Deanery Presentation 1 July 2013 “Darwin Dawkins and God – Gaining Confidence for Faith in Jesus...

Deanery Presentation 1 July 2013

“Darwin Dawkins and God – Gaining Confidence for Faith in

Jesus Christ”.

Confidence for what?Personal understanding…...

“I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a good understanding of every good thing we have in Christ”. Philemon 6.

Have a go talking to New Atheists to understand more about Christ!

Confidence for what?Persuading others…….

“Since we know what it is to fear the Lord, we seek to persuade people”. 2 Corinthians 5:11

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against a knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ”. 2 Corinthians 10:5

Confidence for what?Political engagement……Some Legislation is opposing Christian faith…

Judge Laws – case of Gary McFarlane…. “in the eye of everyone save the believer, religious faith is necessarily subjective,' he said. 'Law for the protection of a position held purely on religious grounds cannot therefore be justified. It is irrational, as preferring the subjective over the objective. But it is also divisive, capricious and arbitrary.'

Darwin, Dawkins and God.

Not arguing for moral or intellectual superiority.

Not arguing for 6 day Creationism.

6 Day Creationism …………………………………………..Theistic Evolution.

Does science (evolution) support atheism?

Does science (evolution) support atheism?

“I am attacking God, all gods, anything and everything supernatural, whenever and wherever they have been or will be

invented.” God Delusion p36.

Does science (evolution) support atheism?

Science is the only reliable knowledge.

Does science (evolution) support atheism?

Science is the only reliable knowledge.

Scientific explanation (Ockham’s razor) can be applied to everything.

Does science (evolution) support atheism?

Science is the only reliable knowledge.

Scientific explanation (Ockham’s razor) can be applied to everything.

Evolution is science.

Does science (evolution) support atheism?

Science is the only reliable knowledge.

Scientific explanation (Ockham’s razor) can be applied to everything.

Evolution is science.

So Evolution can explain everything reliably.

Does science (evolution) support atheism?

Science is the only reliable knowledge.

Scientific explanation (Ockham’s razor) can be applied to everything.

Evolution is science.

So Evolution can explain everything reliably.

So God is not necessary as an explanation - God is a complex, irrational, unreliable delusion…...

Does science (evolution) support atheism?

Science is the only reliable knowledge.

Scientific explanation (Ockham’s razor) can be applied to everything.

Evolution is science.

So Evolution can explain everything reliably.

So God is not necessary as an explanation - God is a complex, irrational, unreliable delusion…...

…and most scientists agree with me.

What is science?Science is the only reliable knowledge?

“…the erroneous notion that the existence or non existence of God is beyond the reach of science” God Delusion p46.

“…I shall suggest that the existence of God is a scientific hypothesis like any other” God Delusion p50.

Erwin Schrödinger “Science is very usually

branded as being atheistic. After what we have said this is

not astonishing. If its world picture does not contain

beauty and delight, sorrow, if personality is cut out of it by

agreement, how should it contain the most sublime idea

that presents itself to the human mind?”.

Erwin Schrodinger “My View of the World” (Cambridge,

Cambridge University Press, 1964), p93.

einstein?

“Certain it is that the conviction, akin to religious feeling, of the rationality or intelligibility of the world lies behind all scientific

work of a higher order…….this firm belief , a belief bound up

with deep feeling, in a superior mind that reveals itself in the

world of experience, represents my conception of God”.

Einstein Ideas and Opinions, p255.

Reliable

Science

Science not the only reliable knowledge.

Science is the only reliable knowledge = UNTRUE.

The Simplest explanation always true?

Scientific explanation (Ockham’s razor) can be applied to everything.

Juliane Koepcke – blown by lightning from a plane 10,000 feet up, survived the impact virtually uninjured, strapped to a seat, and walked for 9 days in jungle to safety. All other 91 passengers died. Certainly not the simplest explanation, but historically verifiable – she is still alive!

The Simplest explanation always true?

Scientific explanation (Ockham’s razor) can be applied to everything.

