This was the debate I went to at Wellington College a few days ago. I wanted to take my teenage son to hear Richard Dawkins speak because he’s meant to be reading some of his books for Biology A level – namely “The Selfish Gene” and “The Ancestor’s Tale” and I thought it might bring it all a bit more to life if he could relate to the author. Richard Dawkins is widely acclaimed for his views. He is one of the world’s best known atheists and “has established himself as a biological guru”. His most recent publication “The God Delusion” in which he claims that there is “probably no god” in manner of proper scientist has become an international bestseller.
For the motion was Richard Harries, former Bishop of Oxford and Charles Moore who was editor of the Daily Telegraph and currently Group Consulting Editor and columnist. Against the motion was Richard Dawkins and Anthony Grayling, Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College and a Humanist.
It was a fascinating debate. Richard Dawkins and Anthony Grayling were arguing that atheism has not become the new fundamentalism, even if it is the topic of the millenium. They believe that in order to be a fundamentalist you have to have a blind obedience to a holy book, whereas there is no book for atheists, only evidence.
As scientists they could not accept that religion forces you to believe in a “truth” and a faith without questioning it instead of understanding that truth should be rational and based on evidence. Richard Dawkins argued that although religion is not necessarily associated with violence, there is always a logical pathway that can be traced back to it which cannot be found within atheism. They came out with the following quote to sum this up, which received the loudest cheer of the evening:-
“Science flies you to the moon, religion flies you into buildings”.
Another point Richard Dawkins made was that if it was anything else he was criticising there wouldn’t be such a furore. But with religion it is different – you are not allowed to criticise religion because it is seen as somehow bad manners to attack blind faith rather than reasonable honest clarity of expression to speak your mind.
It must be virtually impossible to argue against logic and freedom of thought. The two religious speakers came across as defensive and bigoted. It’s not easy to persuade a large audience to change their mind in a two hour time frame although the numbers of people who voted against the motion rose when votes were taken again at the end of the discussion (although several people in our party voted “For” and changed to “Against” simply because they hadn’t understood the question at the beginning).
So in conclusion well over two thirds of the audience disagreed that atheism had become the new fundamentalism.
December 3rd, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Have you read the God Delusion? It’s a fascinating book and well thought out, although RD can become a bit overwhelming at times! Its a good read and helped me clarify why I, as a scientist, find it very hard to believe in the existence of a higher deity.
December 3rd, 2009 at 3:51 pm
No but I’d like to – yes, he’s supposed to make all this stuff more accessible to “normal people” but I still struggle with his language – he’s just way too clever for me Lx
December 3rd, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Cor – that would have been a completely different debate over here. In fact, Hawkins hasn’t made quite the same impact at all. I quite often find myself almost apologising because I don’t go to church. The funny thing is that the same people who are very religious and believe that you should “just have faith” poo poo the theories behind astrology, faith healing, psychic abilities etc, and don’t see the irony.
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May 13th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
It’s my own photo that a web guy coloured for me Lx