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Richard Dawkins Quotes about Evil

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Faith is one of the world's great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate.

Faith is one of the world's great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate.

Richard Dawkins
Mad Cow Disease, Evil, Religion
"Is Science a Religion?". Humanist, www.skeptical-science.com. January/February 1997.

To be fair, much of the Bible is not systematically evil but just plain weird, as you would expect of a chaotically cobbled-together anthology of disjointed documents, composed, revised, translated, distorted and 'improved' by hundreds of anonymous authors, editors and copyists, unknown to us and mostly unknown to each other, spanning nine centuries

Richard Dawkins
Biblical, Editors, Evil
Richard Dawkins (2008). “The God Delusion”, p.268, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Religion is the root of quite a lot of evil.

Richard Dawkins
Roots, Evil, Religion

Faith is an evil precisely because it requires no justification and brooks no argument.

Richard Dawkins
Evil, Religion, Atheism
Richard Dawkins (2008). “The God Delusion”, p.347, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Bush and bin Laden are really on the same side: the side of faith and violence against the side of reason and discussion. Both have implacable faith that they are right and the other is evil.

Richard Dawkins
Evil, Political, Violence
"The Atheist". Interview with Gordy Slack, www.salon.com. April 30, 2005.

If it is solely an evolutionary convenience, there is really no such thing as good or evil.

Richard Dawkins
Evil, Convenience, Ifs
Source: inters.org

It is fashionable to wax apocalyptic about the threat to humanity posed by the AIDS virus, "mad cow" disease, and many others, but I think a case can be made that faith is one of the world's great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate.

Richard Dawkins
Thinking, Mad Cow Disease, Evil
"Is Science a Religion?". Humanist, www.skeptical-science.com. January/February 1997.

The whole of technology depends on a scientific background, and of course technology can be used for evil purposes. You can't blame science for that.

Richard Dawkins
Technology, Evil, Purpose
Source: newrepublic.com

I had always been scrupulously careful to avoid the smallest suggestion of infant indoctrination, which I think is ultimately responsible for much of the evil in the world. Others, less close to her, showed no such scruples, which upset me, as I very much wanted her, as I want all children, to make up her own mind freely when she became old enough to do so. I would encourage her to think, without telling her what to think.

Richard Dawkins
Children, Thinking, Evil
Richard Dawkins (2004). “A Devil's Chaplain”, p.241, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

You can't blame science for being used for evil purposes. What you can do is say, 'This is an exceedingly powerful tool.' And you want to make sure it is used for good purposes, not bad ones. That is a political decision.

Richard Dawkins
Powerful, Evil, Decision
Source: www.newrepublic.com

My passion is for scientific truth. I don't much care about good and evil. ... I care about what's true.

Richard Dawkins
Passion, Evil, Care

If the universe were just electrons and selfish genes, meaningless tragedies ... are exactly what we should expect, along with equally meaningless good fortune. Such a universe would be neither evil nor good in intention ... The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference.

Richard Dawkins
Selfish, Evil, Design

Religion is not the root of all evil, for no one thing is the root of all anything.

Richard Dawkins
Roots, Evil, One Thing
Richard Dawkins (2008). “The God Delusion”, p.23, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

The human psyche has two great sicknesses: the urge to carry vendetta across generations, and the tendency to fasten group labels on people rather than see them as individuals.

Richard Dawkins
Two, Evil, People
Richard Dawkins (2004). “A Devil's Chaplain: Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love”, p.160, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

If you want to do evil, science provides the most powerful weapons to do evil; but equally, if you want to do good, science puts into your hands the most powerful tools to do so

Richard Dawkins
Powerful, Hands, Evil
"Science, Delusion, and the Appetite for Wonder". Richard Dimbleby Lecture on BBC1 Television, www.edge.org. November 12, 1996.

Bush and bin Laden are really on the same side: the side of faith and violence against the side of reason and discussion. Both have implacable faith that they are right and the other is evil. Each believes that when he dies he is going to heaven. Each believes that if he could kill the other, his path to paradise in the next world would be even swifter. The delusional "next world" is welcome to both of them. This world would be a much better place without either of them.

Richard Dawkins
Believe, Evil, Heaven
"The Atheist". Interview with Gordy Slack, www.salon.com. April 30, 2005.

Good and evil - I don't believe that there is hanging out there, anywhere, something called good and something called evil.

Richard Dawkins
Believe, Evil, Hanging Out
Source: inters.org