The Atheist Delusion. www.dpl21.com
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.
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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