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Nasthikanaya Daivam': Richard Dawkinsinte Lokam
Nasthikanaya Daivam': Richard Dawkinsinte Lokam
Presentation by
RAVICHANDRAN.C
Asst. Professor in English,
University college, Thiruvananthapuram
PERSONAL NOTES
DOUGLAS ADAMS, was a famous British science fiction writer who died at
the age of 47 in 2001. Dawkins dedicated ‘The God delusion’(2006) to him.
Douglas, probably, was more famous than Dawkins himself. He rejected
religion after reading serious science books including Dawkins’ Selfish Gene,
The Blind watchmaker, The Ancestors’ tale etc
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Ravichandran C
Prolific writer, Media icon
10 books, 8 documentaries… Still going strong
His first book ‘The Selfish Gene (1976) had 33 editions. Selected by the Prospect
Magazine in 2004 as one of the most influential thinkers of the world along with
Umberto Ecco and Noam Chomsky. His website www.richarddawkins.net is one of
the site with most hits in USA and UK over the last 3 years
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Ravichandran C
Dawkins’ classy oratorical skills and mercurial stage presence has made him
one of the most sought after speakers in the world at present
• Hostile to all
kinds of
pseudo-
science and
hoaxes.
• Uncompromi
sing attitude
against
alternate An attempt to conduct a detailed study of the
medicines God delusion’ and other works of Richard Dawkins
in Malayalam. DC Books, Kottayam in Sept-09
• Religion demands
respect rather
commanding it and “When one person suffers from a
acquire for more than delusion, it is called insanity.
due When many people suffer from a
delusion it is called Religion” -
Robert M Pirzig, authour of Zen and the art of
Motor cycle Maintenance
“No, I don’t know atheists should be George Bush (Jr) was called
treated as citizens, nor should they be ‘The first Evangelical President of USA’
considered patriots. This is one nation He prayed a lot and made millions
under God’’-George Bush (Sr)
to pray for their life!
Fred Hoyle
Michael Behe
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Intelligent design and Chance
• Intelligent design is
basically equal to
chance hypothesis
• They say God
created everything
• How? Why? When?
• How was/did god
come into
existence?- Chance
hypothesis is a more
plausible.
Either Chance or Design is a false equation.
Evolution by Natural selection is the right alternative
• ‘Mpw….Im-Wmw.’
• “tZ, Ct§m«v
t\m¡nt¡!...CXmWm
tcJ!”
F√m-h¿°pw kzmKXw!
C∂v Nnßw.1, Im¿ØnI \£-{Xw,
cmlpImew cm.9.30˛10, KpfnIImew 11.25
Everybody says, Parents, Elders, Media, .. The Child thinks that doubting is a sin. Unable to see
and hear things others claim to do easily, he feels embarrassed and also join the bandwagon
C¶m-scbm IWn I−Xv? ]g-h-§m-Sn-bn tX§-b-Snt¨ Rm³ It¨-cn¡v t]mIm-dp-Åp. At¸m Hcp
{]tXyI kpJ-am..AsÃ-¦n \s½-sf{X hnNm-cn-¨mepw As§-s¯-¯nÃ. ASp¯ XhW KW-]-
Xn-sb¡qSn Ku\n-t¨-¡Ww tIt«m, F\n-¡n-t¸m C{Xtb ]d-bm-\pÅp
kXyw ]d, C¶v ]mSp-¶-Xn\v ap¼v {]mÀ°n-¨n-Ã, Atà Ip«m? {]mÀ°n-¡-Ww, ka-b-sa-Sp¯v Xs¶
{]mÀ°n-¡-Ww. kwK-Xn-I-sfms¡ hc-W-sa¦o apI-fn-ep-Å- HcmfpIqSn Xocp-am-\n-¡-Ww. C¶s¯
s]Àt^m-a³kv tamiam-hm³ Rm³ t\m¡n-bn«v CX-ÃmsX thsd-mcp Imc-WhpanÃ
Bower bird
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Ravichandran C
Half eye and half wing
• There are different kinds of
eyes in the world
• All creatures don’t need
eyes like us. Half eyes and
primitive eyes are also
useful to organisms
• 50% wing is more helpful to
reduce the impact of a fall
than a 49% wing
• Some of
them have
eyes at the
larva stage
and later
become
extinct
• Some have
a eyespot
but totally
covered by
skin layers
and thus by
useless
The wings of the bats are a skin envelope grown around its limbs and digits
Emu
Ostrich>>
• It is basically the
function of the ‘fight
and flee’ mechanism
• Kin-altruism,
Collective defense,
sharing of food,
parental care are so
common in animal
kingdom too Vampire Bat
Hitler
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The Consolation Hypothesis
• Once religion depended
on Miracles. Now it claims
to have console people
• Self-realization& natural
recovery falsely claimed
by Religion
For those who want to wish away facts and dream away reality prefer
many methods for consolation; all succeed in providing illusory relief
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The false confidence
• The confidence
religion generates is
that of one who
owns fake currency.
• You win simply
because you don’t
test and verify.
Otherwise you will
be in trouble
• Working
hard to
kill the
evil
• -A usual
scene from
stoning in
Somalia.
The people
stone a
hapless
women
• People grow
diffident and
fatalistic
• Mental unrest
virtually blinds
sense of
reason
All major Religions play on the gullibility of believers and make them
believe in most silly things. Pix from some Islamic miracle sites
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See what you want to see
A
IVI
TR
Shivling in Amaranth!
• Photo-miracles
are still the
favourite past
time of major
religions.
• Though look
ridiculous, it
still attracts
thoughtless
devotees Crucifixion in sky created by cloud formation!
VIP devotees are the first to run away when the ‘gods’ are exposed
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Alw {Zhymkvan; XXz-akn
Thank You