Darwin and a Godless Universe

If any one theory can be said to have converted the Western world to atheism, it is Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.  The noted American sceptic Robert Ingersoll (1833-99) declared:-

This century will be called Darwin’s century.  He was one of the greatest men who ever touched the globe.  He has explained more of the phenomena of life that all of the religious teachers.  Write the name of Charles Darwin on the one hand and the name of every theologian who ever lived on the other, and from that name has come more light to the world than from all of those.  His doctrine of evolution, his doctrine of the survival of the fittest, his doctrine of the origin of species, has removed in every thinking mind the last vestige of orthodox Christianity.

But it is not at all clear that Darwinism does necessarily lead to atheism.  It is possible to conceive of a ‘God’ so remote from the affairs of this world that Darwin’s theory would have no bearing on his (or its) existence.  Aristotle and Plato may have believed in the existence of such a God.

Craig, Strobel, Wilson, Denison, and Hitchens debate God’s Existence

You’ve got to hand it to Christopher Hitchens.  Such is his self-confidence, and perhaps his disdain for the ‘opposition’, that he is prepared to take on all-comers when it comes to debating religion.  Oh, and it must help his book to sell as well.

In March of this year Hitchens took on not one, not two, not even three, but FOUR Christian apologists at the same time.  Of course, he comes out fighting, and if he was feeling a little bruised by the end he is too wily a campaigner to let it show.

Actually, I found this debate one of the more interesting that I have come across.  Hitchens seemed reasonably sober, and at times was almost charming.  The Christians were unfailingly courteous towards him, and he seemed genuinely touched by that.  (Even evangelicals have manners.  Sometimes.)  There were some nice touches of humour on both sides (like when someone referred to Hitchens being thrown into a den of lambs.  Hitchens had a quip of his own in reply to that).

There’s probably no bus…

Noel Ford’s cartoon accompanies a story about the atheist bus advert in the Church Times.

It doesn’t need any comment from me.

Suffering and the Existence of a God of Love

John Blanchard discussed this in his book Does God Believe in Atheists?  The argument against the existence of an all-loving, all-powerful God may be summarised as follows:-

1. Evil and suffering exist
2. If God were all-loving, he would wish to prevent evil and suffering
3. If God were omnipotent, he would be able to prevent evil and suffering
4. Evil and suffering are not prevented. Therefore, there is no such thing as an all-loving, all-powerful God

Science: the last nail in God’s coffin?

‘Humanity should accept that science has eliminated the justification for believing in cosmic purpose, and that any survival of purpose is inspired only by sentiment.’ (Peter Atkins, Oxford Chemistry Professor)

‘It is fashionable to wax apocolyptic about the threat posed by the AIDS virus, “mad cow” disease and many others, but I think that a case can be made that faith is one of the world’s great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate.  Faith, being belief that isn’t based on evidence, is the principal vice of any religion.’ (Richard Dawkins)

An Atheist Finds God

What a relief it was to become an atheist.

I had become worn out and frustrated by my fruitless search for God.

I had studied holy writings from three different continents. No God there.

I had tried prayer and “positive thinking” as if they were the same thing.

I had wrestled with the problems of theodicy without even knowing that the word existed.

I felt that I had sought God everywhere – in the cosmos, in my neurones, in my bank account.

Everywhere. Or so I thought.

Then I read The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins. What an immense relief it was to discover that my search for God and Meaning was bound to be frustrating and disappointing; it could only lead me up blind alleys, because God simply didn’t exist.

How obvious.

Evolution explained everything.

The notion of God (the supreme alpha-male) was a side-effect of the evolution of the human brain. Attributing “agency” was an effective survival strategy.

The God that you attributed agency to was uniquely dependent on the culture into which you had been born.

Religion was an exercise in social manipulation and power.

Believing information received from non-verifiable sources (revelation) opened the door to all kinds of horrendous excesses, from Inquisitions and witch-burning to flying planes into towers and fathers committing “honour killings” and a president lying in order to bomb and massacre innocent
people in Iraq.

Man had invented God in his own image.

God was the ultimate comfort blanket.

