Richard Dawkins

Listen to this episode

Adobe Flash Player is required to listen to audio files. You can download it for free.

"I would be glad if you didn't use the word 'strident', Richard Dawkins tells Newsweek magazine in the current issue. "I'm getting a little bit tired of it."

Not a trace of stridency when the world's most famous atheist sat down with Tapestry - a programme about religion - for an hour-long conversation. His chat with Mary Hynes encompassed evolution, Darwin, creationists, wildflowers, atheism - and Dawkins' lingering affection for the Church of England(?!).

A very dry sense of humour was in evidence during more than one exchange. At one point, Dawkins and Mary talked about the apparent hunger of religious believers to score converts among atheists, recent examples being the putative conversions of the novelist Terry Pratchett and the philosopher Antony Flew.

Dawkins repeated his vow, made in The God Delusion, that there will be a trusty tape-recorder by his own death-bed when the time comes - to forestall any reports of his embracing belief at the very end.

"Er...." Mary began. "A collegue of mine thought you wanted the tape recorder in case you needed to capture any choirs of angels and harps. You know, that sort of thing."
A sharp look across the table, and a slow grin. "That is not what I meant!"

Richard Dawkins is the author of The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, published by Free Press.

This episode features Creative Commons music: eye heart knot by General Fuzz .

It's all in Your Head by King Tut .