There are no "Christian Children"! (God Delusion UC Berkeley Lecture) | Science vs Religion 

I will be on a tour of North America, the UK & EU, talking about my latest book, religion, life on Earth and Beyond. I will be joined on stage by a range of friends and foes. The events will include a Q&A and a limited meet-and-greet. You can get your tickets here: richarddawkinstour.com

Its sad that in 2024 someone has to tell people that there is no invisible man in the sky.

'You have to understand. Most people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured and so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it.' Morpheus

Its funny how 15 years ago (when this lecture took place), when the Internet was younger, it was considered that religion was the only area when freedom of speech was not allowed, because of someone being "offended". 15 years on and everyone is offended by everything and offending is a crime.

This is Dawkins on fire..quite magnificent.

Dearest Richard, Thank you.. this was awesome

Great presentation Dr. Dawkins! Big fan! Cheers! ❤

Love from Bulgaria.. i speak little English but I want to share my mind with u sir! U are inspirasion! And i was god believer then piece by piece i became an atheist and that was really hard and painful procces forme and my feelings!

I dont "know" what comes after life...but the fact some folks think they DO is what bugs me the most

I'm proud of you Richard Dawkins

Marvellous speaker and tutor. One of the greatest minds in the world.

Excellent explanation...Long live Richard Dawkins...

Great presentations from a true Scientist !

This book cemented my atheism.

" Not only is the universe stranger than we think, it is stranger than we can think." Werner Heisenberg

Future is coming, Ladies and gentlemen!

It's such a tragedy that the people that need to see these type of videos are not even considering watching them. The comments show that every time, everyone agrees, obviously, but the ones that need convincing are nowhere to be found. Except for the few times people scream that Rich is gonna burn in hell for what he says, proving once again that their whole life philosophy is based on fear and treats. I honestly think that altough these discussions are very interesting, the goals of getting humanity behind reasoning and logic, will not be achieved this way. Knowing how religious people often think, it may even enforce their beliefs. Thanks anyway, Rich. We all know you did your utter best to unite humanity and to some extend, you really did.

What a great talk ! Thank you !

Lots of things learnt from you. Please continue to put more videos ❤❤❤❤. Love from 🇮🇳🇮🇷

@stephenholmgren405 0 seconds ago I've become a better, sober smarter, kinder person since I discovered Dawkins many years ago during the atheist explosion 🖖 This man is a hero to the rational thinker

I worship the sun ☀️ but I pray to Joe Pesci! - George Carlin

I love when a sports team loses. You never hear 👂 the following: “ Jesus wasn’t with us today.” 😂😂😂😂😂 😲 😲 😲 😲 😲

Fantastic lecture.

How come I can listen to Dawkins lectures for hours on end but I lose total interest in religion after reading one quote from the Bible ? We are the universe observing itself.

Richard rocks! 😎

Why does he spend his whole life saying there is no point to living? Lack of proof does not mean proof of something else. I worked in the nuclear industry. This natural field was not known until about one hundred years ago.

What about Islam when they talk about religion they never include Islam why??????

Richard Dawkins, you have done profound work for this world. I am so thankful that I live in a time where I can see and hear your teachings without living in a place where I would have otherwise been restricted from hearing your voice because it “goes against their beliefs.” You are so incredibly brave to stand against the enemies of reason and to let the world hear what you have to say about blind faith and unquestioning dogmatic belief.

Your lectures work miracles, dear Richard.

I first started to study/question religion at roughly 9 years old ... just before my 10 year. I remember this time well as I underwent IQ testing. My best friend then was the eldest son of my Reverend. In those days I did not pose questions directly to my Reverend but rather posed them to his two sons. This was much safer. The subsequent discussions between my friends were very confusing. Almost 60 years later I still question the same questions.

Big words for a insignificant clump of matter in this magnificent universe 🐺

This bloke has a nerve, I wouldn't have the gall to deny the living God on such a public platform.

