Richard Dawkins: love and hate on Facebook

Dawkins has long been a lightening rod for arguments in relation to atheism and religious belief - but in our crazy modern LOLCat bible world there is only one way to truly assess someone's worth. So I ask the ultimate Web 3.0 question, how does Richard Dawkins stack up on Facebook?

Well, there are 29 'Richard Dawkins' listed on Facebook with 9 profiles with pictures of the man himself. However it is highly likely these are all fakes. The Richard Dawkins website already has its own social network. Why join another social network when you have your own?

There are 158 Dawkins Facebook groups expressing a broad range of views but most support Dawkins and his work. Many of these groups likely have overlapping membership so I'll only list a representative sample.

• If I weren't an atheist I'd think Richard Dawkins was God: 3750 members.
• Richard Dawkins = Cooler than Jesus: 2978 members.
• The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science: 1265 members.
• Richard Dawkins has a Posse: 174 members (my personal favourite).
• Group for Understanding and Appreciating Richard Dawkins (GUARD): 244 members.

But there are a minority of haters.

• Richard Dawkins can fuck off: 512 members.
• Richard Dawkins is Wrong: 194 members.
• Richard Dawkins is famous for his opinions not his scholarship: 64 members (ummm so is the pope guys).

Some groups are harder to classify:

• Richard Dawkins can fuck me: 30 members (pro-Dawkins, if he wasn't married to that ex-Dr Who babe he'd have some options).
• Pray for Richard Dawkins: 21 members (anti-Dawkins ultimate concern-trolls).
• I don't believe in God but I do believe Richard Dawkins is an arsehole: 39 members (A.K.A I agree with everything you say, but I still don't support your right to say it J)
• Mr Dawkins, turn that frown upside down!: 49 members (encouraging him to smile more = support?).
  

So in summary, despite the haters, Dawkins seems to be doing pretty well.

PS. If you're so inclined please support the OUT Campaign by listing yourself as an atheist whenever you fill out your personal details (for example on Facebook). It's well past time atheists stood up to be counted.