Author Has a Tough Message About the 'Adolescence' of Atheism — and a Skewering of Evolutionary Biologist Richard Dawkins

Author and spiritual guru Deepak Chopra took aim at atheist biologist Richard Dawkins during a recent interview with HuffPo Live, calling him a "militant atheist" who "antagonizes people."

"It antagonizes people. By the way, I didn't invent the word 'militant atheism,'" Chopra told host Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani of Dawkins' worldview. "He uses that expression to describe himself, and he says if you're not a militant atheist, you're stupid."

Chopra, who has lambasted Dawkins in the past, called the evolutionary biologist a "fundamentalist" who has a very limited view of reality.

"His version of reality is what we call empirical reality — if you can see it it's real, if you can't see it it's not real," Chopra said. "But we know you can't see your thoughts, feelings, emotions, desires ... creativity, choice and they're real. Your inner world is real."

As for the atheism, the spiritual guru and author said that nonbelief is a natural starting point for many, but that it shows a lack of growth to never move beyond it.

"It's the adolescence of spiritual seeking. You start with atheism, because you doubt that there's a deity ... but if you stop there you haven't grown," he said. "You have to question everything, including the experience of the material world."

Watch his comments below: