Dawkins believed that people should be free to discover the meaning and purpose of their own lives free from religious constraint or dogma. No doubt he believed this would result in people taking the same sort of rationalist approach to life as he espoused, but the thing about allowing people to search for their own meaning is that you lose the ability to control where they end up.
People are now searching for their own meaning much more than they used to, and Dawkins is discovering that with increasing frequency they are doing so in a way which leaves no room for his "antiquated" views. Whoops.
That was a mistake, as any theologist will tell you humanity is nothing compared to God, and any atheologist will tell you humans operate on selfish hedonistic pleasure-feedback systems with minimal self-control and basically no delayed gratification (or in other words, humans kinda suck).
I like your response but I think this is oversimplified. Leftist Dawkins opponents don't operate with a "[freedom] to discover the meaning and purpose of their own lives free from religious constraint or dogma," they operate with deliberate censorship and coercion regimes. There are unnatural pressures in place that dissuade true freedom of discovery and expression and especially the unpopular, traditional rationalist approach you mentioned. That kind of objectivity is white supremacy these days.
What stifles that kind of nonsense are the absolute protections in American constitutional law. 1A, 2A, etc. The foundations of all other "Christian" nations are crumbling under leftist assault because their civil liberties are nowhere near as fortified. They were still Christian nations though, at least at one point.
Dawkins believed that people should be free to discover the meaning and purpose of their own lives free from religious constraint or dogma. No doubt he believed this would result in people taking the same sort of rationalist approach to life as he espoused, but the thing about allowing people to search for their own meaning is that you lose the ability to control where they end up.
People are now searching for their own meaning much more than they used to, and Dawkins is discovering that with increasing frequency they are doing so in a way which leaves no room for his "antiquated" views. Whoops.
Dawkins had faith... in humanity.
That was a mistake, as any theologist will tell you humanity is nothing compared to God, and any atheologist will tell you humans operate on selfish hedonistic pleasure-feedback systems with minimal self-control and basically no delayed gratification (or in other words, humans kinda suck).
I like your response but I think this is oversimplified. Leftist Dawkins opponents don't operate with a "[freedom] to discover the meaning and purpose of their own lives free from religious constraint or dogma," they operate with deliberate censorship and coercion regimes. There are unnatural pressures in place that dissuade true freedom of discovery and expression and especially the unpopular, traditional rationalist approach you mentioned. That kind of objectivity is white supremacy these days.
What stifles that kind of nonsense are the absolute protections in American constitutional law. 1A, 2A, etc. The foundations of all other "Christian" nations are crumbling under leftist assault because their civil liberties are nowhere near as fortified. They were still Christian nations though, at least at one point.