The featured speaker was Richard Dawkins, who applauded the US
Constitution as the world’s model for “secular constitutions.” That’s a clever twist: yes, the First Amendment states, Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. But no, that hardly makes it a “secular”
constitution. It would be far more
accurate to say the First Amendment affirms a key distinction between religion
and state, thus expressing respect for both.
Dawkins and the “new atheists” don’t just speak out against
religion, but they openly ridicule and mock religious belief. This is ironic: if you want to be seen as the reasonable,
objective party in a debate, you don’t throw emotional rhetoric grenades at the
opponent. But that’s just what Dawkins
does. And he calls all atheists to join
him: when Christians affirm miracles,
“Mock them! Ridicule them! In public!”
Religious claims that transcend science need to be “ridiculed with
contempt.” Maybe he didn’t get the
memo: this was the “Reason Rally,” not
the “Ridicule Rally.”
Tom Gilson points out (in the Washington Post, 3-21-2012) that, in The God
Delusion, Dawkins devotes an entire chapter to unscientific anecdotes that
a religious upbringing is “abusive” to children yet ignores scientific
findings that spiritually engaged teens are healthier than others in several
ways. Gilson notes how even atheists
(such as Michael Ruse) are embarrassed by The
God Delusion. Far from having any
exclusive claim to reason, Gilson claims the new atheists “are among the chief
offenders of it.” Especially prominent
in their arsenal of reason-defying weapons is the fallacious appeal to emotion
and attacking a “straw man.”
What’s more, you just can’t be taken seriously by anyone who knows
even a little history if you claim that reason belongs to the atheists. Here I’d refer to Mark Dever’s long list of brilliant, accomplished,
reputable Christians in all kinds of disciplines on down through the ages presented
in his incisive message, “Is Becoming a Christian Intellectual Suicide?”
On the reasonableness of Christianity, see also, e.g.: Harry Blamires, The Christian Mind; J. P. Moreland, Love Your God with All Your Mind; and John Piper, Think.
.