The Simplest explanation always true?

Scientific explanation (Ockham’s razor) can be applied to everything.UNTRUE

Evolution is Science?

“Evolution is a fact. Beyond reasonable doubt, beyond

serious doubt, beyond sane, informed intelligent doubt”.

Richard Dawkins – “The Greatest Show on Earth – The Evidence for Evolution” - Bantam Press 2009, p8.

Evolution is Science?

• Over production of offspring.

Evolution is Science?

• Over production of offspring.

• Competition for resources.

Evolution is Science?

• Over production of offspring.

• Competition for resources.

• Natural selection of the fittest individuals (like artificial selection).

Evolution is Science?

• Over production of offspring.

• Competition for resources.

• Natural selection of the fittest individuals.

• Particulate inheritance passes fitness on (hybridisation variation).

Prediction of particulate inheritance.

Evolution is Science?

• Over production of offspring.

• Competition for resources.

• Natural selection of the fittest individuals.

• Particulate inheritance passes fitness on (hybridisation variation).

• Species Change (biogeography)

Evolution is Science?

• Over production of offspring.

• Competition for resources.

• Natural selection of the fittest individuals.

• Particulate inheritance passes variation on.

• Species Change

• All life changes in this way.

Evolution is Science?

• Over production of offspring.

• Competition for resources.

• Natural selection of the fittest individuals.

• Particulate inheritance passes fitness on.

• Species Change

• All life changes in this way.

• Maybe life arose by this mechanism.

Prediction of vast numbers of transitional fossils or “missing links”.

Evolution – Genetics – yes.

Fossil Record = biased History.

Fossil Record = Biased History.

“…on a bad day it is easy to despair of ever really understanding the history of life because the fossils we have to hand are such a small remnant of what once existed”. Michael Benton – Basic Palaeontology

Bone/shell v soft bodied.

Aquatic v terrestrial.

Cataclysmic v gradual.

Buried v Predated.

Hard rocks v soft rocks.

Surface rocks v deep.

Discovery near population.

Fossil Record = Biased history

Dotted lines here represent hypothetical lineages (i.e. no fossils).

Michael Denton“Evolution a Theory in Crisis” 1988.

Evolution is Historical (interpretation of fossil record) not just science.

Evolution is science – yes and no! – untrue.

Does science (evolution) support atheism?

Science is the only reliable knowledge. Untrue.

Scientific explanation (Ockham’s razor) can be applied to everything.

Untrue.

Evolution is science - Partially true.

So Evolution can explain everything reliably (true deduction only if premises are true) so untrue. But……..

The faith of Evolutionism.

The faith of Evolutionism.

Love - “It often turns out that acts of apparent altruism are really selfishness in disguise” in this he included laying down life for friends, dying in war.p6.

People - “We are survival machines, but we do not just mean people. It embraces all animals plants bacteria and viruses”. P21

The faith of Evolutionism.Memes – units of mental inheritance.

Darwins theory - “there is some essence of Darwinism which is present in the head of every individual who understands the theory” p196

God - “Consider the idea of God. We do not know how it arose in the meme pool. Probably it arose many times by independent ‘mutation’” p192

Hell - “The idea of hell is self perpetuating because of its own deep psychological impact” p198

The faith of Evolutionism.

Dawkins – “In a universe of blind physical forces and genetic replication, some

people are going to get hurt and other people are going to get lucky, and you

won’t find any rhyme or reason to it and you won’t find any justice. The universe has precisely the properties we would

expect if there is at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but

blind pitiless indifference”.

River out of Eden p133.

Faith of Evolutionism

Evolutionism means….There is no loveThere is no beautyThere is no Good or evilThere is no justiceThere is no purposeBecause they are illusions.And remember, no other source of

knowledge apart from evolution .

No atheist, but an evolutionist.

