Dawkins and evaluation

No, I didn't make a typo in the title - it's not supposed to read 'Dawkins and evolution'!

A fellow Australian Christian academic, Ross McKenzie, has recently written a blog post in which he speculates on whether Richard Dawkins might have 'softened' in his stance towards Christians, based on some reviews of Dawkins' recent book (The Greatest Show on Earth). What strikes me as interesting is the recurring theme of comment on Dawkins' strong criticism of those who choose to believe in a creative God. I know Dawkins' writing is generally considered 'popular science', rather than academic scientific discourse, but even so it does seem rather inappropriate to be so blatantly evaluative in his references to certain groups of people.

I would love to do some appraisal analysis of his writing and see what kinds of appraisal show up the most, and towards whom (see Martin & White 2005 for more on Appraisal). Because I'm interested in his evaluations of people and groups of people, I would look at the linguistics resources used to express judgement, whether social esteem (based on a code the violation of which results in criticism from others) or social saction (based on moral/legal codes the violation of which leads to condemnation) (see e.g. White 2004). Perhaps there will be positive or negative appraisal of people's capacity (especially their mental abilities), normality, or tenacity (parameters of social esteem). Perhaps it will be expressions of positive or negative social sanction about people's propriety or honesty.

References
Martin, J. R., & White, P. (2005). The Language of Evaluation: Appraisal in English. Basingstoke & New York: Palgrave Macmillan.