Richard Dawkins to atheist rally: 'Show contempt' for faith

[Rob H.]

58. It's tied directly to this:

Religion makes specific claims about the universe which need to be substantiated, and need to be challenged, and, if necessary, need to be ridiculed with contempt.

I'm not surprised that the only part you paid any attention to was the quote you posted, though.

Edited to add that it's also tied to this:

I like to quote the British journalist, Johann Hari, who said, "I have so much respect for you that I cannot respect your ridiculous ideas."

There are a lot of religious ideas that sound absurd when a person says them out loud, much less when a person articulates a ridiculous idea and then gets bent out of shape when someone calls them on it. Not only that, some people expect respect for their ridiculous ideas just because they're from some holy book in which they happen to believe. I can respect anyone's right to believe whatever they choose. The beliefs themselves? Not so much.

Further edit: the author writes...

But when Dawkins got to the part where he calls on the crowd not only to challenge religious people but to "ridicule and show contempt" for their doctrines and sacraments, including the Eucharist which Catholics believe becomes the body of Christ during Mass.

Those quotes imply that's a direct quote, and it isn't. She should've written "...but to ridicule and show contempt for...." given that he didn't actually use the phrase she quoted. (I suppose it isn't technically quote mining, given that she did it wrong. Maybe she's just a bad writer.) I'm surprised she didn't use the part where he says, "We need intelligent design...."