one, about how anti-theist Atheist actor Chris O’Dowd is, I take it, a big fan of controversial, and sometimes arrogant, atheist Richard Dawkins, going by some of his posts on social media and interview comments.
O’Dowd is also a very left wing liberal who has slammed Republicans and right wingers on his Twitter account on several occasions.
Based on some of his other Tweets, I take it that O’Dowd, like many other incredibly naive liberals, does not view Islamic extremism itself, or large influxes of Islamic migrants into Europe, as being problematic.
Well, well, well.
A few weeks ago, a liberal Berkeley radio station, KPFA, un-invited atheist Richard Dawkins (who is probably more well-known for lambasting Christianity) when they got push-back from liberal audience members who said they object to Dawkin’s anti-Islam rhetoric, that he’s been known to share on his Twitter account.
Here are some links about that, before I resume with commentary:
Berkeley Radio Station Enforces Sharia, Cancels Richard Dawkins Over Comments on Islam
Atheist Richard Dawkins’ ‘abusive’ Islam statements lead Berkeley radio station to cancel his event
Berkeley Radio Station Cancels Event With Richard Dawkins, Accuses Him of Islamophobia
What Ever Happened to the New Atheists?
Excerpts:
by Elliot Kaufman, July 28, 2017
Organized religion’s shallowest critics made the mistake of blasting Islam along with Christianity, and the Left crucified them for it.
…Richard Dawkins, the famously skeptical evolutionary biologist, was the last shoe to drop. He was disinvited from a speaking engagement at Berkeley because his “comments about Islam” had “offended and hurt . . . so many people,” according to the event’s organizers.
Dawkins is in good company. His New Atheist compatriots, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris, had already been expelled from the party. In both cases, insufficient deference to Islam was the proximate cause.
Hitchens remained a committed socialist, but felt a war on Islamic terror and autocracy was needed. For this, he was denounced as a “neocon.” Harris is a liberal, straight and true, but drew the ire of Reza Aslan for refusing to except Islam from his broad critique of religion.
…three of the much-acclaimed “Four Horsemen” of New Atheism have been turfed from the left for extending their critique of religion to Islam. The fourth is Daniel Dennett, who also criticizes Islam.
Richard Dawkins Event Canceled Over Past Comments About Islam
A public radio station in Berkeley, Calif., said it canceled a live discussion and book signing with the evolutionary biologist and noted atheist Richard Dawkins because of his past comments criticizing Islam.
Mr. Dawkins was to promote his new book, “Science in the Soul: Selected Writings of a Passionate Rationalist,” before an audience of hundreds of paying ticket holders on Aug. 9. The event was also to be a fund-raiser for its host, the radio station KPFA.
The station sent an email to ticket holders on Thursday that praised the book but apologized for not having “broader knowledge” of his views much earlier. It added that Mr. Dawkins had hurt people with “his tweets and other comments on Islam.”
The email was quoted in full by Mr. Dawkins in an open letter that criticized the station’s decision on Friday.
…Some of the first objections to Mr. Dawkins’s appearance came from Bay Area residents. They pointed to his tweets like one posted in 2013 in which he called Islam “the greatest force for evil in the world today.”
….He [Bob Baldock, the events coordinator for the station] added that Mr. Dawkins’s unscripted remarks and social media posts gave him pause. “He has said things that I know have hurt people,” Mr. Baldock said.
(end excerpts)
Why the Left Defends Islamists: They Share a Common Enemy – The West
Excerpts:
Aug 8, 2017, by Bill Donohue
It continues to confound liberals and conservatives alike: Why would the left defend Islamists?
The latest victim of this fascinating alliance is Richard Dawkins, the English left-wing atheist who was disinvited by a Berkeley left-wing radio station after it was discovered that Dawkins said Islam is the world’s “most evil” religion.
It did not matter to KPFA that Dawkins has made a career out of bashing Christianity, especially Catholicism—that was laudatory—but it did matter when he ripped Islam. Why did that bother the left?
