The God Delusion and Alister E McGrath

[Ahimsa]

Stephen Crittenden: Welcome to the program.
Today we revisit Richard Dawkins’ runaway bestseller The God Delusion.

Richard Dawkins: I believe that the question of the existence of God or Gods, supernatural beings, is a scientific question, whereas other scientists will say it’s nothing to do with science, science and religion occupy two quite separate majesteria and don’t overlap. I think they do overlap, I think they both attempt to answer the same kinds of questions. The difference is that religion gets the answers wrong.

Stephen Crittenden: Richard Dawkins, the author of The God Delusion, recorded during a debate at Oxford University hosted by Ravi Zacharaias Ministries.

‘Imagine someone holding forth on biology whose only knowledge of the subject is the Book of British Birds, and you have a rough idea of what it feels like to read Richard Dawkins on Theology’. That’s Terry Eagleton in his savage review in the TLS.

Well today we meet another of Dawkins’ most articulate critics, Alister E. McGrath, Professor of Historical Theology at Oxford University, a former atheist who studied biochemistry and physics before coming to Christianity. He’s the author of many books including two on Dawkins, one, The Dawkins Delusion - Atheist fundamentalism and the denial of the divine. He’s just been in Australia, helping Evangelicals brush up on their anti Dawkins apologetics, and I began by asking him why he thinks there’s been such a rash of neo-atheist bestsellers lately.

 

[utunumsint]

Thanks for the post Ahimsa.

What are your thoughts on it?

God bless,
Ut

 

[rwoehmke]

In my opinion because they are scared stiff as are many of their readers/proponents because religion and particularly Christianity is winning the arguement. See the following web site for some very interesting statistics.

catholiceducation.org/articles/persecution/pch0158.htm

Dawkins trying to write theology is like me trying to be a great theologian. I am a physical science doctor and I dabble.

 

[Malcolm_McLean]

In my opinion because they are scared stiff as are many of their readers/proponents because religion and particularly Christianity is winning the arguement. See the following web site for some very interesting statistics.

catholiceducation.org/articles/persecution/pch0158.htm

Dawkins trying to write theology is like me trying to be a great theologian. I am a physical science doctor and I dabble.

Argumentum ad numerum.

The poor and ignorant reject atheism for a very obvious reason. If you are no good at science then science-based atheism of the Dawkins sort isn’t very attractive. If you don’t admit you are no good at science you go for the pseudoscience of health quacks and pop psychology. If you do then a traditional religion is more attractive.

This has got absolutely nothing to do with whether Dawkins is right or not.

 

[utunumsint]

In my opinion because they are scared stiff as are many of their readers/proponents because religion and particularly Christianity is winning the arguement. See the following web site for some very interesting statistics.

catholiceducation.org/articles/persecution/pch0158.htm

Dawkins trying to write theology is like me trying to be a great theologian. I am a physical science doctor and I dabble.

Thanks for this link. I watched the video at the bottom of the page. I thought Hitchen’s hatred for Christianity disturbing. He doesn’t simply reject Christianity, he loaths it, and you can hear this in every word he says. And he and Dawkins would like to deny us the right to raise our own children in the faith! What arrogance! Perhaps we should turn the tables on them and deny them the right to raise their children as little athiest! How dare they even think this! What happens if some government somewhere actually takes them seriously? Do we quash religious liberty? Do we become like China? This guy should be charged with hate crimes!

My two cents.

God bless,
Ut