Wisconsin State Journal

Susan Lampert Smith reported on Dawkins in Madison, Wi and I replied to it, what do you think?

First, her report,

Lampert Smith: God is bogus, Dawkins dares to say
By SUSAN LAMPERT SMITH Wisconsin State Journal
Who knew an evolutionary biologist had rock-star drawing power?
OK, he 's not Hannah Montana, but evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins ' visit to the UW-Madison campus this week blew off the charts for a Distinguished Lecture series event.
All 1,300 free tickets to Dawkins ' Tuesday night speech on "The God Delusion " at the Union Theater were snapped up long before the event. You could see Dawkins ' fans begging for tickets on Craigslist, right between someone selling floor seats to see The Boss at the Bradley Center and someone wanting to buy Big Ten tourney tickets.
All this for an Oxford University professor whose previous titles included "The Extended Phenotype " and "The Selfish Gene "?
Sean Carroll, a UW-Madison geneticist who introduced Dawkins, said the response comes from two groups of students: biology majors, who have all likely read Dawkins ' books on evolutionary biology, and new fans who are cheering his hard line against the belief in God, "saying things that had not been said. "
Carroll is a bit of a rock star himself in the world of biology; he 's working on a two-hour "NOVA " special on Charles Darwin to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Darwin 's birth and the 150th anniversary of "The Origin of Species. " He was part of a discussion Tuesday afternoon between Dawkins and undergraduates who live in the Chadbourne Residential College.
"They were interested in The God Delusion, ' " Carroll said. "I think because it is a topic that has never before been presented to them as fair game for debate. "
Pratha Muthiah, a freshman engineering major, said she first saw Dawkins on "The Colbert Report, " where he debated the existence of God with comedian Stephen Colbert, who is either a Catholic or at least plays one on television.
She and her friends were intrigued, and went out to get Dawkins ' books. She said some of her fundamentalist Christian friends got tickets to Tuesday 's speech because "they want to hear what he has to say. "
They heard Dawkins quoting atheist slogans such as "blasphemy is a victimless crime " and saw him showing slides that labeled God as "an imaginary friend. "
In an interview before the talk, Dawkins said his six-campus tour has drawn "extremely enthusiastic audiences " and no protesters, despite the kind of anti-religion taunting that would result in a fatwa on his head in some places.
"It looks to me that people who go to lectures want to hear someone they agree with, " he said. "I 'm preaching to the choir, but I 'm encouraged by the size of the choir. "
Tuesday night 's choir gave Dawkins a standing ovation.
Contact Susan Lampert Smith at ssmith@madison.com or 608-252-6121.

My short response:

I'm from the KansasCity area and get into the Madison area about once or twice a week. I grabbed a paper and interestingly found your column. About God and Dawkins, be careful. Be very, very careful. If Dawkins is wrong, then a lot of people are applauding a lie. If there is no god, why are the 'atheists' so much about disproving him, even with silly slogans like "Blasphemy is a victimless crime"? If there is no god, he's safe. Leave us alone and let us worship. If there might be a god, then we should be vigilant as to his purpose and character. The thought that interests me the most is this, Almost all people believe and have always believed that God is a reality. That has been the thought and experience of billions of people for thousands of years. I personally believe the christian faith would prosper more if most christains would keep there lips together and sat on their hands. They seem to not speak with a lot of knowledge. Debates between 'atheists' and 'believers' are always entertaining and useless. My suggestion to all those who applaud any body of any faith or world view is to put that speaker's feet in the fire and test him or her as to their reliability of truth. Oh, yeah, I forgot. Most people no longer believe in absolute truth.