I will start by telling you I loved your video and discussions. I will comment on my thoughts of the universe with the leanings of my atheist thoughts. I lean more towards God, agnostic, and atheist line of thought. But your outline is something to think about. I’ll also reveal, my folks, when asked if I should go to church, told me it was up to me. I was seven. Much later, I began educating myself at 18 while going on leave on a USAF radar training break. On the bus I met a US Army man, and we talked philosophy. I read an introduction to philosophy book during our travels. It began my philosophical quest, which has continued to my eighties. Let us consider how mankind think. Our upbringing and most of our education proposes that there is a beginning and an end. We are born and we die. We start a project, and we complete it or abandoned it. And so forth. I’ll jump right in with my thoughts of the universe. If the universe has existed always, then there is no beginning/no end. Meaning the universe as a premise, it just IS. I also think it is logical to assume the universe is finite, another speculation. Thinking that the universe is infinite, seems illogical. That would mean it is continuing creating particles to establish infinite particles. To me, it is absurd to think of particles out of nothing. To digress: I took two calculus classes taught by a Bell Labs scientist at the University of Hawaii, remote location. His introduction to calculus, included the statements; ‘the two most difficult concepts to grasp, are the terms infinity and infinitesimal.’ He went on to explain, other than the universe (perhaps), mathematics is the only place the concept of infinity is valuable, as it is for infinitesimal. He then offered this example; You can walk across a line easily. And you can also mathematically define a path between two lines, such you can continuously divide the distant one is traveling between those two lines in half, such that you never cross the line. That point between that division of halving the distance and the point just before crossing the line is the infinitesimal. Those are two concept we will discover in calculus. Besides the above, I found that considering the universe as always existing with no beginning or end is just as difficult or more so, than the concepts of infinity and infinitesimal. But there it is. The consideration the universe always existed, is no more mind boggling than God always existed, and built the universe. Me? It is much more logical/reasonable to believe the former. And as a humorous comment: God has all these particles tucked away in his pocket. A finite contained universe existing with no beginning or end would mean an endless universe, with condensation to begin another cycle and so forth. So then, time as a measurement is defined as the motion (or even not-motion) based upon motion of other things within the confines of an environment of energy and mass. I submit: Clocks (no matter what kind) will change their characteristics based on environment, and not that they change their characteristics based on time as an entity. If so, the internal mechanism of the clocks is affected by the environment, not affected by the time within the environment. Perhaps the energy or the mass is changing because of its underlying fields. As an aside, the two greats, Newton and Einstein provided the scientific community with formulas which are very descriptive of the gravity and time-space. Still, little is known of the specifics of gravity. And, I have only read of one occurrence of the detection of a gravitational wave. Though, there may be more. And based upon the above, time is metrics such as volume, length, mass, and others. Clearly defined as a standard. Summary: Belief based upon what I think is logical, the universe has always existed. Time is a metric. We as mankind has developed over billions of years. Although, impossible to prove, I believe in Free-Will. And I have enjoyed you discussion on these and associated topics. Please continue to challenge the biblical nonsense. Thank you and the very best, Dale Hamilton, Dale-marie@hotmail.com

Respect for you!!,❤❤

Great topic. My son is 6 years old and knows many gods, Horus, Rama, Jupiter. He calls them imaginary creatures like Unicorns. Maybe one day he will hear of the middle eastern god called Yaweh and Allah.

Not an old Christian or religious person in the audience. How nice.

@Richard Dawkins do you have an answer for David Hume's problem of induction?

Who will say "Peace be with you ❣️" Who will say "Love your neighbour as yourself" Who will say " Forgive 70 times 7" Who will say "Forgive them God they know not what they do"

Luckily, a mind as brilliant as Dawkins has dedicated some of his attention to such an important topic. Many of us are delighted to have lived at the same time as Dawkins. Reading The Selfish Gene just gave me the final push to abandon the religion that had been "imposed" on me since I was born. I finally managed to understand that there was another explanation for my existence than a God. This was Evolution.

