I’m not a big fan of Mehdi Hasan. But I think he acquitted himself pretty well here. At least he seems to have done the research.
Richard Dawkins I am a big fan of, and have been for decades. He’s famous for his books on evolutionary biology. But most famous for his books on atheism, especially “The God Delusion”.
I’m a long-time atheist myself. Since at least 1958. So of course I agree rather more with Richard than with Mehdi.
This debate took place at the Oxford Union in November 2012. I saw it long ago. I’m posting again because it just appeared in the algo, and it’s fun. And evergreen important. Faith vs Science? What’s not to like?
I think that today, 14 years later, the audience would be more unruly. More openly hostile, likely more hostile to Richard than Mehdi. Just a guess. Based on recent Oxford union debates I’ve seen. Things have just gotten sharper, more polarised, more verbally and physically violent. Sad.
On the issue of the Winged Horse, Richard missed a trick here. He could’ve said it’s aerodynamically impossible for avian wings to lift the mighty mass of a horse. If Mehdi counters with “Oh well, it was a miracle, after all”, the counter-counter is “Then why bother with any wings at all?”.
And, if feeling cruel or mischievous to a pious Muslim, you could add: “Kind of like putting lipstick on a pig. Isn’t it?”
By the way, the Kenyan guy posting this says Richard is “wrong about biological sex”. No, he’s not. I have no idea what makes this random dude an expert. Sheesh. The science is as clear about this as it is about anything. Mammals are Class with two biological sexes. They have been for at least 210 million years.
