where to watch The Atheism Tapes

Storyline

The Atheism Tapes is a 2004 BBC television documentary series presented by Jonathan Miller. The material that makes up the series was originally filmed in 2003 for another, more general series, Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief, but was too lengthy for inclusion. Instead, the BBC agreed to create The Atheism Tapes as a supplementary series of six programmes, each consisting of an extended interview with one contributor.

First Aired

2004-10-18
Last Aired

2004-11-22
Creator
Genre

Documentary
Seasons

1
Episodes

6
Status

Ended
Language

English
Network

BBC Four

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Stream and watch The Atheism Tapes

Season 1

1. Colin McGinn

English philosopher McGinn speaks about the various reasons for not believing in God, and some of the ...More

English philosopher McGinn speaks about the various reasons for not believing in God, and some of the reasons for. He gives a thorough treatment of the ontological argument. In addition, McGinn draws an important distinction between atheism (lack of belief in a deity) and antitheism (active opposition to theism); he identifies himself as both an atheist and an antitheist. Finally, he speculates about a post-theistic society.Less

60mins 2004-10-18

2. Steven Weinberg

Weinberg talks about the effectiveness of the Design Argument, both in the past and today. He also dis...More

Weinberg talks about the effectiveness of the Design Argument, both in the past and today. He also discusses the reasons that people become religious, including the varying influences of physical and biological arguments against religion. Miller connects this to a higher likelihood of biologists being non-believers than physicists, which Weinberg finds surprising. Weinberg goes on to distinguish between harm done in the name of religion from that done by religion and states that both of these are very real and very dangerous. He goes on to discuss the difference between religious belief in America and Europe, and about how he doesn’t like the "character" of the monotheistic God. He ends by saying that science is very definitely corrosive to religious belief, and that he considers this a good thing.Less

60mins 2004-10-26

3. Arthur Miller

Jonathan Miller and Arthur Miller talk about disbelief and their experiences of anti-Semitism, recorde...More

Jonathan Miller and Arthur Miller talk about disbelief and their experiences of anti-Semitism, recorded in 2004.Less

60mins 2004-11-01

4. Richard Dawkins

Biologist Richard Dawkins talks to Jonathan Miller about his implacable opposition to all religion.

Biologist Richard Dawkins talks to Jonathan Miller about his implacable opposition to all religion.Less

60mins 2004-11-09

5. Denys Turner

Christian theologian Denys Turner defends the case for God as the answer to the most important questio...More

Christian theologian Denys Turner defends the case for God as the answer to the most important questions.Less

60mins 2004-11-15

6. Daniel Dennett

American philosopher Dennett explains why he called one of his books Darwin's Dangerous Idea, and why ...More

American philosopher Dennett explains why he called one of his books Darwin's Dangerous Idea, and why many of Darwin's contemporaries, in particular, considered Darwin's theory of evolution to be dangerous. He goes on to deal with the question of consciousness (i.e., is the consciousness/soul distinct from the body), talking about Darwin's rejection of the soul and the possible origins and psychological purposes of a belief in an immaterial soul. Next, he talks about his Christian upbringing and how he became an atheist. He goes on to ask why it is thought rude to criticise religious belief, and suggests that it is due to the influential status of the religions in question. He finishes by wondering whether we could live effectively in a post-theistic world.Less