Richard Dawkins: I'm Ready to Convert to a Religion if Evidence Backs It Up
Atheist author Richard Dawkins has suggested that he would be ready to convert to a religion if someone shows him evidence for why he should believe, but argued that so far, no one has been able to do that.
The evolutionary biologist tackled a number of topics in an online interview from readers on social networking website Reddit, which he shared on his Twitter page, and on multiple occasions suggested that he is willing to listen to evidence for religion.
When asked which religion he would convert to if he had to pick, he answered: "I would only convert to a religion if some evidence turned up to support it. So far there is none, so your question is unanswerable."
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In a separate response he suggested that he would be open to converting if someone proves him wrong.
"I have never seen a compelling argument for religion. If I ever saw one I'd convert," he wrote.
Dawkins, who recently marked the 40th anniversary of one of his most famous books, The Selfish Gene, is also famous for his 2006 anti-religion bestseller called The God Delusion.
In a recent interview with BBC News, however, he said that he won't be writing such books anymore.
"I've stepped back. I haven't written any more books along those lines. The God Delusion is a one-off. Not one that I'm ashamed of; I'm very proud of it. But it's a one-off," he said.
When asked on Reddit what he believes to be the most dangerous religion in the world today, the atheist author said that Islam has overtaken Christianity in that regard.
"Anyone who believes that what is written in a holy book is true even if the evidence is against it is dangerous. Christianity used to be the most dangerous religion. Now Islam is," Dawkins argued.
"Of course that doesn't mean more than a small minority of the world's Muslims. But it only takes a few if their beliefs are sufficiently strong, fanatical and unshakeable."
Dawkins has been challenged by some prominent evangelicals, such as Creation Museum CEO Ken Ham, on his lack of belief, with Ham arguing that atheism is itself a religion.
Ham has also accused atheists like Dawkins of being "so aggressive" because they know the truth about God, but do not admit it.
"They know God exists — the evidence is within them and all around them. But because of their sin nature, they don't want God. They are at war with God," Ham said back in 2015.
"Because the evidence within man and all around us in the creation is so strong, these atheists actively and aggressively attack Christianity and promote their atheism in order to 'suppress the truth in unrighteousness.'"
Dawkins shot back against any suggestions that atheism is a religion or that it promoted violence, however, and wrote on Reddit:
"There is no atheist religion. And 'violent?' Did you say 'violent?' Oh yes, I was forgetting. All those atheists beheading people, setting fire to them, cutting off their hands, cutting off their clitorises. If you think atheists are violent you don't know what violence means."
