Atheist Richard Dawkins Supports Bibles in Schools

Arch-atheist Richard Dawkins supports British Education Secretary Michael Gove's plan to send free King James Bibles to every state school. Richard Dawkins believed that if the children were to read the bad parts of the Bible, such as genocide and stoning for breaking the Sabbath in the Pentateuch, Joshua and Judges, they would be put off by what they read. Writing in Guardian Observer (Saturday 19 May 2012), he said, "I have an ulterior motive for wishing to contribute to Gove's scheme. People who do not know the Bible well have been gulled into thinking it is a good guide to morality. This mistaken view may have motivated the 'millionaire Conservative party donors'. I have even heard the cynically misanthropic opinion that, without the Bible as a moral compass, people would have no restraint against murder, theft and mayhem. The surest way to disabuse yourself of this pernicious falsehood is to read the Bible itself."