The latest book by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, \u201cTHE GOD DELUSION,\u201d is an attempt to shore up the faith of atheists, Oxford theologian Alister McGrath said at a meeting of the Evangelical Philosophical Society at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe Dawkins\u2019 book was really written to persuade atheists that their faith is still valid,\u201d McGrath, professor of historical theology and senior research fellow at Oxford University\u2019s Harris Manchester College, said Feb. 23, 2007.<\/p>\n
Dawkins, whose other well-known writings include \u201cThe Selfish Gene\u201d and \u201cThe Blind Watchmaker,\u201d promotes an evolutionary view of nature that excludes any notion of God. McGrath said Dawkins\u2019 work has become increasingly crusading and anti-religious.<\/p>\n
McGrath read a portion of THE GOD DELUSION in which Dawkins says he hopes \u201creligious readers who open it will be atheists when they put it down.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDawkins\u2019 assertion that science disproves God is not right. The evidence isn\u2019t there and his argument is weak,\u201d said McGrath, who holds doctorates in molecular biophysics and Christian theology.<\/p>\n
A former atheist, McGrath has written extensively on the subjects of theology and science and on atheism grounded in the natural sciences. McGrath\u2019s response to Dawkins, titled \u201cThe Dawkins Delusion: Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine,\u201d soon will be released in the United States.<\/p>\n
McGrath said Dawkins attempts to build a case on five points: belief in God is irrational; science disproves God; faith can be explained on scientific grounds; religion gives an impoverished view of the universe; and belief in God leads to violence.<\/p>\n
Dawkins dismisses belief in God as infantile and akin to believing in the tooth fairy, but McGrath noted that people do not begin believing in the tooth fairy in adulthood whereas many people have come to faith in God as adults.<\/p>\n
Atheism and theism are both faiths and neither can prove their position with 100 percent certainty through the natural sciences, McGrath said. Science does not necessitate atheism or theism, and the question of God\u2019s existence must be resolved through other means, he said.<\/p>\n
McGrath cited the late C.S. Lewis, a renowned apologist who pondered which worldview makes the most sense of what can be observed and experienced in the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else,\u201d Lewis wrote in \u201cThe Weight of Glory.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dawkins\u2019 claim that science proves there is no God is implausible in light of the significant number of Christian scientists, McGrath said, adding that even Dawkins admits Darwinian evolution is subject to revision as new facts come to light. This shows the provisional nature of scientific knowledge, McGrath said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the sciences are inferential in their methodology and hence provisional in their conclusions, how can Dawkins present atheism as the certain outcome of the scientific project?\u201d McGrath asked.<\/p>\n
To Dawkins, belief in God is a projection of human longings and a type of wish-fulfillment, McGrath said. Such an argument works against atheism as well, he added, since an atheist wishes there is no God and therefore believes there is no God.<\/p>\n
Dawkins concludes that belief in God is caused by \u201ca virus of the mind,\u201d McGrath said. With no observational evidence for mind viruses, McGrath countered that atheism also could be attributed to a virus of the mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cDawkins ends up making the totally subjective, unscientific argument that his own beliefs are not viruses, but those he dislikes are,\u201d McGrath said.<\/p>\n
Rather than the puny, medieval universe Dawkins claims Christians embrace, McGrath said Christians see a majestic creation pointing to a majestic Creator. Christians can appreciate both the beauty of the earth and the mathematical models that describe it, McGrath said.<\/p>\n
As a native of Northern Ireland, McGrath acknowledged the violence carried out in God\u2019s name but also pointed to the crimes against humanity committed by the atheist Joseph Stalin. Violence is not a religious issue but a human nature issue and shows the need for redemption and transformation, McGrath said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Christians, we can respond with confidence to THE GOD DELUSION that Dawkins\u2019 arguments are weak, unsupported by evidence, and tell us more about the condition of present-day atheism than about faith in God,\u201d McGrath said.<\/p>\n
*<\/p>\n
[Original illustration at this number was moved to HolwickID #26625]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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