Root of All Evil?

{{title-italics}}{{atheism}}
{{cquote|From the start, I didn't like the title and fought it hard. Religion is not the root of ''all'' evil, for no one thing is the root of all everything.|||Richard Dawkins<ref>''The God Delusion'', "Preface", p. 23</ref>}}
'''''Root of All Evil?'''''<ref group=note>The title was not Dawkins' choice: the producers wanted to create a controversy, as if the subject matter wasn't enough. Dawkins thought the usage of the word "All" was a bit absolute and had the question mark added.</ref> is a television series authored and hosted by [[Richard Dawkins]] as a companion piece to his book, ''[[The God Delusion]]''. It was first broadcast in 2006. It is available on [[YouTube]]: see the [[Root of All Evil?#External links|external links]] below. The series was later renamed ''The God Delusion'' to be a more obvious link to the book.

==Overview==
===Part One: The God Delusion===
Dawkins starts the series with an appeal to reason, as well as one to fear (as the title would suggest): that there were [[religious]] folk of such fervent devotion they were willing to kill ''you'' via [[suicide bombing]].

He visits Lourdes, interviews a few tourists and a Lourdes official, and reasons that [[miracle]]s do not occur at a place where thousands of [[Catholic]]s visit every year.

He talks of the improbability of [[intelligent design]] compared to the more reasonable, slow growth of [[evolution]] because it raises the bigger question of "Who designed the [[God|designer]]?"

He touches on [[fundamentalism]] and [[Christianity]] (specifically [[evangelist]]s such as [[Ted Haggard]]) forming [[church]]es to "save" [[soul]]s, collect [[money]], influence [[politics]] and deny [[science]]. After visiting the [[New Life Church]] and getting yelled at by Haggard, he visits a [[freethinker]]s' group.

He compares [[Islam]]ic fundamentalism to Christian fundamentalism (using the term "[[American Taliban]]"), asserting that the war between "good and evil" is actually a war between two evils.

He visits [[Jerusalem]], the centerpiece of all [[Abrahamic religion]]s that appears as a tourist trap but is, in actuality, the center of all religious violence in the [[Middle East]].

Dawkins finishes the episode with the disappointing view that as long as religions insist upon themselves being not only correct but [[truth]], humanity will never know peace. He asserts that science is the answer, even though it doesn't have all the answers and probably never will. He invokes [[Russell's teapot]], fairies, [[unicorn]]s, and [[Thor]] as analogs to religions, being equally disbelievable. His last line is his famous "one God further" line.

===Part Two: The Virus of Faith===
Dawkins starts the episode by discussing the inanity of [[indoctrination]] and labeling of [[children]] by the religion of their parents &mdash; in addition to the teaching of mythological falsehoods and the increasing number of private evangelical schools &mdash; describing it as a form of [[child abuse]].

One interview with a sectarian instructor (Adrian Fawkes) reveals a warped vision of [[morality]] &mdash; the suggestion that people will [[rape]], [[murder]], and steal if they thought they could get away with it does not gel with the realities of humanity.

Dawkins reinforces his view that religious indoctrination is a [[virus]] (specifically a [[meme]]) that infects the minds of children and are passed on down from generation to generation unless inoculated with a dose of [[rational]] thought (or subjected to [[psychology|psychological treatment]] which repairs rational thought processes).

He discusses the use of [[Hell House]]s to indoctrinate children as a form of psychological torture.

He criticizes the morals of the [[Old Testament]] as no longer relevant to today's society, yet some people still believe in them; e.g., [[capital punishment]] is an acceptable penalty for [[adultery]], [[apostasy]], [[blasphemy]], etc. He also suggests that [[Abraham]] and [[Moses]] are all equally horrible moral role models, and [[Jesus]] isn't much better. He reasons that the story of the [[crucifixion]] and the reasoning behind it is anything but reasonable.

He interviews Michael Bray, friend and defender of [[Paul Hill]], who was convicted and executed for murdering an [[abortion]] doctor, as justified by the [[Bible]] (even though the Bible doesn't proscribe abortion).

He then interviews Richard Harries, from the [[Church of England]], who believes in a more [[liberal]] interpretation of the Bible so as to accept [[homosexual]]s into their flock, but questions why fence-sitting (e.g., [[cherry picking]]) might be preferable to discarding the whole belief system altogether. To this point, he questions the roots of morality, asserting an [[evolution]]ary explanation for moral codes based on [[altruism]].

He finishes the show by asserting that life is a bit of a stroke of luck, and we as humans should make the most of it while we're here (that is, alive) and not spend it worrying about, or preparing for, what comes after.

==Reception==
The programme, naturally, received predictably mixed reviews. Religious proponents accused Dawkins of everything from [[Journalism|journalistic]] [[Deceit|dishonesty]] to concentrating on the bad aspects of religion, whilst ignoring the potential good. On the other hand, Dawkins's fans and anyone happy to see potshots taken at the church on mainstream TV loved it.

==External links==
* ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMigkP5BELc Root of All Evil? Part One]'' on [[YouTube]]
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a21noVdjIAM Root of All Evil? Part Two 1/5]'' on [[YouTube]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Atheism]]
[[Category:Television programmes]]

Categories: Atheism, Television programmes