I see that Richard Dawkins, Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University, is presenting a new Channel 4 series starting tomorrow entitled Root of all Evil?
This short series aims to challenges what Dawkins describes as ‘a process of non-thinking called faith’. According to the Channel 4 material, Dawkins:
“describes his astonishment that, at the start of the 21st century, religious faith is gaining ground in the face of rational, scientific truth. Science, based on scepticism, investigation and evidence, must continuously test its own concepts and claims. Faith, by definition, defies evidence: it is untested and unshakeable, and is therefore in direct contradiction with science.”
I have enormous respect for Dawkins as a scientist and intellectual, and I agree with some of his ideas. I too find fundamentalism frightening and dangerous, whether it comes from the Abrahamic religions or from scientific rationalism. But I don’t throw out faith completely. A more realistic faith embraces uncertainty, encourages debate and dissension, and provides space for people to explore the spiritual aspect to their lives. This usually ends up being much more challenging than following a fundamentalist rulebook.
I also agree with Dawkins that faith schools are a bad idea, contributing to sectarianism. Growing up in Ireland in the 1970s, I didn’t have any opportunity to make friends with Catholics until I went to university – and 17 years of segregation takes a long time to overcome. But education is not the only contributor to sectarian attitudes, so should not receive all the blame.
Madeleine Bunting wrote an interesting critique of Dawkins in yesterday’s Guardian. It has become fashionable among left-leaning Guardian-reading types (i.e. people like me) to dismiss all religion and faith (see Polly Toynbee’s polemic on the Narnia film), so it is encouraging to see a more balanced debate.
I hope that Dawkins’ programmes will encourage more debate, and that people who hold a Christian faith (and others) will engage further.
Update 16/01/2005:
This blog post was quoted in The Guardian on Saturday 14 January – Saturday Web page (p32, main section).
