Christ turning water into wine is as believable as a frog changing into a beautiful prince, Richard Dawkins said Thursday night.
Dawkins, a noted evolutionary biologist and vocal atheist, said that the entire universe can be explained through scientific methods and denounced reliance on supernatural “magic.” He spoke to a packed Page Auditorium as part of a tour promoting his 2011 book for young adults, “The Magic of Reality: How We Know What’s Really True,” and argued that, though some amazing occurrences are seemingly magical, there is a scientific explanation to everything.
In his second sold-out speech at Duke in two years, Dawkins outlined three forms of magic—myth, illusion and the beauty of everyday existence.
“An Alpine landscape or a rainbow, these are exhilarating, something that gives us goosebumps, something that makes you feel more fully alive,” he noted. “The facts of the real world as understood through the methods of science are magical in this third sense, the good-to-be-alive sense.”
Dawkins contrasted myth and illusion with the magic of existence, and compared fairy tales like the Frog Prince to the miracles of biblical scripture.
“Everybody knows this didn’t really happen,” he said. “Although when it comes to a particular kind of religious spell—miracles—all reason flies out the window. These appear to be supernatural, but it’s a point of illusion.”
Delving into evolution, Dawkins said natural selection is the only feasible explanation for our existence. An omniscient designer could not be responsible for the thriving of species because evolution has been proven by a continuous lineage of fossil records.
“Natural selection is the opposite of blind chance. In every generation, there’s a small element that changes, a mutation,” he said. “The odds of getting an eye at random would be similar to the odds of a perfect deal at bridge—it’s not random.”
The event was co-sponsored by a range of University departments, including the department of philosophy and the Office of the Provost. A lengthy question-and-answer session and book signing followed the speech. Dawkins was introduced by Sean Faircloth, director of strategy and policy at the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science and a former Maine congressman.
Faircloth spoke on the political implications of laws that favor people of faith over non-believers, noting North Carolina’s proposed marriage amendment as a method of prioritizing a religious definition of marriage—something that is unconstitutional in a nation that values the separation of church and state.
“There has never been an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that has taken away rights,” Faircloth added. “It has always provided more rights. Let’s specifically not let that happen in the state of North Carolina.”
Faircloth said the Dawkins Foundation stands for compassion, in contrast to the treatment of a 15 year old named Jessica, who died from a basketball-sized tumor because her mother believed in faith healing rather than modern medical science. He said Jessica suffered worse than anything that happened in Abu Ghraib because of current laws in 37 states that give leniency to faith healing.
“Unfortunately, there are quite a large number of people for whom facts hold no appeal, and evidence is of no interest,” Dawkins said. “And so we have a separate problem, which is a political problem.”
Several attendees who had seen Dawkins speak at Duke in 2010 said they preferred his former address because it was more scientific.
“The talk was good, but I thought it promoted his recent book, as opposed to his previous talk, which was more engaging,” said Farnaz Nojavan, a third year Ph.D. candidate at the Nicholas School of the Environment.
Dawkins’ current nationwide tour includes appearances speaking at the Reason Rally in Washington, D.C. last weekend—billed as the largest gathering of atheists in history—and an appearance this weekend at Fort Bragg for a rally and concert called Rock Beyond Belief.
“Tonight I’m pretty much preaching to the converted—I don’t think I will be at the army base,” Dawkins said. “One thing I might do is simply explain to them why religion is a load of rubbish. I’m not sure if that may be the best approach—I would welcome advice on that.”
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