Richard Dawkins: Churchgoers enable fundamentalists by being 'nice'

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Interfaith post.



Dawkins says ordinary believers had inadvertently paved the way for extremists (Photo: Jay Williams)

Because moderate Christians and Muslims are so pleasant people believe that religion is good, Dawkins says

9:47PM BST 13 Aug 2014
By Hannah Furness, Arts Correspondent

Decent, ordinary churchgoers have helped enable religious fundamentalists to become suicide bombers by being "so nice" that people do not question their faiths, Richard Dawkins has argued.

Dawkins, the evolutionary scientist and outspoken atheist, said moderate Christian and Muslim believers had inadvertently paved the way for extremists.

Saying they had made non-evidence-based belief a "legitimate reason" for their behaviour, he claimed they have now helped "make the world safe" for fundamentalists to exist.

Speaking at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, he told an audience that moderate believers were "so nice" they had made it difficult for society to question their faith.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/11032654/Richard-Dawkins-Churchgoers-enable-fundamentalists-by-being-nice.html