That is one of the saddest things that I've seen in a while.

My feelings towards Richard Dawkins are complicated, to say the least. As a Christian and as a conservative, I naturally have many points of contention with Dr. Dawkins. I was an atheist for the breadth of my twenties, and I read several of his books. While I disagree with several of his conclusions, particularly regarding God, I have a certain respect for his intellectual integrity. Reading Unweaving the Rainbow makes it abundantly clear that the man truly loves science and the pursuit of truth, even if he has intellectual blindspots that have caused him to miss large parts of it. I also applauded Dawkins' courage in standing against Islam at a time when it was not culturally popular to do so, especially on the Left. Similarly, he spoke out against the insanity of "elevatorgate" and the Atheist+ movement.

So, to see him so cowed is really disconcerting. Some of this is probably threats against his life by Muslim terrorists, but I doubt that this is the first time in his long career. I think Covid did something to him, as it did to many of us. I think that Covid forced him to really consider his own mortality as a physical certainty, rather than as a theoretical truth. Without the belief in something bigger than mere, animal humanity, his resolve crumbled. That intellectual fire and courage, just gone.