Truth! Thank you for the profound and stimulating inspiration!

The devil (he or she whom abides in error or untruth) is a liar and a lie. We move forward in truth only.

Dawkins is awesome.

Dawkins was a man with great potential, but squandered it promoting hatred of religion.

Our minds are amazing, we don't even know it, but we can choose what to fill our minds with. Then hoping for the best outcome?

Thank goodness we have human evolution-derived morality and experiential (what works over time) moral progress to judge the negativistic intolerance, absurdity and preposterousness of events and characters contained in such outdated old or ancient pre-science tribalist books such as the Jewish Bible, the New Testament, the Quran, and the Book of Mormon.

(From the news of the Royal Society ,19 July 2017): "Richard Dawkins' 1976 book, The Selfish Gene, has topped a public poll of the most inspiring science books of all time, commissioned by the Royal Society to mark the 30th year of the prestigious Royal Society Science Book Prize. It is followed by Bill Bryson’s 2003 book A Short History of Nearly Everything in second place, and Charles Darwin’s 1859 classic On the Origin of Species in third place."

Brilliant speech, thank you.

1:13:19 Francis Crick, not Collins. Wonder if Richard caught that.

Professor Dawkins 🌟🌟🌟 I love you so much. I wanted to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude for your profound contributions to the fields of science and reason. Your unwavering dedication to advancing knowledge and promoting critical thinking has inspired countless individuals, myself included. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 infinitely for your tireless pursuit of truth and your commitment to fostering a deeper understanding of the natural world. Warmest regards 👩‍🔬🔬🩷

One of my favourite lectures of all times. Unfornunately, making these points about religion is not enough today. In real politics of today you have to choose whom to side with, just to protect culture and reason itself. That's why we see more and more smart and free thinking people turning mild (secular, non-theist, cultural) Christians to oppose Woke and Islamists that want to erase our culture and kill the idea of freedom.

More people need to hear this.

I'm 52yrs. my dad's 81yrs yet every time I land my $75,000 biweekly return he sounds like an angel when asking for something!!!!!

"Most people are never going to die because they'll never be born." I am in awe that in a huge, complex universe, I came into existence and in this power filled universe that I can only glimpse or understand tiny aspects of, I can determine my path in life, make choices, survive. That is why I don't find death unfair, that's why I don't concern myself about why we are here.

What would the episode have looked like had I seen it a week earlier?

God is just a mem, master

Love from South Korea... Professor Dawkins is comforted me. Because, Professor Dawkins explained about god is a delusion

Great video. Thanks

The one who opened my eyes to the greatest show on Earth. He unweaved the rainbow for me and also helped me climb up mount improbable... Thank you dear Sir...

"People would rather believe than know." E. O. Wilson (1929-2021)

Richard the greatest of all time

Thanks again for this wonderful lecture wish all a great Life

Great talk, that comedian hit the nail on the head

I am God and i have a new message. I just need to choose one man to give it to, and tell him to tell everyone else in the whole world. What could possibly go wrong? 🤪

Dawkins has a very simplistic view of God and faith. Religion is an easy target, sure, but there's a distinction

On that do you believe there is a god graph? from 1 to 7, looks like I'm about an 8 plus.

Please read about " Explanatory Gap” as explained by a physicist friend, Cal Tech Alumni

Hell is waiting for disbelievers

What a sad individual you are, Mr Dawkins.

If Richard gives the same speech today at the University of California at Berkeley, he will be faced with a large audience of wokesters to cancel him on the spot.

I'm from Belgrade and my electricity bill as a one person in winter is 100€, and my phone bill is 30€. It's not possible for the electricity bill to be 15$ during any time of the year unless your only electricity you're using is a phone charger. It makes sense that someone who earns 500$ would minimise their costs as much as possible, but please don't spit out nonsense that we live good.

