Tribute to Richard Dawkins

Last night at Krishnafest we had a "Tribute to Richard Dawkins".

Throughout history the Vaisnava brahmanas have faced different competitors to provide the metanarrative of life to human society. In the past they have faced the Karma-mimasa school, the followers of Buddha, the followers of Shankaracarya, and more recently sahajiya followers of Caitanya Mahaprabhu who mix bhakti with tantra, and proponents of a vitiated system of entitlement to spiritual position by virtue of birth alone (caste system).

Today one of the most prominent of our honored opposition comes in the form of scientist and culture warrior Richard Dawkins [wikipedia entry] and followers of his ideological narrative, based on science and especially evolutionary biology.

He weaves a powerful metanarrative around religion in general, using it to encourage people to believe in science and the scientific method. This is part of his function as the sitting chair for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University.

I believe that Mr Dawkins has many valid points and identifies many of the failings of current religious systems and their adherents. However, I feel that he misses an important point and overstates his case. In this way he fails to distinguish between religious extremism or fanaticism, and bonafide spiritual experience leading to transcendental realization. His aggressive preaching leads to the general public missing out on the opportunity to experience this.

At the same time the system that he promotes as an alternative, rational empiricism, while in some aspects superior to religious extremism, especially in today's global community with advanced technology, is still not sufficient to bring about the global harmony and personal satisfaction that he hopes to achieve.

For these reasons, I have studied his presentations and will over the next period present to you some of my findings and conclusions. If, as I have, you find yourself in a public discussion with someone who holds these ideas, you will find these thoughts useful. Being a practical person, I'll give you the breakdown of how he powerfully presents his ideas to a general public audience, and how we can present our ideas to combat them.