Richard Dawkins Is the BBC's Man of the Year

Dawkins has been everywhere this year, but he hasn't done a whole lot in the way of diplomacy. Mostly he comes across as arrogant and dismissive of anyone who does not agree with him. In other words, he puts the scientism in science.

Here's what the BBC said:

Person of the Year 2006

This has been a big year for so many people across many fields, but in the field of religion, ethics and ideas, this is one man's year. Like him or loathe him, people are talking about him and his ideas. We recognise Richard Dawkins, the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University, as our Person of the Year 2006. This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the publication of his book The Selfish Gene. To some he's "Darwin's rottweiller" (echoing TH Huxley's nickname, "Darwin's bulldog"); to others he's "A Devil's Chaplain" (Darwin's phrase, now the title of one of Dawkins's books). You have voted overwhelmingly for Dawkins, and for many conflicting reasons:

For being everywhere this year, with the publication of his global bestseller, The God Delusion.
For proving that scientists can still change the way people think.
For writing a book (The God Delusion) which enabled Terry Eagleton to write the most negative review ever published.
For thinking clearly in a world that doesn't much value clear thinking anymore.
For saying what he thinks.
For defending the delusion that science and religious faith are incompatible.
For creating the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science.
For writing the most overrated book of the year (in the judgment of Prospect magazine).
For making people talk about the dangers of religious fundamentalism.
For lobbying atheism and humanism into the headlines more than anyone else has done before.
For being the face of science on television across the western world.
For not having been given an honour by the Queen, while being a recipient of the Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic and many scientific and literary prizes.
For marrying the actress who played Romana in Doctor Who.
For raising questions that need to be answered by any intelligent religious believer wishing to develop a coherent worldview.
For being a scientific fundamentalist and the worst advert for atheism currently doing a book tour.
For raising a debate about the nature of "science" and how future generations of schoolchildren should be pretected from "pseudo-science".
For being rude and getting away with it.

For these, and many other reasons, Richard Dawkins is our Person of the Year 2006.

I bolded the reason I like from the list. He truly is the worst spokesperson for science and atheism -- and that he gets so much media attention makes both camps look rather silly with him as their face to the world.

In answering this year's Edge question (What are you optimistic about?), Dawkins came off as arrogant as ever:

RICHARD DAWKINS
Evolutionary Biologist, Charles Simonyi Professor For The Understanding Of Science, Oxford University; Author, The God Delusion

The Final Scientific Enlightenment
I am optimistic that the physicists of our species will complete Einstein's dream and discover the final theory of everything before superior creatures, evolved on another world, make contact and tell us the answer. I am optimistic that, although the theory of everything will bring fundamental physics to a convincing closure, the enterprise of physics itself will continue to flourish, just as biology went on growing after Darwin solved its deep problem. I am optimistic that the two theories together will furnish a totally satisfying naturalistic explanation for the existence of the universe and everything that's in it including ourselves. And I am optimistic that this final scientific enlightenment will deal an overdue deathblow to religion and other juvenile superstitions.

He lives in a rather flat and unevolved world. Too bad.

Tags: Richard Dawkins, BBC Man of the Year, The God Delusion, Edge Question, atheism, scientism