“Therefore, here, too, the struggle among themselves arises less from inner aversion than from hunger and love. In both cases, Nature looks on calmly, with satisfaction, in fact. In the struggle for daily bread all those who are weak and sickly or less determined succumb, while the struggle of the males for the female grants the right or opportunity to propagate only to the healthiest. And struggle is always

a means for improving a species' health and power of resistance and, therefore, a cause of its higher development." Mein Kampf Vol 1 Chapter 11.

6 million Jews.

WW2 50-70 million.

Faith of Evolutionism

Sam Harris

“….some propositions are so dangerous that it may be ethical to kill people for believing them. This may seem an extraordinary claim, but it merely enunciates an ordinary fact about the world in which we live”

Sam Harris “ The end of faith: Religion, Terror and the Future of Reason” New York, Viking Penguin 2006. pp52-53.

Does science (evolution) support atheism?

Science is the only reliable knowledge. Untrue.

Scientific explanation (Ockham’s razor) can be applied to everything. Untrue.

Evolution is science. Partially true.

So Evolution can explain everything

reliably. Untrue.

So God is not necessary as an explanation - God is a complex, irrational, unreliable delusion…..for those who have faith in atheism.

…..and most scientists agree with me.

Great scientists - all atheists?

James Leuba 1914 Surveyed Top American Scientists finding that: 41.8 % were theists, 41.5% were atheists and 16.7% were agnostic

Similar study done in 1996 by Larson and Witham with broadly similar results - theists 40%, atheists 45%, agnostics 15%.

Larson EJ, Witham L. Scientists are still keeping the faith [Commentary]. Nature 1997 Apr 3; 386:435-6

Great Scientists – all Atheists?

“The leaders of science over the last 100 years, along with some of today’s most influential scientists, have built a philosophically compelling

vision of a rational universe that sprang from a divine mind. As it happens, this is the particular view of the world that I now find to be the soundest philosophical explanation of a multitude of phenomena encountered by

scientists and lay people alike”. Anthony Flew “There is A God” p91.

Great scientists - all atheists?

“I am not an atheist and I don’t think I can call myself a pantheist. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library of books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written these books. It does not know how”.Max Jammer “Einstein and Religion” (Princeton , NJ: Princeton University press, 1999) p48.

Great scientists – All atheists?

“…belief in God can be an entirely rational choice and that the principles of faith are in fact complementary with the principles of science” Francis Collins leader of the Human Genome Project.

Darwin or Dawkins?

“It seems to be absurd to doubt that a man may be an ardent theist and an evolutionist. In my most extreme fluctuations, I have never been an atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God”. Letter to William Graham 3 July 1881.

Questions……

For discussion:

Do you think that science can tell us all the answers for life?

Can science as a discipline disprove the Christian faith?

Is Christianity Credible?

The Bible is hopelessly historically inaccurate myth.

Christianity is anti science.

Christianity provides no benefit to society.

Christianity has no good arguments for

the existence of God.

New Testament Accuracy.

Greek nt.

The New Testament is transmitted with 98% historical accuracy due to over 15,000 manuscripts from all over the ancient world.

Written records - Eye witness testimony.

Greek nt.

“The material evidence and related arguments set out in these chapters indicate that far more weight than has been allowed should be given to the role of writing in preserving information about Jesus of Nazareth from his lifetime onwards and so in forming gospel tradition” “Reading and writing in the time of Jesus” Professor Allan Millard Sheffield Academic Press 2001 pp228-9.

Canonical Gospels of early date – unlike Gnostic Gospels.

4 Gospels Nag Hammadi Gnostic Gospels Matthew Mark Luke and John Thomas, Peter, Mary Magdelene AD65-90 AD 225 onwards.

An historical claim.

Is Christianity Credible?For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. 1Corinthians 15:3-7

Christianity stands or falls on the claim of the historical bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Is Christianity anti Science?

Roger Bacon – 1214-1294 (Paris/Oxford).

Franciscan Friar (preacher). Wanted the Bible to be central.

Proposed an inductive investigation of nature which led to scientific advance.

Is Christianity anti Science?

Founding member of the Royal Society, Father of modern Chemistry, Bible Believing Christian.

