Country club cancels Richard Dawkins appearance after Bill O'Reilly interview

A Michigan country club canceled a speaking engagement for Richard Dawkins, a British biologist and outspoken atheist, after club officials watched his interview with Fox News host Bill O'Reilly.

"It's obviously an outrage that at the last minute when a contract has been signed, that the owner of a country club should cancel it on the basis of the philosophical views of a speaker," Dawkins told MyFoxDetroit.com. "What's even more extraordinary is that instead of reading the book himself or even opening it, apparently, he took the word of Bill O'Reilly."

He was scheduled to speak at a country club in Rochester Hills and sign his new children's book, The Magic of Reality.

Last week, Dawkins appeared on Fox News to defend his book from accusations by O'Reilly that it "mocked god."

During the interview, O'Reilly said that believing in a divine intelligence was necessary to understand the origin of existence.

"If you believe in the teachings of Jesus, or Buddha, or someone like that who wants people to be peaceful and love each other, that is a good thing," O'Reilly explained.

"But what does that have to do with the origin of the Moon?" Dawkins responded.

Watch the Bill O'Reilly interview Richard Dawkins, broadcast October 5 on Fox News, below: