Reason and Faith

Organizers of the “Reason Rally” that took place on National Mall in DC on March 24 tried to lay claim on rational thought as the property of atheism.  Some 20,000 people came out to support the cause.

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.

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