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The Dawkins Letters: challenging atheist mythsThis is an edited version of the first of ten letters dealing with the various atheist ‘myths’ which Richard Dawkins perpetuates in his book The God Delusion. This letter was published on the Dawkins website and got a substantial response. The Dawkins Letters: Challenging Atheist Myths is published by Christian Focus Publications at £4.99. Dear Dr. Dawkins,I hope you will forgive me writing to you, but I have just finished reading your book and it was very frustrating. There was so much in it that I could identify with and yet so much that was to my mind simply wrong. You argue that those who share your views have been raised to a greater level of consciousness. You write to make atheists ‘loud and proud’ that they have had their consciousness raised, whilst also seeking to raise the consciousness of those of us who have been left behind. I think your notion that atheists are those who have had their consciousness raised and that they are de facto more intelligent, rational and honest than other human beings is a myth on a par with the Emperor’s New Clothes. Top intellectualWell, I have read your book. I did expect to be challenged. You are, after all, one of the world’s ‘top three intellectuals’ (as the book jacket reminds us). Of course, The God Delusion was well written, very entertaining and passionate. But at an intellectual and logical level it really misses the mark. Most of the arguments are of sixth form schoolboy variety and shot through with a passionate anti-religious vehemence. What is disturbing is that your fundamentalist atheism will actually be taken seriously by some and will be used to reinforce their already prejudged anti-religion and anti-Christian stance. Your ‘arguments’ will be repeated ad nauseam in newspaper letters, columns, opinion pages, pubs and dinner tables throughout the land. You will forgive me saying this, but it seems remarkably similar to the kind of thing that ‘intellectuals’ were putting out in 1930s Germany about the Jews and Judaism. Just as they claimed the Jews were responsible for all the ills in Weimar Germany, so, according to your book, religious people are responsible for the majority of ills in today’s society. ImagineAlong with John Lennon you want us to ‘imagine’ a world with no religion and no God. A world that you claim would have no suicide bombers (despite the fact that the most suicide attacks have been by the secular Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers), no crusades, no 9/11, no Israeli/Palestinian wars, etc. By the way, John Lennon was one of my heroes and I loved ‘Imagine’. Then I grew up and realised that it took a great deal of imagination to take seriously a song which spoke of imagining a world ‘with no possessions too’, written by a man who lived in a mansion and had an abundance of possessions, whilst there were millions dying from lack of resources. It seems to me that your vision/imagination is almost as unrealistic as Lennon’s. I want to write a letter in response to each of your chapters. As you correctly point out each of them deals with issues that are fundamental to our existence, meaning and wellbeing as humans. But let me finish off this first letter by looking at a couple of other things you state in your own introduction. Wanting out?You claim that your book is for those who have been brought up in a particular religious faith and now either no longer believe it, or are unhappy in it and want out. You want to raise the consciousness of such people to the extent that they can realise that they can get out. Do most people not already know that it is perfectly possible to leave a religion and not suffer any significant consequences? Of course, if you are in an Islamic society, that is not true (but your book is not really directed at Islam) and I realise that for some in the US admitting you are an atheist is political suicide, but overall most people are free to change their beliefs. I was brought up in a religious home and knew from a very young age that not only was it possible to leave, but that for many people it would be considered normal. I fought my own battles so that I could be free to think for myself. But it was not just, nor even primarily, against the religious teachings of my parents or others (and I did fight against them), but also the patronising expectations of teachers, media and others who just assumed that the only reason anyone would be religious was because of parental influence, brainwashing and a weak mind. You know the real relief came when I realised I could be a Christian and think for myself and seek to make a difference in the world; and that I did not have to buy into all the quirks and cultural nuances of religious groups, nor the fundamentalism of the secularists who just knew that they were right. Pre-suppositionsOf course there are those who belong to cults that exercise a form of mind control tantamount to brainwashing, but surely even you would not argue that every religious person is in that category? You seem to think that anyone who is religious is actually at a lower level of consciousness and needs to be set free by becoming an atheist. Of course you offer no empirical evidence for this. Like much of the book, it is a presupposition (even a prejudice) that does not appear to be founded on anything other than that you would like it to be so. Have you ever thought that there might be many others who are in the opposite position — brought up in an atheistic secular society and discovering that they can actually believe in God? Would you give them the freedom to do so? What would you do if your daughter turned out to be a Bible-believing Christian? Would you disown her? Would you even allow her that choice? Or have you done your best to inoculate her against the virus of religion? I remember one young man, highly intelligent, who came to a Christianity Explored group. When he was asked his religious position he said, ‘I’m an atheist, but I’m beginning to have my doubts’. I laughed. A backslidden atheist! I thought that was quite neat. Maybe there are a lot more of them than you think. You ought to be careful about the raising of consciousness — maybe people will become tired of your modernist certainties and instead find refuge in the clear fresh air of Jesus Christ! No replyYou were given the immense privilege of having editorial control of your own TV series ‘The Root of all Evil’. Can you tell me when an evangelical Christian was last given the opportunity by a national TV channel to produce a film demonstrating the evils of atheism? Do you not think that in an open and democratic society when you are allowed to make a ‘documentary’ attacking whole groups of people that they should at least be allowed some right of reply? Of course, that is not going to happen, because, as you well know, those who are primarily in charge of our media outlets are those who share many of your presuppositions and prefer to make programmes which present Christians as either weak, ineffective Anglican vicars or tub-thumping American Right Wing Evangelists who want to hang gays. It is propaganda — not truth, not reason, not debate and most certainly not fair. DesperateYour book comes across as a desperate attempt to shore up atheism’s crumbling defences. Ironically it reminds me of some in the Church who, faced with what seem to be overwhelming odds and staring defeat in the face, issue evangelistic tracts, articles and books which are designed to shore up the faith of the faithful rather than being aimed at the conversion of unbelievers. The God Delusion fits nicely into that category. I am sure you will delight your disciples, establishing what they already believe, but I very much doubt you will make any impact on others who are less fixed in their opinions and who really are seekers after truth. What I do appreciate is that, unlike the irrational and the lazy who want to deny its existence, you admit that there is such a thing as truth. You may laugh at the idea that the truth is ultimately found in Jesus Christ. But I remain an optimist. I believe not only in truth but also in the power of God and his Holy Spirit to bring enlightenment to even the darkest mind. So there is still hope for us both. Yours, etc.
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