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Richard Dawkins has this to say on 'evil' Isis and Taliban after Peshawar massacre

The evolutionary biologist offers his explanation for the recent attacks

Ella Alexander
Wednesday 17 December 2014 14:11 GMT
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Dawkins: 'There’s a very interesting reason why a prince could not turn into a frog – it's statistically too improbable'
Dawkins: 'There’s a very interesting reason why a prince could not turn into a frog – it's statistically too improbable'

Richard Dawkins has used the Peshawar massacre to support his long-standing view that religion leads to ‘evil’.

In fact, in his most recent tweets, he likens the extremity of some people’s faith to Nazism, as he attempts to offer an explanation for the terrorist shootings.

The attack carried out yesterday by the Pakistan Taliban resulted in the deaths of 132 children and nine staff members. The Army Public School was stormed by seven members of Tehrik-e-Taliban, wearing army uniform and suicide vests, who launched a shooting spree.

Dawkins suggests that such incidents are caused by an “extreme motivation”, such a faith or Nazism.

The evolutionary biologist also voiced the same opinion in 2001 in reference to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York.

“Revealed faith is not harmless nonsense, it can be lethally dangerous nonsense,” he told the Guardian.

“Dangerous because it gives people unshakeable confidence in their own righteousness. Dangerous because it gives them false courage to kill themselves, which automatically removes normal barriers to killing others.

“Dangerous because it teaches enmity to others labelled only by a difference of inherited tradition. And dangerous because we have all bought into into a weird respect, which uniquely protects religion from normal criticism.”

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