Science was leaving no space for the “God of the gaps”.

Talk of Eternal Life was in fact just a morbid obsession with death.

Even monkeys had invented The Golden Rule.

Science and Reason alone revealed Truth.

An “Omnipotent God” was an impossible notion anyway.

Religion was “the opium of the people.”

Love, self-sacrifice and charity were just the misfiring of evolutionarily selected survival mechanisms.

Everything could be explained.

There was just simply no need for the God delusion anymore. 

Is Richard Dawkins Still Evolving?

Last Tuesday, 21st October, a debate was held between Professor Richard Dawkins and Dr John Lennox in Oxford’s Natural History Museum.

An earlier debate between the two of them can be downloaded here, and a talk by Lennox can be downloaded here.

The subject of the recent debate was Has Science Buried God? – echoing the title of a recent book by Lennox.

“There’s Probably No God…”

“…now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”

According to BBC news, bendy-buses with this slogan could soon be running on the streets of London.

‘The atheist posters are the idea of the British Humanist Association (BHA) and have been supported by prominent atheist Professor Richard Dawkins.’  In Dawkins’ (humble) opinion, ‘this campaign to put alternative slogans on London buses will make people think – and thinking is anathema to religion.’

God, Evolution, and Charles Darwin

Next year sees a major Charles Darwin anniversary: 200 years since his birth, and 150 years since the publication of On the Origin of the Species.

Darwin’s religious views were (or became) those of a muddled agnostic.  In a recent article in Times Online, Nick Spencer offers Ten Surprising Things Darwin Said About Religious Faith:-

Has science got rid of God?

This is the title of a book by John Blanchard, published in 2004 by Evangelical Press.  In one chapter of the book, Blanchard confronts the frequently-expressed view that science has rendered religion in general, and Christianity in particular, redundant as a means of explaining the world.

Top Audio Downloads on Atheism and Christian Faith

Here are some of the mp3s that I have found helpful on the atheism/Christian faith debate. 

• Francis Collins – “The Language of God”.  Point of Enquiry’s website is committed to a sceptical approach to all things religious, but here offers a thoughtful interview with Collins, former Director of the Human Genome Project and a Christian believer.
• Richard Dawkins – “Science and the New Atheism” (Point of Enquiry)
• John Lennox – “God and Richard Dawkins”.  ‘Bethinking’, an excellent Christian apologetics website, hosts this engaging lecture.
• Alister McGrath – “Has Science Eliminated God?”.   Helpful lecture from McGrath.
• Alister McGrath – “Is God a Delusion?  Atheism and the Meaning of Life”.  Alister McGrath is well clued-up on Dawkins, and provides a balanced assessment.
• Dawkins/Quinn debate
• Dawkins/McGrath debate
• Hitchens/McGrath debate – Christopher Hitchens is too nasty, and Alister McGrath too nice, for this debate to work very well.  But worth a listen.
• Hitchens/D’Souza debate – Dinesh D’Souza a capable Catholic apologist, and matches Hitchen’s pugilistic style quite effectively.
• Joanna Collicutt McGrath – joins the Godpod team to discuss Dawkins’ The God Delusion, among other things.
• David Robertson - discusses his book ‘The Dawkins Letters’ in which he gives a robust rebuttal to Dawkins’ arguments for atheism in ’The God Delusion’.

Dawkin’s God

I’m not particularly interested in points-scoring in debate.  Intelligent discussion is not really advanced by searching through the utterances of an opponent until you can trip them up over something that may have slipped out in an unguarded moment.

Nevertheless, I would like to draw attention to a fascinating exchange between the well-known scientist and atheist Profession Dawkins and Dr Francis Collins (former director of the Human Genome Project and a Christian).

The debate is summarised in Time magazine and the relevant bit is found here.  Dawkins was asserting that we are ‘profoundly ignorant’ about questions such as, “Why am I here?”, and “What happens after we die?”

Interviewer: “Could the answer be God?”

Dawkins: “There could be something incredibly grand and incomprehensible and beyond our present understanding.”

Collins: “That’s God.”