Alister McGrath's The Dawkins Delusion: Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the DivineRichard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist, has long been one of the more vicious critics of religion and creation theory in recent years, making it a personal goal to make atheists out of religious people. His most recent book, The God Delusion (2006), he calls the "culmination" of his campaign against religion.
But Dawkins has some issues: He's prejudiced against Christianity and organized religion, in part because of his own experience. He was raised nominally Anglican but struggled with his faith throughout his childhood. Ultimately, he latched on to secular humanism as understood through the theory of evolution.
He's fairly ignorant of Christian doctrine and has expressed a disinterest in learning any of the details; his mind is already made up. And he's defensive. Like most naturalistic philosophers who make a career based on refuting moral teaching, I'll bet he probably isn't keen on the idea of moral absolutes.
But what convinced Dawkins to turn from religion to naturalism (which is still a religious view by the way)? Listen to what he told Bill Moyers a couple of years ago in an interview, "among the things that science does know, evolution is about as certain as anything we know." When Moyers later asked, "Is evolution a theory, not a fact?", Dawkins replied, "Evolution has been observed. It's just that it hasn't been observed while it's happening." Dawkins went on to say, "It is rather like a detective coming on a murder after the scene. And you… the detective hasn't actually seen the murder take place, of course. But what you do see is a massive clue ...Circumstantial evidence, but masses of circumstantial evidence. Huge quantities of circumstantial evidence."
So without observing any actual evidence, Dawkins is nevertheless certain that his interpretation (one where God does not exist) must be true. In my line of work we call that faith.
4 comments:
Hey now this is something. I agree his prejudice against any organized religion is an absolute. Although his as an arrogant writer, he brings up some really good points. I have read The Selfish Gene and The God Delusion and would actually recommend you read both of them. I would actually really like your take. If you haven’t already, before you read a book denouncing what he is trying to spread, read The God Delusion. It’s pretty interesting.
I've read volumes by and about Dawkins and have even listened to his lectures and debates online. I'm not uninformed about him, I've been reading his stuff (and the stuff against him) since I was in High School.
I've not yet read the God Delusion (it's fairly new) but I've covered his position on the contents held within. The problem is that Dawkins doesn't return the favor.
He openly states that he doesn't regard Christian Theology seriously enough to study it detail but instead arrogantly dismisses it, mocking it all along the way.
The guy is about as close minded and dogmatic as anybody on either side of the argument.
Don't expect Dawkins to study enough about any religion to fully understand it. He also cannot respect anyones thoughts, but his own. I have The God Delusion if you want to borrow it.
Yes, please. Whenever you get the chance, I would like to give it a read. Thanks.
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