Club cancels talk by Richard Dawkins

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ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich., Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Richard Dawkins, a British scientist and one of the world's best-known atheists, says a Michigan club that canceled his speaking engagement showed "bigotry."

Dawkins had been scheduled to speak Wednesday night at a dinner to raise funds for the Center for Inquiry's Michigan branch at the Wyndgate Country Club in Rochester Hills, the Detroit Free Press reported. He said the club canceled Thursday after he appeared on "The O'Reilly Factor," the Fox News show with conservative host Bill O'Reilly.

"This is sheer bigotry," Dawkins said. "If the country club had said, 'I'm not having Dawkins speak because he's a Jew, or because he's black, or because he's gay,' they would never get away with it."

Dawkins is in the United States to promote a new book, "The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True." He said O'Reilly gave a "twisted" version of what the book says, making it appear Dawkins is "promoting atheism to children."

Dawkins is still on the calendar in Rochester Hills, but at a hotel instead of the country club.