“We are privileged to be alive and we ought to make the most of being alive” is a quote from Richard Dawkins. Few would want to quarrel with this conclusion but many would want to take issue with his full frontal attack on religion in general and the Christian faith in particular.
Since Dawkins is a highly qualified scientist, it is surprising how unscientific an approach he takes to the whole question of God and His place in our lives.
It is patently obvious that not all religions are the same. One has only to compare the teaching and lives of their founders and the general impact of that teaching and example to see that this is true. When Dawkins compares a terrorist with a bomb strapped to his back and a pilgrim seeking healing he has departed from a scientific model of research. One can compare Commodores and Falcons but not Commodores and fences.
When Dawkins extracts selective teaching from the Bible he once again fails the scientific test. Whilst he does rightly expose the conclusions of some Christians who base their actions upon some selected Old Testament texts and examples, he does not enquire from mainline Christian scholars why Christians in general do not build their lives on Old Testament laws. Had he enquired he would have discovered a long tradition of Biblical interpretation that is based upon well established scientific method. These include original texts that are well settled, the interpretation of scripture by scripture and the fulfillment of the Old in the New Testament.
Whilst orthodox Christians still stand for marriage as the only and proper context for sexual expression, and for the worship of one God through the Lord Jesus in Spirit and truth rather than idolatry, we know that the Old Testament death penalties are no longer given (thankfully) to God’s people to execute but are to be left to God. The Christian’s role is to model God’s ways and to make known both the graceful pardon and needed strength that God will give to all who would call upon Christ.
The very basis of the Christian faith and what marks it out from all others is the historically attested resurrection of Jesus from the dead. In his desire to disbelieve Dawkins overlooks this.
In a study done by the eminent American Psychologist Martin Seligman, it was discovered that faith not only offers a buffer to depression (that is a positive habits that lead to happiness). He also discovered that the consistently happiest group of people in USA are conservative Christians. One would have thought that Dawkins would have at least taken this scientific research into account before he unleashed his blanket condemnation of Christian faith.
Prof. Terry Eagleton from Manchester University in the London Review of Books said, “imagine someone holding forth in 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.”
Theology encourages the scientific enterprise like nothing else since God has endowed us with enquiring minds and a whole world to discover. God’s Biblical revelation of Himself will help us rejoice in our role as stewards of God’s creation who are invited to enjoy relationship with Him through His Son.