As a young boy, I remember spending time, in the local museum of my home town, looking at the evidence for the theory of evolution. There’s no doubt about it, I spent a lot of time just understanding the proposition and reading the arguments both ways. Eventually, I concluded that evolution is God’s creative process.
The reasons that I believe in the existence of God do not translate well into any kind of logical discussion and I certainly do believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinion on the matter.
However, from a very early age, it is true that I was fascinated with the really big questions. Questions such as these have always interested me:
- Why are we here?
- How did the universe begin?
- Does life have a meaning?
- Are we alone in the universe?
It appears that these questions have also fascinated people such as Richard Dawkins. He has clearly weighed the arguments, considered the evidence and exercised his grey matter before reaching his conclusions.
It seems that my recent posts about Richard Dawkins have provoked some reaction. In response to my recent post The Trouble with Christians, I received the following comment from a reader and, again I have decided to answer it here in open forum (thanks for your question Ken):
I’ve come in late to this particular discussion, but now I’ve read the whole set of posts and …. jeez, it seems to me you would be better using your thought-time to really figure out, once and for all how many angels really can dance on the head of a pin … (we won’t get into a discussion about that trivial question and if it has any relevance to philosophy). But really – was there a big bang? if so, before it was … nothing? And so what is nothing exactly? It’s not even conceivable is it? And why talk about it anyway?
Dawkins is right? or wrong? and so? I believe in some sort of universal energy or mind or …. some would call it God … and he doesn’t and … so? We live our lives and while I think philosophy is important and useful and relevant, I think arguments about the beginning of the universe are pretty irrelevant when I want to know how to live my life.
Your pages are amazing and useful and thoughtful but doesn’t it seem to be a wasteful use of time to try and refute Dawkins when at the end, I believe and he doesn’t?
So, I guess we should deal with he the angels question first (very nice reference too). I really like the answer that “it depends on the pin and the dance.”
Now, to the real meat of your question. A straight answer is that yes I do think it is important to address the big questions in life. however, in so doing, I believe that we need to recognise that none of us really know the answers and so it is therefore important to respect the opinions of others.
In the case of The God Delusion, a major work by an eminent scholar, here we have a book that purports to disprove the existence of God. Now, if you were going to ask someone why they are wasting their time, perhaps you might like to write to Richard Dawkins because it is very foolish of him to try to argue this from the stance of logic.
My original posts on the subject of his book were simply made because it happened to be the book I was reading at the time and I was reading it because I was interested in what he might have to say on the subject. As for the use of my ‘thought-time’ I usually do give a reasonable amount of time to think about what I am reading.
As it happens, the logic of his central argument turns out to be faulty. As I have already said, that was a huge disappointment to me because I was simply expecting a lot more from him. In my analysis, as with everything I write, I don’t expect it to be useful to everyone, but my hope is that it will prove helpful for some.
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Thank you so much for your response, Will. I’m happy that you intend to read the Koran! I have found it very helpful. I have learnt things from the Muslim religion that i have’nt from any other and am very much inclined to it. It also teaches a person how to live their day to day lives and emphasises much on cleanliness, treating all humans and animals with kindness etc. It even commands its followers to treat a dead body with respect! So those Muslims that have no respect for living beings and commit atrocities are not following the religion they claim to.
Hope you study it and good luck to you.
Hi Ash
In my personal development workshops, I have met a number of Muslims who have said that the principles we teach to management groups are to be found in the teachings of Islam. It doesn’t surprise me. Stephen Covey himself, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, said that the principles of the 7 Habits can be found in all major world religions.
Oh, and, by the way, I fully intend to read the Koran.
Will
Geoff, those that have commited atrocities may believe in a god but they do not follow the Faith that they claim to follow. For example the muslim Faith does not tolerate atrocities yet many muslims don’t follow the requirements of their faith and does what they feel like and claim that they doing it in the name of God. I have studied that Faith and have found it to be a Faith of Peace. I recommend you study it and see for yourself. It also answers all the ‘big’ questions like ‘why are we here’ etc. God created us for a purpose and its up to you to find out what that purpose is. God has not created us to live a meaningless life. Also good and moral living has to have a religious wrappping, or else we tend to do all the bad if we do not follow a Faith.
You say that “…goes to great lengths to disprove the existence of God using faulty logic”. Does that mean you believe that if he used non-faulty logic he would have proven that God does not exist?
And what if he did prove that God does not exist? Why should that make any difference to how you or anyone else lives? We have seen that people that believe in a god have committed great atrocities and vice versa.
I simply don’t understand why a belief in a god and how one lives a good and moral life are interconnected. I support you or anyone promoting good and moral living but you don’t need to complicate it with a religious wrapping.
I would like to tell you that i have been studying the religion of the last Prophet Muhammad and i can say it really tells us why we are here and all the ‘big’ questions that you say ‘none of us really know’. So if you would like to know more i suggest you take a study on Islam. I really found it helpful.
Kens states: But really – was there a big bang? if so, before it was … nothing? And so what is nothing exactly? It’s not even conceivable is it? And why talk about it anyway?
The ‘Problem of Nothingness’ (or coyly referred to by a professor I once had - ‘The Problem of Naught-iness’ - is a question eminent philosophers have talked about at great length for many centuries.
Why talk about it?
Why talk about anything, for that matter?
For me, my understanding of the difficulties inherent in the concept of nothingness helps form my opinions, world view and understanding of the concept of ‘somethingness’.
And that understanding influences the choices and decisions I make about what I choose to believe, or not believe, and subsequently, how I live my life.
No one can prove, or disprove the existence of God, logically or otherwise. At least not in this life
I agree with Will when he states: …I believe that we need to recognize that none of us really know the answers and so it is therefore important to respect the opinions of others.
Each of us is free to choose what we want to believe, or not.
However, I concede that it is a bit disappointing when someone goes to great lengths to disprove the existence of God using faulty logic!