Theological works….Some Considerations touching the Style of the Holy Scriptures(1661)The Excellency of Theology compared with Natural Theology(1674)Some Considerations about the Reconcileableness of Reason and Religion(1675)Discourse Of Things Above Reason, inquiring whether a Philosopher should admit there are any such(1681)Of the high Veneration Man's Intellect owes to God, peculiar for his Wisdom and Power(1684)The Christian Virtuoso (1690).

Is Christianity anti Science?

William of Ockham Roger Bacon Tycho Brahe Kepler Copernicus

Galileo Boyle Pascal Leibnitz Volta Ampere Pare

Linnaeus James Clerk Maxwell Faraday Kelvin

Mendel Gray Louis Pasteur Max Planck JA Fleming Lavoisier

Millikan Heisenberg Dobzhansky Polanyi Fisher Sewell Wright

Smalley Sir Robert Boyd

Living

Polkinghorne Collins Freeman Dyson Gingerich Bakker Miller

Lennox Wiseman Nowak Conway Morris

science and Christianity are compatible.

Professor of Mathematics University of Oxford.

Christianity – worse than Atheistic ideology?

70 Million. 30 million

7 million

“Individual atheists may do evil things, but they don’t do evil things in the name of atheism.” God Delusion p278.“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people”. Marx.

Has Christianity done any good?

Transformation of the western world.

AD 73 – Care for widows.

AD 100-166 Justin Martyr – promoted universal education for both sexes and all abilities in the church.

AD 100-200 – Collegia - voluntary associations to care for unfortunate.

AD 313 – Orphanages Founded.

AD 315 Edict of Milan - outlawing of slavery for children - Constantine.

AD 321 – Mental Asylums founded.

AD 325 – Constantine – Council of Nicea – Hospital in every city.

AD 354 – 430 Augustine - taught against slavery.

AD 374 - Infanticide outlawed.

AD 390’s – Nosocomia – first institutions serving only the sick.

Has Christianity done any good?

AD 404 – Gladiatorial Combat outlawed (5000 people killed in 4 months under Trajan).

AD 483 – Homes for the aged.

AD 525-67 Emperor Justinian – abolished all laws which prevented the freeing of slaves due to Christian teaching.

AD 528 – Benedictine Infirmaries.

AD 630 – Institutions for the blind.

AD 1158 - First university – Bologna Italy.

AD 1215 - Magna Carta formulated “for the honour of God and the exaltation of Holy Church and the reform of our realm, on the advice of our reverend church Fathers”. Archbishop Langton.

Is Christianity Credible?

The Bible is hopelessly historically inaccurate. Untrue.

Christianity is anti science. Untrue.

Christianity provides no benefit to society. Untrue.

Christianity has no good arguments for

the existence of God – that depends.

Not a god of the gaps

GOD OF THE GASPwww.dawkinslennoxdebate.com

“I think that when you consider the beauty of the world, and you wonder how it came to be, what it is, you are

naturally overwhelmed with a feeling of awe, a feeling of admiration and you almost feel a desire to worship

something. I feel this, I recognise that other scientists such as Carl Sagan feel this, Einstein felt it. We all of us

share a kind of religious reverence for the beauties of the universe, for the complexity of life, for the sheer magnitude of the cosmos - the clear…. magnitude of

geological time. And its tempting to translate that feeling of awe and worship into a desire to worship a particular

thing, a particular person”.

Gasp at beauty

Gasp at beauty

Why?“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible

qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen being understood from what has been made so that men are without

excuse”. Romans 1:20

Gasp at Cruelty.

Gasp at Cruelty.

“Man’s fate is like that of the animals, the same fate awaits them both: As one dies so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no

advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless.”

Solomon 1000 BC - Ecclesiastes 3:19-20

Gasp at Cruelty

Gasp at cruelty?

12: 13 Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his

commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment,

including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.

Solomon 1000BC - Ecclesiastes.

The Gasp of God.

“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by

making peace through his blood shed on the cross”. Colossians 1:19

Darwin, Dawkins and God.