Now reading: The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.
How refreshing to read a positive book affirming our common humanity. Dawkins points to a common code of human morality which predates religion and exists beyond the special purview of religion.
I think a reading of Dawkin’s The Selfish Gene would go a long way toward making this book more convincing to readers who are as yet unconvinced of Evolution.
Being a science teacher I’m always surprised at how people can ignore all the facts when it comes to evolution. Personally I don’t have any problem in believing in evolution and God. I think God works within the natural laws of nature and because He knows and understands those laws is what makes Him God. Why is it so far fetched to thing that God’s way of creating the earth and man is through a process of evolution?
You know, because I feel teaching puts one in a special position of trust, I try to keep politics and religion out of the class room while still encouraging young people to think for themselves.
I would not want to influence young children in an unfair way either for or against religion. If I were to teach students of high school age, I would feel less obliged to censor myself.
I sincerely support your interpretation as one of the best ways that a thinking person can reconcile religion with science. Many of my students have come to me with a similar point-of-view to yours. It’s a good thing too. One of the most important ‘Canadian values’ is a plurality of faiths to go with our muliticulturalism.
As a pastor, I obviously don’t agree with the pre-suppositions of this book, as well as its conclusions.
That said, I thought this book was a pretty good read. I appreciate the fact that Dawkins wrote the book for a person like me, in an attempt to convert me.
I must say that I really was surprised by how much I enjoyed the book, and how it has affected my outlook, despite having no effect on my beliefs.
REVOLUTION
You seem like a pretty cool pastor to me. 🙂 I see you read Fast Food Nation too! I’m trying to balance my steady diet of fiction with books of substance.
This is the stuff that makes democracy great. We can agree to disagree. I suppose I won’t go as far a Dawkins. I see no need to convert people to atheism and I’m happy to count both believers of different kinds and secular humanists friends. From his writing, I think Dawkins feels the same way but he is so rational (as opposed to conformist and willing to please like myself) that he can’t help but insist that the world would be a better place without religion. There is some bite to his argument that the unquestioning belief of religious ‘moderates,’ instilled in childhood, unwittingly supports extremism because it undermines rationality and questioning. Pretty chilling stuff for me, a habitual supporter of moderation in all things.