World-renowned atheist Richard Dawkins has made a career criticizing religions, usually Christianity. As an evolutionary biologist, Dawkins has been quick to poke holes in Christian claims about creationism. He’s debated Christian thinkers from throughout the world in his efforts to advance a secular humanist worldview. His efforts have made him a darling among progressives. His work to marginalize Christians lines up nicely with progressive efforts to destroy traditional religion. However, Dawkins has recently made some observations that will, no doubt, put him on the outs with the left.
Dawkins tweeted out this observation from the gay pride parade in London, held earlier this month:
London gay Pride march. Police happy with “Jesus is Gay” banners. But banned @theCEMB’s “Allah is Gay” banner. @KPFA-grade hypocrisy!
— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) July 23, 2017
Dawkins is referring to a group called The Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain. The group claims it consists of, “atheists, free thinkers, humanists and ex-Muslims taking a stand for reason, universal rights and secularism.” This group participated in the London pride parade, carrying banners that read, “Allah is gay” and “F*** Islam”, among other slogans.
Not surprisingly, this display caused controversy among some Muslims in London. One local Muslim leader Salman Farsi told the Evening Standard:
“We’ve raised a complaint with the co-chairs of the event that the group was inciting hatred against Muslims, and in particular [in relation] to our good name, based on absolutely groundless reasons.
“For us to see such a mainstream event that is supposed to celebrate tolerance and love used as a hate platform was really quite shocking.
“Our religion doesn’t promote hatred or homophobia.
“Yes, there might be theological topics dealing with homosexuality in Islam, but that’s clearly very separate from promoting hatred and homophobia.”
A representative from CEMB Maryam Namazie defended her group’s display:
“In my view Islam, like all religions, is homophobic. Why is it not possible to say this without fear of reprisal or accusations of Islamophobia?”
“Pride [parade] is full of ‘God is gay’ and ‘Jesus had two fathers’ placards as well as those mocking the church and priests and pope, yet hold a sign saying ‘Allah is gay’ – as we did – and the police converge to attempt to remove them for causing offence.”
This dust-up and Dawkins’ observation come on the heels of Berkley, California, radio station KPFA cancelling an appearance by Dawkins, scheduled for August 9. In an e-mail to ticket buyers, the radio station said:
“We had booked this event based entirely on his excellent new book on science when we didn’t know he had offended and hurt – in his tweets and other comments on Islam, so many people.”
“KPFA does not endorse hurtful speech. While KPFA emphatically supports serious free speech, we do not support abusive speech. We apologize for not having had broader knowledge of Dawkins views much earlier.”
Clearly, KPFA knew that Dawkins was an atheist. They certainly knew his views on Christianity. Did they really think he thought differently about Islam? Maybe they should have done some more research on Dawkins, like search his Twitter feed.
Why the world would be happier without Islam
Misogyny
Homophobia
Sharia
Joyless control freakery
Terrorism
Hostility to science & education
— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) June 6, 2017
Evidence-free ideologies such as Stalinism, Nazism & Islam are dangerous because they teach that pie-in-the-sky Ends justify horrific Means
— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) November 14, 2015
So from the perspective of the London pride parade organizers and KPFA, being critical of Christianity, to the point of being offensive, is perfectly acceptable. Dawkins and pride marchers can take knocks at Jesus all day, with no backlash. But the second that criticism is turned on Islam, all bets are off, apparently.