June 07 +Graham Delusion - God or Dawkins?

Publication of The God Delusion by the well-known atheist, Richard Dawkins, has given much publicity to his passionately argued atheism.

Dawkins, an expert in evolutionary biology, argues that the principle of ‘natural selection’ or Darwinism is, according to the evidence, the only credible explanation for the origin, diversity and wonder of the earth’s living species, including human beings. Over millions of years, particular examples of a species, varying according to gene mutation, have survived by the natural process of selection by advantage over other variants. Having survived, they replicate, and their offspring sharing their advantages, also survive – and so on. A god who designed this world in its amazingly intricate detail would have to be so complex in his understanding, says Dawkins, that he could not just exist; he would himself have to evolve in his complexity, as has the universe. It is most improbable that such a god exists.

Scientifically trained myself, I believe that explanations must fit with the evidence. There are three serious difficulties which Dawkins’ explanation must face and he admits two of them. He acknowledges the extreme improbability of the 6 key physical constants all being in place which have made the earth habitable for human life (eg the strength of gravity, which could have been greater or less); and he admits the similarly huge improbability of the existence of a planet, suitably positioned in relation to its sun, that could make it a place in the cosmos where life as we know it could exist. In view, however, of the existence of many universes and billions of billions of planets, it is not impossible, he argues, that such a statistical improbability could happen. And we do, in fact, exist. But surely another explanation is that it was in the divine mind to make it happen?

The third area, which Dawkins does not address, is how there came to exist the intense ball of hydrogen at such high temperatures which, after forming elements and material through extremely high temperature fusion, exploded (the Big Bang), forming the rapidly expanding universes. No-one can explain by natural science how this arose. We are left with the need for a First Cause, which the first chapter of the Bible says is God. ‘In the beginning God created..’

Working with the evidence, it is actually quite thinkable that God created the original gas, governed by simple principles, which could lead to the universe unfolding, as it has done, with the intended climax of human life. Maybe God himself is enjoying with satisfaction and wonder the unfolding beauty of his world and universes. ‘He saw all that he had made and it was very good.’

When it comes to his treatment of Jesus, however, Dawkins loses all sight of his evidential basis. It is sad really, for Jesus remains the strongest argument for God. I will write about this in a further article.

+Graham Dow, Bishop of Carlisle