Two Views of Faith
I recently read two thoughtful and important books which deal specifically with the issue of Faith and religon. The first was written by Richard Dawkins, the celebrated populariser of evolutionary biology. It is called 'The God Delusion'. Snappy title, no? Dawkins is one of the best non-fiction writers working today; the quality of his prose and the lucidity of his written thought processes make the complex topics which he often deals with relatively easy to digest. Dawkins states his purpose in the preface:
My purpose in this book is to convert people. I hope a theist who picks this book up will put it down an atheist.
I do not find this elitist or arrogant. As an atheist myself, I would obviously welcome more apostates and infidels to the heathen fold, and Dawkins is just the man for the job. A professor in evolutionary biology, he holds strongly (and correctly) to the Darwinian line and offers a convincing explanation for the occurance of religion within a Darwinian context. Dawkins effortlessly flattens all the intellectual pretensions offered by the various 'great' monotheisms for their God. He joyfully and ruthlessly exposes the bible for the vile piece of bronze age mysogny and bigotry that it is; the Abrahamic God of the holy texts is revealed to be a wilful, jealous and vicious monster; anyone who comes into this book believing the Juedo-Christian tradition to be the source of what decent people would consider the good parts of our moral code will leave it free of illusions. We are good despite of any faith we might possess, not because of it.
There is one glaring problem with Dawkins' book however, one that is exposed very well by another book called 'The Conservative Soul' by an always readable Anglo-American political philosopher and blogger called Andrew Sullivan. This book is not solely about religion; it is about the Anglo-American Conservative tradition. It is one writer's attempt to reclaim it from the disgusting theocrats who have hijacked it for short term party political gain and in so doing unleashed a the terrible monster cocktail of reliigon combined with politics upon America and the world. Essentially, this book can be boiled down to the following phrase: skepticism is the only possible position to take with regards your own abilities to interpret the world; this skepticism therefore must inspire a separation of religion and politics , and that this skeptical mindset was best crystallized in the American constitution.
Sullivan devotes a good portion of his new book to faith, because faith has always concerned itself with politics. Sullivan is a Roman Catholic despite being a gay man and refuses (perplexingly) to abandon the church which has done so much to hold back the movement for gay liberation throughout the centuries.
So, here we have a thoughtful, gay, obviously sane and secularist political philosopher who also happens to be a practicing Roman Catholic. The nature of this contradiction tears a hole a mile wide in Dawkins' book:
There are lots of sane religious people.
Dawkins seems to miss this. So focused is he on the intellectual lunacy of organised superstition that he misses the rather blatant fact that a good proportion of religious people are sensible whilst still clinging to their delusions. They set aside the contradictions and fallacies endemic to their chosen faith and live their lives according to the (few and far between) good bits. Sullivan is an excellent example of a very clever man who has made peace between his faith and his intellect. Now, do not misunderstand me here, I am a resolute anti-theist and would love to see religion disappear from the human consciousness, but I can also appreciate Freud here and accept that it is a curse our species will probably always have to deal with. And, whilst it is with us, I would prefer to see the liberal tradition triumph over the fundementalist one.
Dawkins takes a very positivist view of the prospects for the human race; he is pretty damn confident that one day we shall be able to explain everything through our application of the scientific method. One day, we shall create a 'crane' for the creation of the Universe, just like Darwin provided us with a 'crane' for the proliferation of species on our planet with his theory (now proven to be fact) of natural selection. I am not so sure. Obviously I would not be arrogant enough to claim I know how the Universe was created (like religious people). The blatant stench of untruth that surrounds the holy texts and the unbelievable sight of people still acquiescing to them in this day and age removes them from contention; but I do not share Dawkins optimism about our prospects. The sheer fact that he has had to write a book called 'The God Delusion' in a desperate attempt to shake people out of their fantasies in the year 2006 is a testament to the weakness and stupidity of the human race. We are all tailless mammels after all.
I suppose this could qualify as a book review. So here are the scores:
The God Delusion - 4 Golden Strawberries out of 5 ****
An excellent primer for any atheist. Slightly optimistic, and without any social explanation for why people cling to their delusions today, it is nevertheless an excellent read. Buy copies for all your theist friends.
The Conservative Soul - 4 Golden Strawberries out of 5 ****
A very well written and deeply personal account of one mans political philosophy. Shows the liberal and humble side of Conservatism which is so conspicuously absent from modern day American politics.
-posted by Adam
