Richard Dawkins: 'The God Delusion' Book a One-Off, No More Anti-Religious Writings
Famous atheist and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins has said that his 2006 best-seller The God Delusion, an extremely popular book in the secular movement, was a "one-off," and he won't be writing anti-religious books anymore.
In an interview with BBC News regarding the 40th anniversary of another famous book of his, The Selfish Gene, Dawkins was asked about his criticism of religion, and whether The God Delusion might have been a "step too far."
Dawkins responded: "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."
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Dawkins has continued to criticize religion in interviews and on social media throughout the years, and he insisted that he stands by all his previous comments on controversial subjects.
"It's important to [be involved in those debates]. I think scientists need to get involved in that kind of thing," he said.
Reflecting further in his engagement with the field of religion, the author said: "Religion is not really a field that you can have. It's a non-field. And insofar as religion makes claims in the area of science — which it does, because it talks about creation, it talks about the nature of the universe, it talks about the nature of life — to that extent, all scientists should be involved in it."
Dawkins, who suffered a stroke earlier this year, revealed that his active Twitter account is now run by some of his staff members at his Foundation for Reason and Science.
"I occasionally ask them to post something, which they do, but I've given up doing it myself," he revealed.
Just last week, Dawkins' Twitter account responded to controversial revelations in a book claiming famed atheist Christopher Hitchens contemplated converting to Christianity before his death, by calling it an "insult."
"Insulting a dead hero who now can't defend himself: I suppose they think that's OK if you're lying for Jesus," Dawkins' Tweet read, referring to the book, The Faith of Christopher Hitchens, written by Larry Alex Taunton, the founder and executive director of The Fixed Point Foundation.
Taunton has in turn defended his claims, and wrote: "I discovered Christopher is not defined by his atheism. Atheism is a negative and you can't build a philosophy around a negative. Christopher was searching for a unifying system of thought. They're accusing me of saying he converted. I make no such claim. It's not my claim that Christopher converted, it's that Christopher was contemplating conversion. I think I substantiate it in the book."
