Richard Dawkins Quotes
People really, really hate their religion being criticized. It's as though you've said they had an ugly face; they seem to identify personally with it.
Dawkins, Richard. Interview. The Observer, 2006.
Rushdie was commenting on the Danish Cartoons that had been published the year before depicting the Islamic Prophet Muhammad to the great distress of some fundamentalist Muslims some of whom orchestrated riots in many countries involving much property destruction and some loss of life. See {590918} as an example of the concern.
If they … attack your religion with disapproval and criticism, then fight the leaders of disbelief …
This quotation is used by some Islamic fundamentalists to justify attacks on people who criticize or disapprove of Islam. They see this as an instruction from the Prophet. The same quotation is used by critics of fundamentalist interpretations to show that literal interpretations eliminate any kind of criticism and provides no freedom of speech.
Richard Dawkins FRS FRSL is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist, and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was the University of Oxford's Professor for Public Understanding of Science from 1995 until 2008. An atheist, he is well known for his criticism of creationism and intelligent design.
