Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Richard Dawkins Named 'World's Top Thinker' in Global Poll
Christian Post ^ | 04/29/2013 | Stoyan Zaimov

Posted on 04/29/2013 11:42:34 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

Famous atheist author Richard Dawkins has been named the world's top thinker in a global vote that counted 10,000 voices from over 100 countries.

"When Richard Dawkins, the Oxford evolutionary biologist, coined the term 'meme' in The Selfish Gene 37 years ago, he can't have anticipated its current popularity as a word to describe internet fads," said Prospect Magazine, which conducted the poll, in explaining the biologist professor's popularity.

"But this is only one of the ways in which he thrives as an intellectual in the internet age. He is also prolific on Twitter, with more than half a million followers – and his success in this poll attests to his popularity online. He uses this platform to attack his old foe, religion, and to promote science and rationalism."

The author of The God Delusion is one of the leaders of the New Atheist movement, and has based his career on trying to show how life and the universe can be explained entirely by secular science, rejecting all supernatural explanations.

Not all would agree with the results of the poll, however. Dawkins has received criticism on his active Twitter account for some comments he has made, such as his reasoning that unborn children are "less human" than pigs.

Dawkins also lost a notable debate earlier this year against former Anglican head Rowan Williams at Cambridge University in England on the topic of religion's place in society.

Follow us

The atheist author and his team attempted to argue that religion has no place in the 21st Century, while Williams and his team argued the opposite. In front of an audience of over 800 people, Dawkins lost the debate by 324 to 136 votes.

"Religion has always been a matter of community building, a matter of building relations of compassion, fellow-feeling and, dare I say it, inclusion," the retired archbishop said. "The notion that religious commitment can be purely a private matter is one that runs against the grain of religious history."

The top 10 names in Prospect Magazine's list are all male and include professors, politicians, scientists and economists. Afghanistan politician and former presidential candidate Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, a Muslim, took second place. Experimental psychologist Steven Pinker, who is also an atheist, took third place, while Shia Muslim Iraqi politician Ali Allawi took fourth. American economist Paul Krugman, who served under President Ronald Reagan, rounded up the top five.

A full list of the top 66 thinkers as chosen by the voters is available on the Prospect website.


TOPICS: Current Events; Religion & Culture; Religion & Science; Skeptics/Seekers
KEYWORDS: antitheism; atheism; atheistaward; atheistsupremacist; darwinaward; dawkins; dawkinsatheistaward; dawkinsthinks; dawkinstopthinker; liberalbigot; richarddawkins; waronreligion

1 posted on 04/29/2013 11:42:34 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

This is the man that claimed that outerspace aliens populated earth. 1st nothing exploded and then it came to life.


2 posted on 04/29/2013 11:50:10 AM PDT by Jimmiet (Jimmiet)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

huh? I just thought he was the former host of Family Feud.


3 posted on 04/29/2013 11:50:21 AM PDT by svcw (If you are dead when your heart stops, why aren't you alive when it starts.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Is there a list of the top “doers?”


4 posted on 04/29/2013 11:52:06 AM PDT by Cowboy Bob (Democrats: Robbing Peter to buy Paul's vote.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
"Richard Dawkins Named 'World's Top Thinker' in Global Poll"

I had voted for Al Franken as world's top thinker - he's more smarter than Dawkins.......

5 posted on 04/29/2013 11:53:31 AM PDT by Psalm 73 ("Gentlemen, you can't fight in here - this is the War Room".)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Prospect is a magazine for atheists by atheist. The magazine had a circulation figure of 32,105 in 2011, 9,499 of which were unpaid-for and 5,852 of which were distributed overseas.


6 posted on 04/29/2013 11:56:26 AM PDT by Obadiah (High speed, low drag.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

I vote for Thomas Sowell.


7 posted on 04/29/2013 11:58:24 AM PDT by jimfree (In November 2016 my 12 y/o granddaughter will have more quality exec experience than Barack Obama)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

I wish there were a way to make sure this gets to O’Reilly...he should have steam coming out of his ears.


8 posted on 04/29/2013 11:58:46 AM PDT by bigbob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #9 Removed by Moderator

To: SeekAndFind

If he’s the world’s top thinker, the situation is even more dire than previously thought!


10 posted on 04/29/2013 12:01:17 PM PDT by alphadoggie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

How long would Dawkins survive if he lectured about atheism on a Cairo street corner?


11 posted on 04/29/2013 12:16:28 PM PDT by CMB_polarization
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: F15Eagle
The polled group is really the readers of Prospect Magazine, the UK publication.

While it may be "10,000 voices" it is not verifiably 10,000 people - since it was apparently an online poll by Prospect.

And even if these voices were "from 100 countries," I would guess that almost all of these foreigners were working in government offices in the Greater London area - just like the readership of Prospect.

So a more accurate statement would be: "Elitist socialists living in the Greater London area likely agree that Richard Dawkins is their favorite pundit."

12 posted on 04/29/2013 1:04:28 PM PDT by wideawake
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

Comment #13 Removed by Moderator

To: SeekAndFind

You have got to be blo**** me!


14 posted on 04/29/2013 2:28:54 PM PDT by Doc Savage ("I've shot people I like a lot more,...for a lot less!" Raylan Givins)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Obadiah; SeekAndFind; wideawake; F15Eagle
Thank you for doing a li'l critical thinking there, supplying the missing context, exposing the past-perfect-pushiness of the poll, and saving us all the puzzlement.

I was just thinking, in what sort of "global poll" would "Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, a Muslim" --- and World Bankster, by the way ---- take second place? This must be a very (shall we say) atypical polling group.

Then your input made it all clear. Thank you.

15 posted on 04/29/2013 3:11:17 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o (Dies irae, Dies illa, / Solvet saeclum in favilla / Teste David et Sybilla.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Richard Dawkins named world’s top thinker in poll of people who don’t know how to think.


16 posted on 04/29/2013 3:23:32 PM PDT by BfloGuy (Don't try to explain yourself to liberals; you're not the jackass-whisperer.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

He never struck me as that smart.

Dawkins, you say?


17 posted on 04/29/2013 3:33:38 PM PDT by Half Vast Conspiracy (Based on a letter from an 8 year oldÂ…school is now illegal...'cuz itÂ’s yuckey and dumb'.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BfloGuy

God is smarter than he is.


18 posted on 04/29/2013 4:30:59 PM PDT by heye2monn
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

“...ever learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”


19 posted on 04/29/2013 7:11:47 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion (Gone rogue, gone Galt, gone international, gone independent. Gone.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson