Note: I am painting with a very broad and I hope fun and simultaneously enlightening brush here (I'm attempting to highlight some of Dawkins' positions in a revealing and funny way; I know he would try to wiggle out of those statements but they're all out there). Dawkins, known as the world's most famous atheist, may be inadvertently, walking down the same trail that led the world's most notorious atheist, Flew, to belief (
get his book, There is a God, here). He would do well to heed C.S. Lewis' advice, "A young man who wishes to remain a sound Atheist cannot be too careful of his reading. There are traps everywhere--'Bibles laid open, millions of surprises,' as Herbert says, 'fine nets and stratagems.' God is, if I may say it, very unscrupulous." Dawkins berates agnostics describing the poverty of agnosticism (in the God Delusion) and now reluctantly agrees he is one (
get that story here). At least, as did Bertrand Russell, he realizes the ignorance of true atheism. Remember Dawkins' interesting "endorsement" of Inteligent Design (
see it here). I agree with him about the poverty of agnosticism and prefer the rich history of intellectually solid Christian theism over the
ignorance of atheism (not to mention the joy of being God's children and co-heirs with Christ,
Rom.8:17).
I know it is an oversimplification, but just for fun, he claims to be an atheist then concedes that's not logically sustainable, criticizes agnostics but admits to being one and lambasts proponents of intelligent design, while admitting, there's reason to believe in ID, as long as you keep those beliefs within the context of the atheism he previously admitted comes up short. Brilliant!!! No wonder he is still too scared to debate William Lane Craig (maybe he is aware of C.S. Lewis' advice after all) so who knows if he'll be honest enough to approach this issue with integrity and humility any time soon. On a side note, he says he won't debate Craig because Craig is "an apologist for genocide" (
get that excuse here). Nothing like a good old fashioned ad hominem attack to wiggle out of a debate you can't win (against one of the most caring and loving proponents of intellect and altruism you'll ever encounter). Interestingly, Dawkins forgets his own worldview can't explain why genocide would even be wrong (for example: Atheists reject anything outside naturalism, naturalism cannot account for objective morality, atheists, therefore reject any notion of objective morality and I guess you could make the argument that a true atheist can not be moral, only one that rejects total devotion to naturalism could). He also forgets Hitler loved "On the Origin of Species" (Remember its original title "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of
Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life" - yes, Darwin condoned racism). Stalin, Mao, Hitler and friends were all ideologically in Dawkins' camp and he has no trouble "sharing a chair" on the platform of secular humanism with those "Apologists of Genocide."
On a side note, Dawkins tries, unsuccessfully, to make the case that the small number of Christians in the scientific community is evidence that faith is irrational. That's kind of like saying the small number of Christians in Iran makes Christianity false (interestingly, there are about 1 million Christians in Iran, pray for Youcef Nadarkhani who has been condemned to die for his faith). The reality is that the Fatwa of Naturalism rules the land of academia and anyone who dares challenge the status quo will be banished. That doesn't tell us anything about the validity of theism, only about the insanity of discrimination (having a Chemistry degree I know first hand).
Again, at least Dawkins realizes (unlike many unfortunately) that atheism is logically unsustainable. When I brought that up with my atheist friends they would claim they were philosophical agnostics but practicing atheists (I assume Dawkins might agree). I can't help but see how living your life according to a logically unsustainable position fails to make your position any stronger. Please do keep praying for him, because contrary to Dawkins' skeptic faith, prayer is powerful.
Remember these points for sharing true hope with your atheist friends. Also, since Dawkins refuses to debate Craig (
sign the petition urging him to here)
you should check out some of Craig's stuff here. You can also
read the entire first chapter of Craig's Contending with Christianity's Critics, The Dawkins Delusion here, just click look inside (you should definitely buy and read the book too). Dawkins' fear of Craig should clue you into the value of Craig's work a bit (check out the video below for a funny spoof on this).
