All the world's Muslims have fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge. They did great things in the Middle Ages, though.
— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) August 8, 2013
You can attack someone for his opinion. But for simply stating an intriguing fact? Who would guess that a single Cambridge College . . .
— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) August 8, 2013
He’s a racist! He’s a bigot! Richard Dawkins can criticize Christianity all he wants, but when he dares simply to note an “intriguing fact” about Muslims and Islam, he incurs the wrath of the gods of political correctness. This controversy illustrates yet again that it doesn’t matter who you are or what you have done or accomplished: if you stand against jihad violence and Islamic supremacism, or criticize Islam in any way, you will be targeted, vilified, smeared, and defamed, and every attempt will be made to destroy you.
“‘Muslims peaked in the Dark Ages. But since then?’: Richard Dawkins embroiled in Twitter row over controversial comments,” by Tara Brady in the Daily Mail, August 9 (thanks to all who sent this in):
Professor Richard Dawkins has become embroiled in a Twitter row after he claimed the last time Muslims contributed something worthwhile was during the Dark Ages.
The 71-year-old author went on to tweet that the world’s Muslims had won fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge.
His comments sparked anger among high-profile Twitter users including writer Caitlin Moran and economics editor at Channel 4 News, Faisal Islam.
Moran tweeted: ‘It’s time someone turned Richard Dawkins off and then on again.
‘Something’s gone weird.’
While Islam said: ‘Actually, over the last two decades, it’s 8-4 against Trinity.
‘I say this as a muslim alumnus of Trinity College, Cambridge.
‘Of course if @RichardDawkins had any clue what he was talking about, he’d know to strip out the Economics Nobels, which aren’t quite real’
One Twitter user said Muslims were responsible for alchemy and algebra.
But Dawkins replied: ‘Indeed, where would we be without alchemy? Dark Age achievements undoubted. But since then?’
There has been a total of 10 Nobel prizes awarded to Muslims while Trinity College, Cambridge, has 32 Nobel laureates.
It is not the first time Dawkins has angered the Muslim population after he described looters who destroyed manuscripts in Mali as ‘Islamic barbarians’ in January.
The 71-year-old author was referring to the severe damage caused by Islamist extremists to a sacred library in Timbuktu but his remarks were seen as insulting to all Muslims.
Dawkins is an award-winning ethologist and author.
He is perhaps best known for his strong religious criticism and his atheist views.
Author of several books, his contempt for religion is most evident in his 2006 bestseller, The God Delusion.