The Trouble with Atheism ... part 2
At 8.35pm tonight I suddenly realised that I had forgotten to record the program on Ch 4, The Trouble with Atheism. Fortunately, it is on Telewest Teleport for the next 7 days ... the wonders of modern technology! It is repeated at 2.30am on Friday morning (22nd) if you missed it.
In the program, Rod Little looks at the growing rise of Atheism, some of whom are "terribly dogmatic ... and are becoming as intransigent as the people [religious] they despise." Liddle constantly draws comparisons between atheism and religion, seeing that Atheism has its own sacred texts and temples, and its adherents also have faith.
Liddle interviewed a number of atheists, Richard Dawkins, author of the "The God Delusion", the most prominent of them. As a renown scientist, he sees Science as the answer to all questions - its all we need to make sense of the world. Liddle also examines "proof" of the existence of God, science and faith, and origins of the world we live in.
Atheism is not the answer, says Liddle. Take God out of the equation, and you still have the problem of human nature ... the capacity for great good, and incredible evil. How can you have morality without some reference to God & the sacred texts?
There is much that I think the atheists don't understand about "believers" or perhaps they tar us all with the same brush: weird, unthinking, uncaring etc. Perhaps this could be the subject of some future posts: I really don't see a conflict between faith and science. However, the thing that struck me the most from the program was the certainty with which the atheists spoke: they ARE right! Believers are either a bit simple and conform in some way. The fervour and passion with which they speak sounds like the religious people they criticise! Another faith is emerging!History has shown us that it is not religion that is the problem, but any system of thought… one group of people that in the right and the others are in the wrong and must be punished.
Maybe dogmatism and certainty are the real evils! The language of "journey", while in danger of becoming a cliche, is perhaps a new kind of language for Christians to use, in a world suspicious of certainty.
6 comments:
I actually managed to watch this as it was being broadcast...I'll have to find out more about this Teleport thing (having just gotten Telewest installed).
Alyssa and I enjoyed the programme very much, it was nice to see some TV where Christians weren't getting bashed for once.
The media always hammers on about science versus religion, but since many scientists are religous, and some clerics also scientists, its obviously not really the huge conflict some would suggest. I think the conflict is more about philosophy and wordview...secular humanism vs theism perhaps?
I suppose there is a conflict at one level, where Christians reading scriptures "literally" or out of context derive scientific statements/beliefs about the world, which may or may not be true, and which may or may not be accepted by the scientific establishment. For example, one may read Genesis 1 and come away with the belief that the world, including humanity, was created in 6x24 hours. This would then be a conflict with science as far as the scientific consensus goes.
Another "conflict" may be where science makes statements which encroach on religious or spiritual territory. For example, the theory of evolution is used to attack Christian ethics, on the basis that there is nothing unique and special about man. This is a conflict of sorts, as the Bible clearly teaches otherwise.
In summary, although there is no major clash between science and religion, there are many places where the two disciplines overlap, and many opportunities for conflict and debate.
After the show ended we saw a trailer for a TV show called "The Secret Jesus Family" or something along those lines. Apparently its going to be shown Christmas Day on C4. It promised to shock us and make us question everything about Christianity, etc, etc. Major yawn...I wish the media would stop obsessing about historical secrets and cover-ups...any old fool can buy all the ancient texts from Amazon and read them for himself...
Also, check out Ed Stetzer's blog on a similar subject.
enjoying the blog..I also missed the Rod Little programme, but mainly because I don't like his style of journalism. However, it has been a talking point around.
Thanks Guys for commenting. Sorry for being so long in responding ... Christmas and New Year somehow got in the way.
Col- you are too kind!
Alastiar - good points well made.
I think the main conflict on science and religion is when we fail to understand the purpose of both, especially as we consider the origins of the world and human beings, which is seems is main place of conflict. Faith asks the question: why? Why did God create the world? Why are human being different from animals? Science asks the question: how? How did the world start? How are human being different from animals? etc
We get into trouble when we stray into each others territory.
Also thanks for the tip to the Ed Stetzer's blog ... good post. So true that often we all compare the best of our camp with the worst of our "enemies" ... and thus Christians are often tarred with the hypocritical tag, when actually there are many fine examples of people living out their faith.
interesting post - i like to think of atheists as being a people of faith too, just there faith is in no God... faith as no one can prove God exists or does not exist so it becomes a matter of belief...
that of course opens up atheists to people who are fundamantalist about no God just as there are plenty who believe in God...
Absolutely agree Paul. Thanks for popping by and posting a comment.
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