Richard Dawkins is what you would call a fundamentalist atheist. He is also one of the world’s most high profile atheists and has said in his book that he is out to convert the world.
One of the major inconsistencies with Dawkins is that he says he is a scientist and depends on good evidence. But when you read his book, it is full of exaggerations, bold assertions, and easily disprovable lies.
There are many assertions that we could go to, to show this blindness to the plain evidence. One example is that he blames religion (including Christianity) on violence and war. If only the world got rid of religion, and we became atheists, the world would be a happy place. Here are just 3 facts I picked up in my research this week that show this is just wrong:
- Robert Pape has shown in a definitive study, based on every suicide bombing since 1980, that religious belief of any kind is neither necessary nor sufficient to create suicide bombers. His evidence is that the fundamental motivation is political. – Yes, religion possesses the capacity to make normal human conflicts into a cosmic battle of good and evil. But if you get rid of God, a society puts ideals like liberty and equality up high, that they become divine authorities. Madame Rolande was brought to the guillotine to face execution on trumped up charges in 1792. As she prepared to die she uttered the words- “Liberty, what crimes are committed in your name!”. Or take Lenin– he regarded the elimination of religion as central to the socialist revolution. He murdered millions. – Jesus explicitly talks about loving your ENEMY. Far from saying we should shoot our enemy or be hostile in any way, he says to embrace them. Christians may certainly be accused of failing to live up to this demand. But right at the heart of the Christian ethic is love not hate.
Atheism must indeed be in a sorry state if its leading contemporary defender has to depend so heavily– and so obviously– on the improbable and the false to bolster his case. God says that the fool says in his heart, “there is no God”. (Andrew).