Dawkins, Art and inspiration

This rather sprauncy and faintly Satanic picture of Prof. Richard Dawkins is to celebrate a somewhat muddled but heartfelt attack on his atheism by Mark Ravenhill.  Who believes that Christianity is a myth but on the other hand it inspires great art. Such as - er - his own plays.  "The late Sarah Kane acknowledged that her youthful Christianity was the single most formative influence on her playwriting. It's strange to think that her Blasted and my Shopping and Fucking wouldn't have been written without the Christian church. But that's the truth. There's something about their sharp iconography and intense language that suggests a youthful experience of Christianity on the part of the writer. And I resent the possibility that aggressive secularism would deny future generations this inspiration."
    But, er again... Prof Dawkins does not attempt to deny the cultural aspects.  He sings carols.  We reported as much last Christmas...

Comments

[Coel]

In response to this article, the Richard Dawkins website has posted this excerpt from the God Delusion. http://richarddawkins.net/article,2469,Religious-education-as-a-part-of-literary-culture,Richard-Dawkins-The-God-Delusion

People are invited to read this and decide whether it is fair to accuse Dawkins of wanting to deprive the next generation of the language of the Bible.

Or am I being unreasonable to expect Mr Ravenhill to have read an obscure work like "The God Delusion" to find out what Dawkins actually thinks before launching his attack?

It does seem a standard practice of critics to construct a nice strawman effigy version of Dawkins to attack.

[Peter McGrath]

Mr Ravenhill really needs to stop imagining armies where there aren't any. Or if he can't, get help. We just don't believe in God, and find that Prof Dawkins, PZ Myers, Hitchens et al say a few of the things we don't have a platform to. And wind the Godly up, who, let's face it have have it all their own way for a long time.