Richard Dawkins and Stephen Fry : Muslim Comments and European Cultural Imperialism

An online row broke out when he posted: “All the world’s Muslims have fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge.”The outspoken author went on to defend the remarks which sparked fury on the social network where he was accused of disguising his “bigotry” as atheism.A series of high-profile Twitter users condemned his comments, prompting Prof Dawkins to question what Muslims had achieved since the Dark Ages.He responded to the barrage of ensuing criticism by telling his followers: “A statement of simple fact is not bigotry. And science by Muslims was great in the distant past.”In a further posting he wrote: “Where would we be without alchemy? Dark Age achievements undoubted. But since then?”He sought to justify the observation by adding: “Why mention Muslim Nobels rather than any other group? Because we so often hear boasts about a their total numbers and b their science.”

via Richard Dawkins Muslim jibe sparks Twitter backlash – News – People – The Independent.

‘All the world’s Muslims have fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge’

Stephen Fry hits back at accusations of Islamophobia – News – People – The Independent – Stephen Fry has spoken of his frustration at being labelled an “Islamophobe” for criticising the violent acts committed by some Islamists. In a strongly worded blog post, the actor and comedian lamented that the “squeezed liberal finds himself in the position that he cannot criticise Islamofascism because it’s somehow ‘racist'”. He continued: “It is a topsy-turvy smothering of debate and an Orwellian denial of free speech to declare that speaking out against violence will cause violence.” Fry decided to write the piece after attracting criticism for giving his support for the prominent atheist and evolutionary biologist Professor Richard Dawkins, a noted critic of Islam. In on online exchange last week, Fry said Prof Dawkins was justified in singling out Islam for more criticism than other religions, tweeting: “Wonder why. Oh, have a look around the world and see them slaughtering each other, let alone others. So charming to women too …”