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I think that it takes more faith to believe there isn’t
a God than to believe there is. There is so much
evidence for God’s existence and we’ll look at it in
future issues of Contact.
Probably the most famous living atheist is Richard
Dawkins, who is often on television and has written
books such as The God Delusion. Dawkins is a
brilliant biologist but he seems to think that makes him
an expert on theology, which he manifestly isn’t. Why
is it that some scientists, who would ridicule
non-scientists writing books critical of science, seem
to feel they are competent to pontificate on theology?
Let me briefly outline his position.
1. He claims everything is the result of Darwinian
Natural Selection
He writes: “I believe, but I cannot prove, that all
life, all intelligence, all creativity and all ‘design’
anywhere in the universe is the direct or indirect
product of Darwinian natural selection.” He has an
almost religious fervour about his belief in Natural
Selection, which is understandable because it is his
substitute for God. I am prepared to accept truth,
wherever it comes from, and there does seem to be a lot
of evidence for evolution. It seems to be the likely
method that God used to bring the universe and all life
in it into being. However it must be remembered that the
theory of evolution has changed over the years and still
has certain problems. Dawkins admits above that he can’t
prove everything evolved.
What about the six-day creation of Genesis? The Bible is
not interested in how God made the world, but
rather that he made it and why he made it.
If evolution is true then the Genesis account remains a
beautiful and profound poetic description of creation.
It is rich in theological principles expressed in
symbolical terms and has been meaningful to hundreds of
generations.
What Dawkins does not explain is how the universe and
evolution started. He also does not explain how creation
can be so incredibly interdependent if it evolved. He
seems convinced that natural selection plus huge amounts
of time are sufficient to explain this. I remain
unconvinced. He doesn’t even ask why it is all here. In
fact he dismisses what he calls “why questions” even
though many people, quite rightly, ask them.
2. He says religion evolved from natural causes
He thinks it could be a by-product of the irrational
aspects of falling in love or it is simply a
transmission of ideas and beliefs over generations. He
ignores – even dismisses – the immense amount of
academic study and debate that has taken place, and
still does, in religious circles. He also does not take
seriously the fact of Jesus and his resurrection.
3. He enthusiastically promotes Atheism
He writes: “The atheist view is … life-affirming and
life-enhancing, while at the same time never being
tainted with self-delusion, wishful thinking ….” His
naïve faith in the objectivity of atheism is
embarrassing. Actually, Dawkins is rather more agnostic
than atheist, i.e. unconvinced about God rather than
certain he does not exist. He writes: “I cannot know for
certain but I think God is very improbable and I live my
life on the assumption that he is not there.” That is
quite an assumption! If God does exist and we are
accountable to him, Dawkins will have a devastating
shock one day. One could argue it is best to live on the
assumption that God is there!
4. He is antagonistic to Religion
He writes: “I am attacking God, all gods,
anything and everything supernatural, wherever and
whenever they have been or will be invented.’ He is
scathing in his opinion of the God of the Bible but
shows obvious bias and selective reading in order to
maintain that position. He is either very ignorant of
Scripture or deliberately misrepresents its teaching.
Actually, Dawkins is really against fundamentalist
religion and he doesn’t take seriously more mature
expressions of faith. He makes the amazing statement:
“Faith is an evil precisely because it requires no
justification and brooks no argument.” He ignores the
vast majority of Christians who do face up to arguments
and do have serious reasons for what they believe.
Instead he dismisses religious believers as
“dyed-in-the-wool faith-heads,” substituting insult for
mature argument.
5. He makes uninformed statements about Jesus
Dawkins makes astounding statements about Jesus, such as
“There is no good historical evidence that he ever
thought he was divine’ and “It is even possible to mount
a serious, though not widely supported, historical case
that Jesus never lived at all…” Serious scholars would
dismiss such uninformed statements as ridiculous. He
also shows he doesn’t understand the meaning of Jesus’
death, claiming it is simply to atone for original (Adam
and Eve’s) sin. Actually, Jesus died for our sins and in
so doing showed the incredible love of God for us.
Dawkins has missed the whole point.
It is little wonder that scholars, even atheist
scholars, have made damning criticisms of Dawkin’s book
“The God Delusion.” For example, Michael Ruse, Professor
of Philosophy, Florida State University wrote: “The
God Delusion makes me embarrassed to be an
atheist.”
Prospect magazine in Nov 2005 voted Dawkins one of the
world’s three leading intellectuals. But they reviewed
The God Delusion as an “incurious, dogmatic,
rambling, and self-contradictory” book.
Allen Orr, Professor of Biology, University of
Rochester, New York wrote: “Despite my admiration
for much of Dawkins's work, I'm afraid that I'm among
those scientists who must part company with him here.
Indeed, The God Delusion seems to me badly
flawed. Though I once labeled Dawkins a professional
atheist, I'm forced, after reading his new book, to
conclude he's actually more an amateur. … his book makes
a far from convincing case…” He goes on to say Dawkins
is not good at philosophical argument but uses even
feeble arguments to reach “preordained … conclusions at
which he's determined to arrive.”
Finally, four academics (Sam Berry, Professor of
Genetics, Sir John Houghton, ex-Director of Met Office,
Malcolm Jeeves, Professor of Psychology, Robert White,
Professor of Geophysics) wrote to the Times recently:
“We are scientists from different disciplines who ….
completely disagree with Dawkins that science can rule
out the supernatural. Our faith in the existence of God
revealed both in creation and in the person of Jesus is
not diminished or contradicted in any way by our
scientific understanding. On the contrary … putting
together science and faith leads to a fuller and deeper
picture of reality.”
Tony Higton |
Sceptics
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