Richard Dawkins wrote a book
under the title “The God Delusion.” The book
is a sort of atheistic manifesto.
From the very beginning, the author
attacks the God of the Bible, he uses very forceful words: God is a
capricious tyrant , vicious and revengeful, blood thirsty , false figment of the human mind .For Dawkins religion is the source of all evils in human history, provoking persecutions
, religious wars hatred and irrationality in human life. Religion as a prejudice should be a eradicated
as soon as possible, and in his view, science will replace religious obscurantism. By science Dawkins means primarily evolution
of the whole cosmos and also
of all forms of life which produce also human beings. The only
reality one must assume is matter in movement
and nothing else everything is explained by matter in the processes of evolution. One
must ask where is the source of such
views. The first thing to notice is
that according to Dawkins science
is making believing in God completely obsolete and an obstacle to enlightened
and free atheistic mode of
living. This conviction ultimately is based
on naturalism and materialism. Nothing immaterial or spiritual has a right to exist.
Actually
it is simply false to
believe that contemporary science is
hostile to religion.
1.
The
evidence from cosmology: the big
bang accepted by all physicists spells the origin of the universe ,
therefore the cosmos is not eternal .
Time and space all begin in the big blast of the beginning . Gradually the universe developed life, consciousness, self- awareness,
intellect, all characteristics of human beings.
2.
The
evidence from physics: the cosmos has
been discovered as precisely tuned for
the future appearance of life and finally humans. Even the
smallest changes in the balance of cosmic forces would make appearance of life and of course man absolutely impossible . Did
the world know that we are coming ?
3.
The
evidence from astronomy: the privileged
planet. Practically innumerable conditions
conspired to the production of our globe and it’s adaptation
to the development of life, consciousness , knowledge , science etc.
4.
The
evidence from biochemistry : the complex
molecular machine, a living organism.
5.
The
evidence from biological information, DNA , RNA , the double helix and
the origin of life.
6.
The
evidence from consciousness: the mystery of the human mind .
7.
None
of those points above , although scientifically verifiable, can be explained as
reasons for modern atheism. Therefore the claim that science
replaces religious belief is false. That means a pure false
statement without any reasonable
justification. Science as such is not
only not inimical to religion but really
does not make any valid statement against religion, but, if it
follows it’s own scientific methods it has nothing to say about the question of
God’s existence. Why? Because the
object of scientific inquiry is the natural universe and it’s orderly laws. Therefore an honest scientific
position to the question of religion is
neutral.
The position of atheism is
based on false understanding of
the ability and powers of the human
mind which is capable of philosophic proves for God’s existence. It develops
in the philosophy of being , the arguments from the First Cause, the Unmoved Mover , the
Cosmic Intelligence and the creator of finite and limited beings .Creation here means
giving existence to entities which
by themselves have no existence . They are
called into being, by the infinite power of the Omnipotent Creator.
Atheism is
based on the narrowly understood theory
of biological evolution necessarily distorts the understanding of the nature of man. What
is really man for an atheist?
(a) an accidental
conglomerate of subatomic
particles with a name ?
(b) A bundle of perceptions only (David Hume?)
(c) Is man a sophisticated computer ?
(d) Is man a product
of chaotic forces of nature?
None of the above can be justified and therefore atheism abolishes completely the human being as human reducing him/her
to a speck of self-aware dust of matter. Man therefore is
reduced to a thing and he/she is no more a person. Only humans
use their minds to become scientists, philosophers, teachers etc. Only
humans distinguish between heroes and villains.
Only human beings distinguish those who have mental health and those who suffer
mental disease or other disabilities. Only
within human societies do we
find schools and libraries, hospitals
and churches, prisons and cemeteries etc. Most importantly the human drive
to know extends towards God, towards the Absolute.
Atheism therefore does not acknowledge the real nature of man at all. A man is
obviously a person and different from other forms of life because he/she has a spiritual center the self,
which cannot be reduced only to changes
of matter. Self- awareness , self-hood and the knowledge of it’s own self-hood characterizes man. Humans have awareness of
moral good and evil and are responsible in their conscious acts of choice between the two for their moral growth or decline. Human beings are seekers for truth , and meaning of life
and their destiny for eternity.
If moral values
are deprived of any Divine authority then they are man made , that is, the very concept of good and evil , is
replaced by words like progressive, creative, useful and such . Then people
who are in some way considered
undesirable , of different race ,
older people can be considered useless
by those who are in power at the
time. In such situation the dark side of human nature and the sadistic side are free to develop and
become fashionable ideologies . Atheism therefore is convenient for all kind of persecutions, and even
elimination of innocent people by the millions. Atheism
cancels any deeper meaning of
human existence and therefore leads
to despair as it is visible in the writings of such existential thinkers
like Jean Paul Sartre, Frederick Nietzsche, Albert Camus and many others of the same bend of mind. The non-existence
of God is simply asserted by atheists,
but by no means in any logical sense
proven. That is why atheism is a
delusion. Any questions, contact me at leszekfigurski14.@mail.com
Suggested Readings:
Adler, Mortimer, The Difference of Man and
Difference It Makes. (New York: Fordham
University, 1993) or any edition
Gilson, Etienne, The Christian Philosophy of St.
Thomas Aquinas. (Indiana: University of Notre Dames Press , 1956) or any
edition
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