Following on from reading The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, I decided to learn more by visiting his official website. Some brief browsing has given me the sneaking suspicion that this is a haven of freedom of speech and freedom from religion.
A quick scroll reveals links to important resources online championing reason and logic, such as the complete work of Darwin. It is also the place to visit and discuss these important human virtues with a bourgeoning forum, copious comments and a lively chat room. The first thing to catch my eye here was a film wittily entitled The Four Horsemen; a 2 hour, in-depth, lively discussion between 4 prominent and active atheist/writers namely: Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and, my new pin-up, Richard Dawkins. The film is free to view on the website and so I took full advantage.
It was fascinating, consciousness-raising and poignant.
Witnessing men of their intellectual calibre, wisdom and zeal was a pleasure. Hearing their extended arguments in favour of atheism was thought-provoking. It is a film I would encourage anyone to watch, whatever their opinion of existence, because these atheists deserve to be heard; they are genuinely concerned about unreason and its consequences for civilisation. The thought that has stuck with me since watching the film centres on this concern - a vision of the future where reason and secular civilisation loses out to religious theocracy after some sort of nuclear exchange. A bleak vision indeed, I think you'll agree.
I hope for the sake of humanity and civilisation that this does not turn out to be the case, but I am now more worried about the conflicts that religion is so inexorably woven into than ever before.
Secularists, humanists, atheists and others need to be more critical of religion and more vocal in all forms of media. Ignorance and appeasement doesn't address the fundamental difficulties religion inflicts upon the world with its indoctrination of children, its claims over "holy" land, and the wanton murder of tens of thousands of innocent people. The arrogance with which each religion claims to be right in all things, all other beliefs being wrong, because of "faith" in some form or other (unsceptical, unscientific unreason) is a genuine threat to freedom and reason.
I don't seek to offend when I link to this video and explore my deepest concern that it has raised, but if I do offend, I cannot apologise. Atheism is my "belief", a belief that gets no respect from the religious, who expect a great deal of automatic respect for their religious beliefs. This respect is expected to be of such a quality that important searching questions are treated with offence and reasonable criticism with contempt, yet all the while great questions are asked of atheists and criticism is piled on in the highest order. Thankfully an atheist is glad of these questions, enjoys the debate and greets criticism, not with contempt, but with further enquiry and deeper discussion.
Our world has only benefited from logic, reason, and the unwillingness to accept the unknown as unknowable. Science gave us medicine and the internet, and so in turn it has provided increasing health and longevity, freedom of speech and expression and the first steps to a real global community. If the unknown was left as unknowable, would we have such things? I think not.
Science has further to go, more questions to answer and more questions to ask. There is more to be discovered. Reason and logic will take us there, blind faith will not.
These discussions need to be had, more often and more openly. So I, like Dawkins, beseech religious sceptics to be more openly critical and analytical of the religious where it is possible, and I ask that the religious simply engage and try not to be offended, as surely you must agree that these deep discussions are important ways of exploring your belief and extolling what you actually believe for yourself and others. If it is too deep a test, perhaps you are as sceptical about religion as reasonable and logical people across the globe and are unwilling to risk losing your religious life-crutch. I say try out scepticism, reason and real questions, they are far more powerful and effective than any prayer or ancient piece of fiction will ever prove to be.
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