david_shankman / Flickr Dawkins wears a red A to symbolize his atheism.

Acclaimed biologist and bestselling author Richard Dawkins has spent decades talking about evolution. When he visits the U.S., where about half the population doesn’t believe in it, he has to defend it–fiercely.

He barely talks about religious people and doesn’t mention Christians by name, though it’s clear that’s who he is referring to. In between dismissive references to creation accounts and Bible stories, he calls them “ignoramuses,” “scientific know-nothings” and “a tragic waste of life.”

At a sold-out event held by The Progressive Forum last night, Dawkins spoke about the subject of his latest book–the evidence of evolution–to local scientists, intellectuals and secularists who have had to defend it firsthand.

“If you know any creationists, and I’m sure in the state of Texas you don’t know any…,” Dawkins sarcastically joked, “They are taught to say, ‘Well, there are gaps in the fossil record.’ Of course there are gaps in the fossil record! We are lucky to have fossils at all!”

He explained how fossil discovery, the diversity of life and the process of natural selection contradict the biblical creation account and the story of Noah’s ark.

“I am sorry to take a sledge hammer to so small and fragile a lot. We should be able to ignore them, but we cannot,” he said.

Dawkins made reference to evolution’s place in a doubtful U.S. and an even-more doubtful Texas. It’s hard to discuss evolution without thinking about the state’s education system, where politicians, parents and board members debate over intelligent design in textbooks and classrooms.

The audience whooped and laughed at mention of those people who refuse to believe the science behind human origins.

“It all resonated with me, living in the Deep South and dealing with the school board. It’s a frustration that I deal with every day,” said Dan Jordan, a veterinarian and father of two who lives in Magnolia.

Jordan said it was good to be in a room full of intellectuals and away from his Christian neighbors in The Woodlands who home-school their kids or worse, teach his own children creationism in public schools. His older son spent so much time defending evolution in high school, he ended up studying to become an evolutionary biologist in college.

Like a few others in the audience, Dawkins wore his signature red-A lapel pin, a scarlet letter that represents his “coming out” atheist. Dawkins left Christianity at 9 and gave up on God all together at 15 or 16, he said.

Fred Burton, 26, wore a shirt that read, “I’m the Evolutionary Biologist Your Mother Warned You About.”

“Given Texas’ reputation, (religion) is a societal force,” the agnostic said.

He said it would be hard to imagine a Christian, much less one who upholds biblical inerrancy, being a fan of Dawkins’ work. “Religion and science, they each make statements about each other.”

For the crowd at the Progressive Forum event, science was the favored belief system, but the thousand-person crowd at First Baptist Church, where Sarah Palin was speaking on the same night, sees another force in control of their origins and their destiny: God.

At the event, a fundraiser for an anti-abortion charity, Palin said “Every child has purpose and there is destiny in every innocent life and there is support out there and you’re not alone and yes you’re capable of handling this. And God won’t give you something that you can’t handle. That’s what I held onto.”