Today, I watched the introduction video of Richard Dawkins' speech at the University of Oklahoma. It's been in the news this week because of a certain Todd Thomsen who tried to stop Dawkins being allowed to speak. Dawkins, of course, used the event as a forum to respond to Thomsen, by adding a special introduction to the speech.
One of the points Dawkins made particularly resonated with me, probably because I work for a university myself,
"What on earth is a university for if it only reinforces opinions that students already hold?"
He's right, of course. What's the point of a university if it doesn't strive to hold dear the tenets upon which every university should be based? Tenets such as (to quote one of the key principles and values of the stategic plan at my university), "freedom of thought, innovation and intellectual curiosity".
Well done Oklahoma, you deserve recognition for not bowing down to the increasingly outrageous demands of the US Christian right-wing.
Sunday, 8 March 2009
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1 comments:
It's good to know that freedom of speech still exists - at the moment. Religious groups are fighting hard to protect their privileged positions, but free enquiry and rational thought are hard to suppress!
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