Grothe’s approach

I always get put off by D.J. Grothe’s style when interviewing those who are critical of religion. He accuses Dawkins and others as being unwarranted religion bashers. He seems timid about coming out and saying religion is 100 percent boloney and there is no way to sugarcoat it. So what if it offends Christians, Muslims, whomever? So what if religion makes people “feel good.” So do homeopathy and seances, but I wouldn’t recommend them no matter how many people like them. Richard Dawkins is right. Religious thinking is a disease.

Sorry

I disagree with jminnis: DJ uses this style as a “Devils Advocate.”  He pushes the guests to really confont the issues.  Good interviewers don’t just enable their subjects to spout whatever they happen to be promoting that day.  Good interviewers push, cajole, argue the other side, all to get to the subject’s real objective.

And I think that DJ used to be religious, so he knows which buttons to push to get a good response.  And no one can give a good, hard-hitting response like Dr. Dawkins!!

I like this style.  We must always remember that other people feel and believe differently. If we want to be effective debaters, we must understand their POV.

HappyHumanist is right here—I think jminnis misunderstands DJ’s technique, which is to be an effective interviewer by providing a foil for his subject. And DJ is a very effective interviewer.

Yes, I suppose he is being the devil’s advocate in trying to provide arguments from the other side. He does it well…...

I really enjoy DJ’s interviews. I don’t really see it so much as playing “devil’s advocate” as he [DJ] does his research before an interview, knows what arguments people use to try to dismiss Dawkins’ ideas, and gives his subject an opportunity to answer those objections. I had actually considered giving DJ some kudos on this forum for his handling of the Dawkins interview. I had decided not to this time, but I will certainly defend his style under these circumstances. Anyway, if he conducted the interviews as a cheerleader who agrees with everything the interviewee said, the first PoI podcast I listened to would have been my last. I shudder to think that minds like Dawkins’ need to be sheltered from such questioning.

Anyway, I enjoyed the interview. It came at an good time as I have just started reading The God Delusion. I had not considered previously how abusive it is to tell children that there is a god who will throw them into hell if they don’t eat their greenbeans (my example, not Dawkins’). The story he related of the woman who, as a young girl, was molested by her priest but was more damaged by being told that her friend was in hell because she was Protestant, gave me chills.

Keep up the good work PoI, and here is my tip of the hat to DJ for another well conducted interview. *tip*