[milo]

Originally Posted by Nodrog

With this is mind, his attack on using beliefs as a crutch seems quite reasonable - it is intellectually dishonest to believe something purely because you want it to be true, and I dont think there is anything wrong with pointing out the irrationality of others.

You're making them out to know that they're wrong, that isn't the case. It isn't intellectually dishonest to believe in something you think is true. Regardless of what ideology or philosophy someone follows, they follow it because they believe it to be true, not because they want it to be.

What do you want Dawkins to say? Should he stick to presenting rational scientific arguments? But noone listens to rational scientific arguments.

Quite frankly he should tone it down. If the arguments have been made but the people refuse to listen, there isn't something wrong with the people but the person making the argument. I'm not religious but even im put off by dawkins; making someone empathise isn't about taking the word 'rational' and repeatedly hitting everyone over the head. Instead of offering compassion he comes across as a zealot, you may say thats irrelevant to his message. I'd his failure to make people 'understand' is largely symptomatic of an underlying inability to communicate effectively. Hes trying to fundamentally change the way someone views the world, yet he can't understand that petty confrontation makes that more difficult

We're at the stage beyond disproof, where we now want to find out why so many people continue to believe in something that is manifestly false. And this is where notions of comfort come in.

This is pretty much news to me! Why do you care how people think? I thought the issue was stopping people from enforcing their world view on everyone else, but letting anyone who wanted to practise religion X do so. I couldn't care less why people believe in something false or why they get comfort from it. Why does it matter?