Root of All Evil

Richard Dawkins' documentary on religious belief, Root of All Evil?, will finally be seen on Australian television screens.

COMPASS: ROOT OF ALL EVIL? Part One "The God Delusion"
Sunday 20 May at 21:30
Channel 4

In this strongly authored two-part series, Professor Richard Dawkins accuses the three main religions--Christianity, Islam and Judaism--of beliefs that defy science, and of stunting the mind's capacity for understanding. He embarks on a personal, controversial and, at times, humorous journey to prove that religion is the root of all evil.

In the first episode Professor Dawkins challenges what he describes as 'a process of non-thinking called faith'. He ranges from the political influence of rich and powerful Christian fundamentalist institutions in America to the deadly clash of Judaism, Christianity and Islam in the Middle East. He describes the Holy Land as the least enlightened place in the world, a microcosm of the threat to rational values and civilisation posed by religion, whose irrational roots, he says, are nourishing intolerance and murder.

On his journey he takes a humorous look at the more bizarre expressions of religious fervour, such as the vision of the Virgin Mary in a grilled-cheese sandwich.

COMPASS: ROOT OF ALL EVIL? Part Two "The Virus of Faith"
Sunday 27 May at 21:30
Channel 4

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In the second episode Professor Dawkins argues that religion can lead to a warped and inflexible morality, and the indoctrination of children. How is it, he asks, that despite science having exposed old religious myths, militant faith is back on the march? Dawkins believes that imposing religion on children who are too inexperienced to judge it for themselves is a mechanism for perpetuating beliefs that lead to murderous intolerance.

I can hear Michael Duffy sharpening his pencil already. Anti-Jeebus bias at the ABC. Why does the ABC hate God?