Richard Dawkins, "The God Delusion"

There was an interview with Richard Dawkins tonight on The World. He's the author of The God Delusion. I was looking forward to listening to the interview since his views are so different than mine. Maybe I'd learn something from him.

I was quite disappointed. He was very testy and very disrespectuful of religion. Isn't it possible to show respect even if you don't agree? I think it is. It made me think of the book I'm listening to: The Likeabilty Factor by Tim Sanders. Part of his argument for likeability includes the fact that if people like you, they're more likely to believe you. So I found Dawkins interview particularly odd. Granted, a lot of people probably wouldn't listen to Dawkins because he's an atheist, but he certainly didn't do anyone any favors with his attitude. I was disappointed that by his crankiness he made it so easy for people to dismiss what he had to say.

I did agree, however, with this shot at Ann Coulter -- who is one of the nastiest writers on the market -- on Dawkins' site:

In her latest book Godless, Ann Coulter writes "I defy any of my coreligionists to tell me they do not laugh at the idea of Dawkins burning in hell." This section is dedicated to insanity such as this that finds its way to our inbox. When it goes beyond criticism and into Crazytown, we post it up here for all to see.

He was much more relaxed and convincing on The Colbert Report. It helps that Stephen Colbert is such a nut.