Richard Dawkins must be pulling our legs.

Now, I can understand the point of his earlier works showing the impossibly accurate and logical implications of his interpretation of Darwinian theory against what some consider a bloodless and overly-simplified theology (and more here, here and here).  I consider him a necessary cultural counter-weight to the ever increasing levels of fundamentalism at home and throughout the world.  But this announcement, which still seems too ridiculous to be real, reveals that Mr. Dawkins is so caught up in his zeal for scientism that he has deified rationalism as the only true way and cut off the subjective and imaginal world that is the substance of our life.  An essential part of being human is telling stories about the world and ourselves and our dreams — and why should that be limited to what we currently consider rational?

Mr. Dawkins‘ irrational fear and seeming need to control what children read strikes me as bewilderingly intolerant and desolate.  I’m willing to bet just about every child in every culture grew up reading or hearing  fairy tales and myths, including most of the greatest scientists. Does he dream of a sterilized childhood where kids only read books that are rational and scientifically accurate? (and probably have no good pictures in them, either!)  Ultimately, I don’t see the need to set rationality and imagination against one another with such hyperbole.  Perhaps he’s just discovered that writing a controversial book make him more money than what he’s getting at Oxford?  I can sympathize far more the guy if it is simple human greed rather than a real conviction that he must warn children and their parents about the dangers of fiction!

…and I’ve just discovered a very recent article by Libby Purves taking him to task on his perceived threat of fairy tales.