Look, I love Richard Dawkins’ work, but perhaps we could accelerate the rate at which religious people doubt their obsolete beliefs if Richard left out all of his sarcastic comments. But yes, I understand the charisma through these sarcastic comments.

I'm offended that these bloody awful things are happening in the modern world and we're allowing them to happen. When is it going to be stopped?

Great question at 58:52, cited his response in a structured arguments map on Kialo "What is God?" and "How did our Universe begin to exist?" (check them out) about why God is not a meaningful concept or word in the cosmological-metaphysical question how our universe came to be; it doesn't make sense to use the word God for that when it refers to so many things while there are better-fitting words that more clearly communicate what is meant and also aren't attributed with so many things that imply some sentient complex being.

There is no religion in the light or heaven only LOVE

Why should an atheist be so obsessed with God?

All the Christians I know are stereotypes!

If not by design then how do we explain which came first, the orchid wasp or the orchid, as without the symbiotic relationship between the two neither would exist. These symbiotic relationships exist between many species. Then the question of when the original creation divided in to two sexes, a fundamental observation through again many species.

Too know thyself I think that in you is one equality and another one made by you in the world. Which of these is worth remembering? Is one greater than the other?

Psalm 14:1 - Only fools say in their hearts, "There is no God." They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good!

God is the force that is in every human heart!

Hello PHd Dawkins. Hey.. there's a channel of creationists who talked mad crap about you and apparently they said they tried to get you to debate them a bunch of times but I don't know. Do you know the channel "STANDING FOR TRUTH"?

Even if there wasn't a God --IT STILL would be useful to follow the wisdom of the Bible!!

My man loves consciousness raising

"The invisible and the non-existent are very often much alike."

Which god did you have in mind. I know of several.

EVIL is a delusion...

The illusions of the hopelessly real people, of what is behind their blind spot, is created by doctrines of falsehood against falsehood, grown in centuries of fear of each other, has fueled every conflict for profit. Sheep; sad to say. Peace

Anyone that thinks they can tell you what happens when you die is either a liar or ignorant

Dawkins is right: GOLD IS A DELUSION!

The struggle for Survival of any group of people might include irrational thoughts and feelings and actions, and religion has a place in helping people survive war when attacked by another group who threaten their lives and possessions. This is the big elephant in the room in this distinguished professor’s presentation.Belonging to a religion nowadays is a consequence of past imperial divisions of the planet. Ignoring these considerations makes the professor’s discourse shallow. Another consequence of the religious life has been the successful implementation of sound ethics at Micro and macro societal levels.

God must be real because he makes sure all the Christians are born in the Christian countries, the muslim children born in muslim countries etc. How he works in mysterious ways. 😜

This guy is completely clueless. He fails to understand that religion is a part of culture, and culture is always passed from parent to child. Comparing religion to political ideologies is totally absurd because political ideas are based on individual opinions not culture.

you can analyze everything to pieces but then the feeling remains, science and religion did not want to work together at first and yet they started to do so, it is understandable that the dividing lines between atheist and antagonist and the believer become blurred and can no longer really be placed

Good teaching but you know the Bible states unicorns existed some people believed that so why can't they believe in a God . The theory where did the word God come from and what's it's meaning .😯

But Jesus is the real God. It just took Him a long time to get around to letting us know.

As an agnostic, dyslexic, insomniac, i lie awake all night wondering if there's a dog?

May God bless you all 🙏

God Created Man and Woman, evolution created Others. Good Luck.

Unfortunately for Dawkins, his delusional atheism is a god. To deny God is to deny existence itself is the prime being and the universal cause of all being. Without the prime being, creatures have existence from the prime, as from nothing itself. Atheism reduces to something from nothing, making the entire unvierse a mindless usperstition.

God is not a delusion. God is an illusion. BELIEF in a literal God is a delusion. It's only with the thumbnail that I disagree - Richard's speech was typically beautiful and brilliant.