David Attenborough gets hate mail for not crediting God in his documentaries

Múinteoir

Why so much insecurity in their faith? Speaking of which, have you seen the youtube video of Richard Dawkins reading out the hatemail he has received? Very entertaining!

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=AxdxZ47JouU

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=-Seq2rwKucE&feature=related

The Mad Hatter

I saw an interview with David Attenborough where he said he did believe in God, but only because of great music.

Rb

Which God to they want him to credit?

Latchy

I read that article in the mail ( offline) today .Wonder would the reaction have being the same if it had being muslims offended because he had not giving credit to Mohammad ? :rolleyes:

robindch

Múinteoir wrote: »

Why so much insecurity in their faith?

Because they're so frightened they might find out that their religious service provider has been less than honest with them?

.

AtomicHorror

latchyco wrote: »

I read that article in the mail ( offline) today .Wonder would the reaction have being the same if it had being muslims offended because he had not giving credit to Mohammad ? :rolleyes:

Mohammed is generally not credited with the creation of life on Earth.

Latchy

AtomicHorror wrote: »

Mohammed is generally not credited with the creation of life on Earth.

Well he shudda been .....perhaps /perhaps not .Point being sir David Attenbourough should be allowed to give his views as anybody else should .

Galvasean

David Attenborough is a naturalist. God is not natural. Why should he mention God in his films?

Latchy

It might boil down to the way people call all animals '' Gods creatures '' and he ( Attenbourough ) in the article does'nt think it should nessercarily be so ?

Húrin

Galvasean wrote: »

David Attenborough is a naturalist. God is not natural. Why should he mention God in his films?

No, I think he does believe in some sort of God, but he rejects the Christian type of god, and any other omnibenevolent view of God.

Galvasean

Húrin wrote: »

No, I think he does believe in some sort of God, but he rejects the Christian type of god, and any other omnibenevolent view of God.

Well, he's certainly not religious in any way, shape or form:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeDgH6_zNLE

Around 3:20 he talks directly about God.

TBH, I don't think he has said anywhere that he believes in any sort of god. In fact I'm pretty sure I've heard him refer to himself as an atheist once or twice.

Rb

I think that video makes his stance quite clear tbh. Nice link Galvasean

Fanny Cradock

I thought he was on record as being an atheist.

Actually, just read his Wiki page and it looks as if he is an agnostic.

Galvasean

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

I thought he was on record as being an atheist.

Actually, just read his Wiki page and it looks as if he is an agnostic.

I think that's a misrepresentation. All he said on the show to suggest that was (as mentioned on wikipedia) "as far as I'm concerned, if there is a supreme being then he chose organic evolution as a way of bringing into existence the natural world."
Doesn't exactly scream agnostic to me.

I think any attempts to attribute a belief in God, no matter how vague, to him are akin to those who do so with Einstein.

PDN

latchyco wrote: »

Well he shudda been .....perhaps /perhaps not .Point being sir David Attenbourough should be allowed to give his views as anybody else should .

If that was your point then why bring Mohammed & Muslims into it since they have absolutely nothing to do with that point?

Fanny Cradock

Galvasean wrote: »

I think that's a misrepresentation. All he said on the show to suggest that was (as mentioned on wikipedia) "as far as I'm concerned, if there is a supreme being then he chose organic evolution as a way of bringing into existence the natural world."
Doesn't exactly scream agnostic to me.

I think any attempts to attribute a belief in God, no matter how vague, to him are akin to those who do so with Einstein.

I wasn't actually trying to attribute any beliefs to anyone. Not sure where you got that one from Given that we are reading from the same Wiki article it seems only fair to reproduce the section in full.

wiki wrote:

In a December 2005 interview with Simon Mayo on BBC Radio Five Live, Attenborough stated that he considers himself an agnostic.

He has explained that he feels the evidence all over the planet clearly shows evolution to be the best way to explain the diversity of life, and that "as far as I'm concerned, if there is a supreme being then he chose organic evolution as a way of bringing into existence the natural world."

In a BBC Four interview with Mark Lawson, Attenborough was asked if he at any time had any religious faith. He replied simply, "No."

In 2009, Attenborough announced that he received hate mail from religious people claiming that he should give more credit to God. Attenborough countered:

"They always mean beautiful things like hummingbirds. I always reply by saying that I think of a little child in East Africa with a worm burrowing through his eyeball. The worm cannot live in any other way, except by burrowing through eyeballs. I find that hard to reconcile with the notion of a divine and benevolent creator."[29]

Attenborough tells the above story regularly in interviews about religion

Whether or not the above screams agnostic or not seems to be trumped by his reply to a direct question. Attenborough's belief (even if he was a devout Christian) has little impact beyond bragging rights.