Why Do People Think Richard Dawkins is an Aggressive Atheist? | Joe Rogan

I read the God Delusion in preparation for this. Can you pull that microphone right up to your face? Just get it about a fist away from your face. You don't have to move. Okay. The microphone moved for you. Okay. I'm a huge fan of your work and I always wanted to ask you, you go so hard against religion and you have for so long. Has there ever been a time where you've gotten fatigued from this where you're like, I just leave this to somebody else? Well, obviously not because I just produced another watchman. It's not so hard as you think. I mean, you remember it as hard, but actually if you read it again, I think you'd find it was not as hard as you remember. I didn't mean hard in a negative sense. I mean, you push. You're so enthusiastic about your enthusiasm. I'm enthusiastic. Yes. I'm also humorous. I like to think it's a funny book, but a lot of people do think it's hard in the other sense and sometimes when they read it again, they realize, actually, no, it's more humorous. It's not so edgy, not so hard-hitting as they think, as they originally thought it was. Well, I think that's probably because you've had some interviews in the past where you have talked to some fiercely religious people and you've had some cantankerous interactions with them. I think maybe so. They associate you with having this almost aggressively atheistic stance. Yes. Well, perhaps you're thinking of Bill O'Reilly. I'm not sure. Well, I mean, he's aggressive all right. Yeah, in the other way. I did once had to tell him, will you please stop interrupting me and let me talk? So that might give this slight impression that I'm aggressive. Now, what was that BBC documentary that you had done where you had done several? The one where you had gone and interviewed a bunch of different religious people? Yes, that was not BBC. That was Channel 4, which is the commercial station. And yes, I interviewed Ted Haggard. Yes. And a guy who ran a thing called Hell, not Hellholes, Hell Houses, where they tried to terrify children. I mean, freak them out with horrible little playlits. Yes. With the devil coming on with horns and glowing eyes and... I actually participated in a reenactment of that play in Los Angeles back in the day, a comedy reenactment. Bill Maher was in it, a bunch of other comedians were in it, and we read word for word the script and we acted it out in front of a live audience so people would come through the Hell House, this haunted house. But instead, people knew it was all comedians reading it and they're like, is this really the words that they said? It was so preposterous that it actually, without being a parody, it actually played out like a comedy. Well, when we filmed it, we filmed them doing the play and then they filmed me interviewing the perpetrator, Michael somebody or other. And I said to him, what's your target audience? And he said, 12. And I said, really? Are you really serious that you like to... He said, Hell is at a terrible place that anything I can do to persuade children not to sin and they must acknowledge Jesus and so on is worth it. I thought that was a deeply immoral thing to say, but I think he was sincere. Well, I would agree with you. It's very disturbing. There's a great documentary on it as well for someone who wants to see the thought process behind them creating this. But one of the things that I really enjoyed about the God Delusion is that you kind of outlined every single possible argument against atheism and then had a counter to it in advance. If you have a soft position, look at chapter one. If you look at this, look at chapter two and you outlined that in the preface before you got into it. Yes. Well, I tried to be as persuasive as possible. The new book Outgrowing God is sort of aimed at a younger audience. And I like to think it can be read at any age, but being aimed at a younger audience is a bit shorter and perhaps a bit easier to follow. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure.