This is actually something I wrote about a year ago and put up on my Facebook page, but I think it's more deserving place is on here :)
About a year ago, I met up with some close friends of mine at the Grand Central pub in Manchester, which is our favourite pub (due to the amount of heavy metal they play!). I arrived just after 5 and the event would commence at 7. Usually we meet there before we go to a gig just down the road at the Manchester Uni Academy or elsewhere, but this was like no other gig! It was Richard Dawkins! But before I go into the Dawkins Talk I must put this across.
I cannot overstate what impact Dawkins has had on me. Years ago, before I knew about him, I turned the TV on one day and flicked over to a random channel, which had a debate/discussion programme where the topic was ''Does God exist?'. I can't recall at the time whether I regarded myself an atheist back then. I was probably very sceptical, but on the programme there was a man with grey hair (its gone completely white now lol) wearing a suit and glasses, and his answers were spot on.
Every answer he gave was *exactly* how I was feeling, with the thoughts going through my head. Mind you, at the time, I had never discussed my thoughts with anyone so I was unaware that there was someone else, just someone, who thought as I do. It was, in a very poetic way, like a 'lease of life' because until then I had felt very isolated in my thoughts, but now I could put them into constructive and concise arguments. It was a profound moment and I later learned that his name was Richard Dawkins. How great science is eh? Making television sets n all!
So anyway, as I was sitting there in the pub, it finally hit me. This wasn't just 'another' gig. It was Richard Dawkins, also giving a talk on an issue that interests me greatly; evolutionary biology. Dawkins has published his new book titled 'The Greatest Show On Earth: The evidence for evolution' where he outlines the evidence for it. I don't only admire Dawkins for his outspoken 'atheism', never being told to 'keep quiet' but for his work on biology and evolution, which I am also passionate about.
The talk was held at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and we took our seats. The talk began with Dawkins reading a short passage from his new book, and then after Anjana Ahuja from The Times newspaper, who had written a review of Dawkins' new book, asked questions to Dawkins on matters of evolution and the abundance of evidence for it. He made jokes but with a strong sense of seriousness about the ignorance of creationists. Everyone laughed. I've never been in a room of so many freethinkers and sceptics before, so it was a very pleasing experience. Dawkins made the comparison to creationists as like a History teacher having to handle well-supported and well-financed conspiracy theorists claiming the Romans or the empire of Rome never existed. It sounds just plain old rubbish, doesn't it? But we're talking here about a conspiracy on a much grander scale! Once again, Dawkins was spot on just as I saw him on TV for the first time.
So the talk ended just after an hour and we queued up to have our book signed. I had brought with me my paperback copies of 'River Out Of Eden' (1995), 'A Devil's Chaplain' (2003), 'The God Delusion' (2006), and my new hardback copy I picked up there 'The Greatest Show On Earth' (2009). The queue didn't take as long as I thought it would, but when I met him, I was rather speechless. He signed all my books, but I forgotten to bring with me my copy of 'The Selfish Gene' (1976) because I was in a rush and had picked the books off from my bookshelf but was reading 'The Selfish Gene' so it was on my bedside table. I'm a dumbass, lol!
It felt so strange. Here was one of the most well-known, outspoken, and influential atheists who had helped me understand my own thoughts, but also a fantastic scientist on the topic that takes my interest the most. Dawkins is such a nice guy though. A true gentleman, and should be an inspiration to us all.
Peace.
Acidic Sceptic.
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