The Atheism Tapes
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The Atheism Tapes |
| Country of production | United Kingdom |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2004 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Richard Denton |
| production | Anita Walsh |
| camera | Danny Rohrer |
| occupation | |
The Atheism Tapes (English for: The Atheism Tapes) is a British television documentary published by Jonathan Miller . He also leads through the film as an interviewer. A total of six personalities will beinterviewedon the subject of religion and atheism . The interviews were originallydonefor the Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief series , but were then used for The Atheism Tapes . The BBC aired the film as a six-part series.
The programs
All six guests were questioned in a half-hour interview.
Colin McGinn
The English philosopher McGinn talks about various reasons for not believing in God. He also names the ontological argument and furthermore clearly emphasizes a difference between atheism (lack of belief in a deity) and antitheism (active opposition to theism). He identifies himself as an atheist and an antitheist. After all, he is concerned with a post-theistic society.
Steven Weinberg
The American physicist Weinberg talks about the value of the design argument . Both in the past and today. He gives reasons why people become religious, including the influence of physical and biological arguments against religion. Miller points out that biologists are more likely than physicists to be nonbelievers. Weinberg finds this surprising. Weinberg distinguishes between the misery wrought in the name of religion and that wrought by religion. Both are very dangerous. He also points to differences between religion in America and religion in Europe. He emphasizes that he does not like the "character" of monotheistic God. He closes the interview with the remark that science and belief are incompatible.
Arthur Miller
The American writer Arthur Miller speaks about his atheism from a Jewish perspective. He describes his view that some cases of anti-Semitism in Christianity are based on the fact that Christians believe that the Jews disbelieve because they do not believe in Christ as the Son of God. Not only do they discuss the overlap of religion and patriotism, especially in American politics, but how many of today's wars stem from a mixture of nationalism and religious beliefs. Finally, he explains that he does not believe that there is life after death, except in the sense of remembering people and the material possessions they leave behind, or what they did.
Richard Dawkins
The English biologist Richard Dawkins first speaks about how the view that evil exists can only come from belief. He goes on to explain the process by which he became an atheist despite being brought up in the Anglican tradition. Then they talk about natural selection and how it worked as the driving force for evolution. He also points to the deception in using a God of the gaps argument to explain the world. He next discusses the importance of holding on to and defending an atheistic worldview.
Denys Turner
The British theologian Denys Turner emphasizes the importance that questioning plays to atheism. He believes that atheism can also suffer from some form of fundamentalism . You ask how something can come from nothing.
Daniel Dennett
The American philosopher Dennett explains why he named one of his books Darwin's Dangerous Idea , and why many of Darwin's contemporaries in particular considered the theory of evolution to be too dangerous. He addresses the question of consciousness and talks about Darwin's rejection of the soul. He also discusses the possible causes and psychological purposes of believing in an immaterial soul.
He also talks about his Christian upbringing and how he became an atheist. He answers the question of why people think it is impolite to ask critical questions about religious beliefs and believes that it is because of the influential status of religions. He ends the interview by asking whether we actually live better in a post-theistic world.
Web links
- The Atheism Tapes Complete series on Youtube.
- Colin McGinn's blog