NPR’s Barbara King has an interesting article on Richard Dawkins and the upcoming Reason Rally, wondering out loud if Dawkins might actually undermine the stated purpose of the event:

According to a press release, the rally is to be a celebration, and its chief mission is to “combat negative stereotypes about nonreligious Americans.”

Why question Dawkins?  He’s known to be critical, “hurtful and harsh” — “an especially scathing critic” — in other words, he embodies the negative stereotype of the scornful atheist the rally says it is trying to dispel.

If NPR questions Dawkins’ negative stereotype in his role at the Reason Rally — where the only risk is alienating some willing listeners — is there any wonder there are questions about Dawkins’ role a week later at Rock Beyond Belief?  There, he’ll step foot on the US Army’s Fort Bragg, where Dawkins will be required to avoid the acerbic criticism King — a self-described Dawkins admirer — seems to think is unavoidable for him.

Despite admiring Dawkins’ work, King nonetheless questions the wisdom of Dawkins’ presence.  After praising Dawkins’ authorship, the author then says

On the other hand, I dislike the passages in that book where Dawkins jeers at the “fools” who don’t accept the facts of evolution. And here we get to the core of the problem…

Dawkins — considering his stated willingness to engage with a broad public — goes too far in expressing his frustration…

In a 2006 interview with Steve Paulson…Dawkins suggested that greater intelligence is correlated with atheism. He also said that when it encourages belief in the absence of evidence, “there’s something very evil about faith.”

There, the author says, Dawkins proves what every critic believes about the arrogant intolerance of atheism.

The article admits this is based only on Dawkins’ typical behavior, not a foreknowledge of what he will actually say.  Still, making assessments about invited speakers based on their prior statements is remarkably common in the military environment — a filter supported by atheists.

The author finishes by saying Dawkins risks confirming the stereotype the rally intends to dispel:

Will Dawkins rally The Reason Rally’s secular pilgrims with the same scorn towards the faithful that he’s shown to date? We’ll have to wait and see. If he does, [Dawkins] will confirm that some of the negative stereotypes associated with the nonreligious — intolerance of the faithful, first and foremost — are at times aligned with reality.

The rally occurs a week prior to Dawkins’ appearance at Rock Beyond Belief.  It could be an interesting insight into how he’ll treat “the faithful” in the military.