Renowned scientist and outspoken atheist, Richard Dawkins, was banned from another event by the far-left for his supposed “hurtful” and “abusive” language regarding radical Islam. The scientist is famously critical of all religions, including Christianity, but had not received such backlash until his questioning of Islamic extremism. The left is once again attempting to shut down free speech from those unwilling to conform.
According to an article by Berkeleyside, the Berkeley far-left radio station KPFA scheduled an August 9th event with Richard Dawkins to discuss his newly published book Science in the Soul: Selected Writings of a Passionate Rationalist. However, the article notes that KPFA canceled the event due to Dawkins’ supposed culturally insensitive views on Islam, stating:
We had booked this event based entirely on his [Richard Dawkins’] 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.
Richard Dawkins fired back at KPFA in a letter published on his website, questioning:
I am known as a frequent critic of Christianity and have never been de-platformed for that. Why do you give Islam a free pass? Why is it fine to criticise Christianity but not Islam?
In fact, during the release of his 2006 best-selling book The God Delusion, in which he harshly criticized Christianity, Dawkins was welcomed to present at Berkeley to discuss the book. In his letter to KPFA, Dawkins goes on to state that the station did not offer any evidence of his supposed “abusive speech” towards Muslims and assures that had the station “done even rudimentary fact-checking” they would realize his references were geared only towards radical Muslims. He goes on:
I have criticised the appalling misogyny and homophobia of Islam, I have criticised the murdering of apostates for no crime other than their disbelief. Far from attacking Muslims, I understand – as perhaps you do not – that Muslims themselves are the prime victims of the oppressive cruelties of Islamism, especially Muslim women.
The far-left proposal that any criticism of Islam is bigoted is highly anti-intellectualist. With many individuals, including Muslim women, suffering from the severe effects of Islamic radicalism in the Middle East, KPFA is ignoring the pain and cries of those suffering by shutting down open dialogue with Dawkins. By limiting exposure to opposing viewpoints, KPFA is essentially brainwashing listeners into believing only the details their station presents, as explained by neuroscientist Dr. Uri Hasson in a previous article by LN.
KPFA’s refusal of Richard Dawkins displays the hypersensitive culture currently undertaken at Berkeley. As reported by Liberty Nation, last April at UC Berkeley, Trump supporters gathered for free speech rallies after the campus banned conservative speakers from holding presentations due to their “offensive” viewpoints. In response, so-called anti-fascist rioters attacked and threw feces at the Trump supporters. Perhaps such behavior by “anti-fascist” groups would be better served towards regimes oppressing females and murdering apostates and homosexuals.
On his website, Dawkins states that he expects an apology from KPFA once they “fail” to discover any evidence that he has used “abusive speech” towards Muslims. The actions of KPFA do not mark the first time an event by Richard Dawkins was canceled for his views on radical Islam. Last year, the Northeastern Conference on Science and Skepticism in New York City revoked Dawkins’ invitation following his Twitter post of a humorous video comparing radical feminists to Islamists. It seems that hypersensitivity and anti-intellectualism have not only seeped into the establishment media but also into America’s scientific community and educational institutions.
Editor’s Note: The original version of this article’s headline stated that Dawkins had been banned from UC-Berkeley, instead of having a radio event cancelled. Liberty Nation regrets the error.