	Blind Faith?
	When I have gone into bookshops over the last couple of years, I have been struck by the popularity of books by Richard Dawkins. I understand that his books about science, in particular such books as The Selfish Gene, are brilliant explanations of how new understandings of science develop our view of the world. However, Dawkins is a committed atheist, one might say an aggressive atheist. He has gone out of his way to try and show that belief in God is only for the weak-minded. Whereas many of his fellow scientists are agnostic (they cannot say for certain whether they believe in God) or are believers in God, Dawkins has no doubts. As far as he is concerned, God simply does not exist. This matters to us who do believe in God because Dawkins is a persuasive communicator. Many people might simply conclude that what he is says is obvious and true, because they have not considered the other side of the argument. Those people might be our relatives, our friends, or our work colleagues. The first thing to say about Richard Dawkins expressing his views about God is that he has very little understanding of what Christians really believe. One Christian writer, Terry Eagleton, has said this about Dawkins: Imagine someone holding forth on biology whose only knowledge of the subject is “The British Book of Birds”, and you have a rough idea of what it feels like to read Richard Dawkins on theology. Over scientific questions Dawkins keeps an open mind, weighing the evidence and coming to conclusions based on that evidence. As far as people’s belief in God is concerned, he has made up his mind on the basis of very flimsy evidence, and seeks to back up his point of view with attack after attack on religious belief as he understands it. It has been said that he sets up straw men, only to bowl them over. A good example of this is that he assumes that those of us who believe in God have blind faith. I believe that my faith is very reasonable. It makes sense to me to believe that there is a God who has brought our wonderful universe into being. That seems to me to make more sense than that the whole business should have resulted from a pure accident.	I recently read a book by Alister McGrath. He studied science at Oxford at about the same time as Richard Dawkins, obtained similar academic distinction to Dawkins, and respects Dawkins’ scientific views. For a time McGrath too was an atheist; but then he began to take a very different path. He became a believer and was ordained into the Church of England. He became principal of Wycliffe Hall in Oxford, where men and women are trained for the Anglican ordained ministry. I recommend McGrath’s book, Dawkins’ God: Genes, Memes and the Meaning of Life. It is like a breath of fresh air, and comes from someone who knows what he is talking about. As Francis Collins, the Director of The Human Genome Project says, McGrath challenges Dawkins on the very ground he holds most sacred – rational argument - and disarms the master. Many of Dawkins’ arguments about religion are shown to be very flimsy. There are a great many things we do not understand in this life. Scientists like Dawkins seem to be saying, We may not understand now, but one day we will. I applaud the sentiment behind that. That kind of view has helped us to discover things that we might never have dreamt of discovering a few years ago. But McGrath makes the point that as science gets more advanced, it becomes more complicated. It is simply not possible for human beings to understand everything about the universe. Some things remain mysteries, but will become clear to us in the life to come. That is what I understand when I read Jesus’ words in Luke 12:2, There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. If we want our point of view as Christian believers to be taken seriously, we need to try to make sense of what we believe. We need to show clearly that ours is not simply blind faith. That seems to me to be an exciting and worthwhile pursuit. It helps to develop our faith, and it helps us to be confident that our outlook as Christians is just as reasonable as those who deny the existence of God. Just because atheists make a lot of noise does not mean to say that they are right! In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. (1 Peter 3:15) Martin Collins
	Norbury Parish Church, Hazel Grove, Stockport, Cheshire. Telephone: 0161-483 6325

Blind Faith?

When I have gone into bookshops over the last couple of years, I have been struck by the popularity of books by Richard Dawkins. I understand that his books about science, in particular such books as The Selfish Gene, are brilliant explanations of how new understandings of science develop our view of the world.

However, Dawkins is a committed atheist, one might say an aggressive atheist. He has gone out of his way to try and show that belief in God is only for the weak-minded. Whereas many of his fellow scientists are agnostic (they cannot say for certain whether they believe in God) or are believers in God, Dawkins has no doubts. As far as he is concerned, God simply does not exist.

This matters to us who do believe in God because Dawkins is a persuasive communicator. Many people might simply conclude that what he is says is obvious and true, because they have not considered the other side of the argument. Those people might be our relatives, our friends, or our work colleagues.

The first thing to say about Richard Dawkins expressing his views about God is that he has very little understanding of what Christians really believe. One Christian writer, Terry Eagleton, has said this about Dawkins: Imagine someone holding forth on biology whose only knowledge of the subject is “The British Book of Birds”, and you have a rough idea of what it feels like to read Richard Dawkins on theology.

Over scientific questions Dawkins keeps an open mind, weighing the evidence and coming to conclusions based on that evidence. As far as people’s belief in God is concerned, he has made up his mind on the basis of very flimsy evidence, and seeks to back up his point of view with attack after attack on religious belief as he understands it.

It has been said that he sets up straw men, only to bowl them over. A good example of this is that he assumes that those of us who believe in God have blind faith. I believe that my faith is very reasonable. It makes sense to me to believe that there is a God who has brought our wonderful universe into being. That seems to me to make more sense than that the whole business should have resulted from a pure accident.

I recently read a book by Alister McGrath. He studied science at Oxford at about the same time as Richard Dawkins, obtained similar academic distinction to Dawkins, and respects Dawkins’ scientific views. For a time McGrath too was an atheist; but then he began to take a very different path. He became a believer and was ordained into the Church of England. He became principal of Wycliffe Hall in Oxford, where men and women are trained for the Anglican ordained ministry.

I recommend McGrath’s book, Dawkins’ God: Genes, Memes and the Meaning of Life. It is like a breath of fresh air, and comes from someone who knows what he is talking about. As Francis Collins, the Director of The Human Genome Project says, McGrath challenges Dawkins on the very ground he holds most sacred – rational argument - and disarms the master. Many of Dawkins’ arguments about religion are shown to be very flimsy.

There are a great many things we do not understand in this life. Scientists like Dawkins seem to be saying, We may not understand now, but one day we will. I applaud the sentiment behind that. That kind of view has helped us to discover things that we might never have dreamt of discovering a few years ago. But McGrath makes the point that as science gets more advanced, it becomes more complicated. It is simply not possible for human beings to understand everything about the universe. Some things remain mysteries, but will become clear to us in the life to come. That is what I understand when I read Jesus’ words in Luke 12:2, There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.

If we want our point of view as Christian believers to be taken seriously, we need to try to make sense of what we believe. We need to show clearly that ours is not simply blind faith. That seems to me to be an exciting and worthwhile pursuit. It helps to develop our faith, and it helps us to be confident that our outlook as Christians is just as reasonable as those who deny the existence of God. Just because atheists make a lot of noise does not mean to say that they are right!

In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. (1 Peter 3:15)

Martin Collins

Blind Faith?

Norbury Parish Church, Hazel Grove, Stockport, Cheshire. Telephone: 0161-483 6325