2020 Richard Dawkins Award Presentation to Javed Akhtar

Javed Akhtar has written some of India’s most popular and acclaimed films, earning multiple awards for screenplays and lyrics. As a poet and social commentator, Akhtar has advocated for education and equal rights for all, and called for the rejection of religious fundamentalism and superstition. He has been honored by his country with the prestigious Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri for “distinguished service of a high order,” and nominated to the Rajya Sabha of India’s Parliament.

The Richard Dawkins Award is presented annually by the Center for Inquiry, home to the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science, and given to a distinguished individual from the worlds of science, scholarship, education, or entertainment who publicly proclaims the values of secularism and rationalism, upholding scientific truth wherever it may lead. Previous winners include philosopher and cognitive scientist Daniel Dennett, Cosmos co-creator Ann Druyan, and actor and writer Stephen Fry. In 2019 the award was given to comedian and actor Ricky Gervais. The selection of Javed Akhtar as the recipient of this year’s Richard Dawkins Award was first announced in June.

The books discussed in the presentation are:
"Why I Am Not A Muslim" by Ibn Warraq
"The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins
"The Demon-Haunted World" by Carl Sagan

This 90-minute live event took place on October 24, 2020 at 11am US Eastern Time (EDT), 4pm London (BST), and 8:30pm Mumbai (IST).

To learn more about the Center for Inquiry, visit https://centerforinquiry.org/