Dawkins clashes with station over Islam ‘abuse’ claim

UNITED STATES: Richard Dawkins has become embroiled in a free speech row with an American radio station that dropped him for making ‘‘hurtful’’ comments about Islam.

KPFA, a radio station in Berkeley, California, had been due to host an event for Dawkins to speak about his memoir, Brief Candle in the Dark. The station then said it had learnt that the evolutionary biologist had used ‘‘abusive speech’’ when talking about Islam and it was cancelling the event.

In an email to ticket holders, KPFA said: ‘‘We booked this event based entirely on his excellent new book on science, when we didn’t know he had offended and hurt - in his tweets and other comments on Islam - so many people. KPFA does not endorse hurtful speech.’’

It added: ‘‘While KPFA emphatically supports serious free speech, we do not support abusive speech. We apologise for not having had broader knowledge of Dawkins’s views much earlier. We also apologise to all those inconvenienced by this cancellation.’’

The station did not specify what remarks it was referring to. Dawkins tweeted in 2013 that he believed Islam to be ‘‘the greatest force for evil today’’.

The biologist hit back yesterday (Monday), saying that he had often criticised ‘‘Islamism’’, but that this was different from Islam, and that Muslims were the main victims of the elements he criticised.

In an open letter to KPFA, Dawkins wrote: ‘‘Why didn’t you check your facts - or at least have the common courtesy to alert me before summarily cancelling my event? If you had consulted me, or if you had done even rudimentary fact-checking, you would have concluded that I have never used abusive speech against Islam.

‘‘I have called IslamISM ‘vile’ but surely you, of all people, understand that Islamism is not the same as Islam.’’

He said he had criticised certain ‘‘pseudoscientific’’ claims by scholars about issues including evolution and added: ‘‘I have criticised the appalling misogyny and homophobia of Islam, I have criticised the murdering of apostates for no crime other than their disbelief. Far from attacking Muslims, I understand - as perhaps you do not - that Muslims themselves are the prime victims of the oppressive cruelties of Islamism, especially Muslim women.’’

Dawkins said he had been a regular

"I have called IslamISM 'vile' but surely you, of all people, understand that Islamism is not the same as Islam." Richard Dawkins

listener to KPFA when he lived in Berkeley, and he had appeared on the station before. He suggested that his event would not have been cancelled if he had criticised another faith, adding: ‘‘I am known as a frequent critic of Christianity and have never been de-platformed for that. Why do you give Islam a free pass? Why is it fine to criticise Christianity but not Islam?’’

Dawkins is an outspoken critic of organised religion and has provoked anger with comments aimed at numerous faiths and denominations. In 2013 he tweeted: ‘‘All the world’s Muslims have fewer Nobel prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge. They did great things in the Middle Ages, though.’’ He added: ‘‘Indeed, where would we be without alchemy? Dark Age achievements undoubted. But since then?’’

He has also described violence and destruction in Mali as an example of ‘‘a priceless heritage destroyed by Islamic Barbarians’’.

Dawkins had an invitation to speak at a science event last year withdrawn over a video he retweeted, entitled Feminists love Islamists, which the organisers said was ‘‘highly offensive’’. He later deleted the tweet after learning more about the video’s origins.

- The Times