Despite belonging to a single species, we’re divided by physical, religious and caste-based boundaries. According to official records there are around 4200 religions in the world. However, despite its long lasting presence, people have adapted three distinct ways to deal with it. By completely believing in religion (theism), by partly believing in it (agnostic) and completely rejecting it (atheism). And scientist Richard Dawkins has always pronounced himself as an Atheist.
However, while talking about two of the biggest religions in the world, Islam and Christianity, Dawkins found himself at the wrong end of the stick.
In a recent tweet by Richard Dawkins, he compared the Christian church bells and Islam’s ‘Allahu Akbar’ in a very skewed way which simply came off as Islamophobic.
Listening to the lovely bells of Winchester, one of our great mediaeval cathedrals. So much nicer than the aggressive-sounding “Allahu Akhbar.” Or is that just my cultural upbringing? pic.twitter.com/TpCkq9EGpw
— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) July 16, 2018
“LIstening to the lovely bells of Winchester, one of our great medieval cathedrals. So much nicer than the aggressive-sounding ‘Allahu Akhbar.” Or is that just my cultural upbringing?”
Richard Dawkins is a scientist who has preached Atheism for a long time. He has written the world famous book, ‘The God Delusion’, breaking down the negatives of religions. But his overt focus on Islam has always been related with a phobia that the West has.
Now, are there any negative connotations to the phrase ‘Allahu Akbar’? Yes. However, an atheist is supposed to reject all religion instead of preferring one over the other. And that’s why this tweet seemed very hypocritical.
Richard Dawkins’ tweet ruffled quite a few feathers and they promptly called out his double standards on the social media site.
1. Couldn’t have explained it better.
It's definitely your xenophobia and bigotry. Maybe you even dip your humus with ignoranance and wrap your falafel sandwich with your 50 cents of knowledge. A real atheist would not care about church bells, azan or any of that. But your comments say a lot about who you're really!
— Manar Chabouk (@1manara) July 18, 2018
2. It’s a shock for his fans.
Perhaps old age has taken over. No idea why a man of your stature would say such a thing.
— MuslimMarine (@mansoortshams) July 18, 2018
3. The Racism Watch Dog has spoken/barked.
— Racism Watchdog says BLM 🏳️🌈 (@RacismDog) July 17, 2018
4. This isn’t expected of Dawkins.
What a horribly disappointing tweet form you. And I say this as a huge admirer of your thinking & writing. Shame.
— Catherine Russell (@catherinerusse2) July 17, 2018
5. That should be the logical first step.
https://twitter.com/Imamofpeace/status/1019399179611672576
6. That’s one way to see this.
Sadly. Many miss his point. He was literally saying it is cultural upbringing that makes many feel other cultures are aggressive or ugly. He was being cheeky. Not snide.
— Jim Koontz (@KoontzJim) July 18, 2018
7. That’s someone who’s speaking out of experience.
https://twitter.com/mabeloo/status/1019435501550481408
8. People are seeing signs of narcissism.
This is the thing about narcissistic personality disorder, the compulsion to say or do inflammatory, self-destructive things is profoundly seductive, even as it simple reveals the very fragility that underscores the narcissism.
— Mark W. Wilson, MD (@markwwilsonmd) July 18, 2018
9. There’s that.
It's just prejudice, mate. https://t.co/XlkU6FjNtF
— Aditya Chakrabortty (@chakrabortty) July 17, 2018
10. It’s becoming a common thing now.
https://twitter.com/locomomos/status/1019116907713007617
Religion is a flawed institution just like every other thing made by humans. However, there are large chunks of people who, despite being born into it, choose to live in the positive side of things. And a remark like this from Dawkins breaks their morale. Additionally, as atheists have tried to unearth the dark side of religion, this tweet goes to show that atheism isn’t perfect at all as well.