On the surface, it makes no sense for the left to embrace Islamists. After all, the left counsels a sexual free-for-all, and Islamists want a sexual noose on women and gays. How can libertinism and sharia be squared?
….Scratch beneath the surface and it quickly becomes apparent that what unites the left and Islamists is hate: hatred of the West. They hate America, they hate Europe, and they would like to destroy Israel.
…Dawkins finds it ironic that a Berkeley radio station is silencing him, noting that Berkeley is home to the Free Speech Movement of the 1960s. If he were an independent thinker, he wouldn’t be so shocked.
-(end excerpts)-
Richard Dawkins’ Berkeley event cancelled for ‘Islamophobia’
Richard Dawkins hits back at cancellation of Berkeley event for ‘abusive speech against Islam’
I wonder if O’Dowd is aware that his fellow liberals banned his favorite atheist, Dawkins, from one of their radio stations, and they did so for being critical of Islam?
Actor Chris O’Dowd, from what I’ve seen on his Twitter account, seems to regard any talk about Islamic extremism as being a fairy tale (he’s tweeted editorial cartoons suggesting that any concern over Islamic produced terrorism is merely a creation of a hysterical media). He’s Tweeted asking people to support his wife’s contributions to charities that assist Islamic migrants to Europe.
In his 2014 interview, O’Dowd did not discriminate in excoriating religion. You can read his comments in full here. O’Dowd compared all of religion to being a “weird cult,” and compared it to racism.
So, I suppose in O’Dowd’s world (as is typical among so many liberals), Christianity is just as bad as Islam (or Christianity is terrible, but Islam is fine?), though most Christians are not generally known for doing things decapitating non-Christians as some Muslims are known to do with “infidels.”
I’m not a big fan of Richard Dawkins. However, I have trouble with the hypocrisy of Dawkins fans who are unwilling to recognize or admit to the problems inherent with Islam, and with unfettered Islamic immigration to the United States or to Europe – and yet, they’re happy to ridicule or insult Christianity routinely.
Here are examples of some of those problems within Islam:
– Atheist blogger who spoke out against radical Islam hacked to death in Bangladesh [by Muslims]
– ‘Just wait…’ Islamic State reveals it has smuggled THOUSANDS of extremists into Europe
– ‘Easy Meat.’ Britain’s Muslim Rape Gang Cover-Up
– DHS: 858 illegals were granted US citizenship by mistake, ‘but the problem could be even worse’
– Flaws in Fingerprint Records Allowed Hundreds to Become U.S. Citizens
– More than 800 immigrants with pending deportation orders mistakenly granted U.S. citizenship
– Germany’s Migrant Rape Crisis Spirals out of Control
– ISIS thugs decapitate 5 Syrian soldiers and stick heads on pikes in Jihadi John-style executions
Video hosted by a moderate Muslim woman who admits there is a problem with Islamic violence:
–By the Numbers The Untold Story of Muslim Opinions & Demographics
I cannot begin to fathom how so many liberals (and some atheists) can be absolutely fine with Dawkins or themselves ripping on the Christian faith constantly, but then take issue with anyone criticizing Islam, or simply telling the truth about Islam:
Some of the world’s Muslim population do in fact have a problem with sexism, female genital mutilation, murdering LGBT persons for being LGBT, domestic violence, terrorism, honor killings (usually in which women rape victims are stoned to death for being rape victims), and of course, killing Non-Muslims for being Non-Muslims.
See Also (on other sites):
Is ‘Identity Liberalism’ Killing The Democratic Party?
Clemson Professor Must Apologize Or Resign After Defaming All Republicans As Racists
Atheists are more likely to be suspected of evil acts than anyone else‘
Atheists are broadly perceived as potentially morally depraved and dangerous,’ says study
See Also (on this site):
Actor Chris O’Dowd is a Great Big Jerk – Not Adorable, Not Nice, and No, Not Sexy
Actor Chris O’Dowd Silent on Hurricane Harvey Victims but Not Islamic Migrants
Buttered Popcorn 