Evolutionist Richard Dawkins warns Bristol audience of 'general ignorance of science'
In an answer to a question from the audience, he said he was disturbed by the number of people who think the world has only been around for 6,000 years which is an "astonishing error".
He said: "The number of people who reject evolution is disturbingly high. Teachers and lecturers, even at university level, are finding students shut up their ears when they hear evolution mentioned. They just don't listen."
He said he was concerned about the growing Islamic presence in British schools which made the teaching of science more difficult.
"There seems to be a general ignorance of science," he said. "Twenty-eight per cent of Britons think that people co-existed with dinosaurs."
Earlier he read excerpts from his latest book, called The Greatest Show on Earth.
Tickets for the event, part of Bristol's Festival of Ideas, sold out in two days.
Like Charles Darwin, whose work On the Origin of Species caused outrage on its publication in 1859, Mr Dawkins courted controversy in one of his earlier books by suggesting that people who believe in God are delusional because there is no scientific evidence for the existence of a divine creator. In his latest book he takes on creationists, including followers of 'Intelligent Design' and all those who question the fact of evolution through natural selection.
He sifts through scientific facts and disciplines in each chapter to prove the theory of evolution. His wife, actress Lalla Ward, who appeared in Dr Who, took it in turns with him to read from the book.
He says in the book that American science teachers have been "hassled and stymied and threatened with the loss of their job" and were often faced with the "close-folded arms of brainwashed children."
After the talk dozens of people queued to have copies of the latest book signed by the author.
Comment on this story