In an age where people think of scientists as fuddy duddy men with leather elbow pads, it's welcoming to see one who still retains a sense of mischief. Of course, that man is Richard Dawkins. The last time I saw him, he was legging it around Jerusalem poking fundamentalists with a stick in Root Of All Evil (read my Hecklerspray review here) and now, he's turning his bile on the supernatural in Enemies of Reason (Channel 4, Monday 8pm).

The RT compared this show to 'Shooting Fish in a Barrel with your host, Professor Richard Dawkins', which, although true, doesn't really do justice to what he's trying to say. Dawkins is a scientist with his shirt off, chest beating and looking for a punch-up. Dawkins believes that belief in the paranormal and superstitious thinking impedes human progress and impoverishes our culture. Science gives, religion, astrology and spiritualism only takes away...

In the aforementioned Root Of All Evil, Dawkins set about his victims with great fury, slinging fact in the face of blind faith. As a result, he often came off worse, looking like a man kicking a puppy in the face. As much as I agreed with him, I couldn't help but feel sorry for his sparring partner. Last night, we saw a Dawkins who had learned his lesson, and instead of going for the jugular, he instead politely skewered. This easing off the pedal allowed Dawkins to sit back and let the people who believe in this supernatural bunkum make fools of themselves with very little probing. It only makes his views all the more succinct. It's fantastic.

Knowing the value of a word, Dawkins, when referring to his enemies of reason, he constantly uses "primitive darkness", "foggy suspicion" and "trite vague-eries" to ram home his point. He sees science as being something that is always keen to refresh its understanding. Science continually questions and seeks to prove itself wrong. He sees religion, magic, spiritualism, paranormalism and the rest as primitive superstitious humbug. He sees blind belief as more than worrying... but why get so worked up about it? Well, when faced with the fact that a quarter of Brits believe in horoscopes.... which is more than any religion... you start to understand the problem.

To prove his point, Dawkins picks apart horoscopes... nice and easy you might think... and the Observers horoscope bloke - Neil Spencer - says that Dawkins' motive was fueled by "mischief". Dawkins, wanting to do a controlled experiment with horoscopes finds that Spencer isn't keen.. which Dawkins laughs at. When he reads out a series of 'horoscopes' and replaces Gemini, Aquarius (etc) with 'Chinese' and 'Germans' he really shows how preposterously ridiculous the whole horoscope thing is.

Dawkins then turns to Spiritualism ("a darker world... the real draw is when the dead start talking") which sees our trouble-making scientist sitting in on a session and accusing the spiritualist as someone who merely does "cold reading". Dawkins find the notion of talking to the dead as ludicrous. Dawkins questions a spiritualist and asks why they ask such banal questions. Why not ask "What is it like being dead?" "What is it like in the afterlife?" as opposed to "does someone know a Charles?" and talking about shoes. Derren Brown makes an appearance, also a huge skeptic and tells the 'inside skill' of clairvoyance types. It's not a special power... it's a linguistic trick.

Dawkins, ever the scientist and enquirer, constantly wants to test the spiritual and magic believers. Dowsers allow him... and what happens? Well, with guesswork, you'd expect the dowsers (and indeed, non-dowsers) to get 1 or 2 out of 6 correct... guess what? That's right. The excuses come out. Dawkins is astonished at "their state of denial" and continues to use the word "Primitive" to show us how stupid this mode of thinking is.

Now, for the record, I don't really like religion and the supernatural. By the same token, I'm not overly fond of science either but if I had to take sides, I'm with the white coats rather than those with the imaginary friends. I'm well aware that science has its wrongs... I mean... scientists help make atom bombs and the like... but you can bet your arse that the person giving the go-ahead, and therefore essentially pulling the trigger, did it with God at his side. Science, to me, is purely existential, which is no bad thing. Science acknowledges the incredible beauty and complexity of the universe and attempts to unlock the mysteries to allow humans to appreciate even more.

Science wilfully questions supernatural belief... and why shouldn't it? Humans desperately look for reasoning in objects in order to believe that our world isn't just a random and complex thing that is completely indifferent to us and our spiritual needs. Humans impose "superstitious false positives". Humans wantonly soak up the stories of supposed spiritual sages... when really, it's just a bunch of woolly nothing statements from those imposing essence to objects that just are. This brilliant programme is brave in its statement, and bold in its claim. If you don't watch the second part of this show next week, then you should be slapped silly. [Mof Gimmers]

[image: Getty]