But Dawkins believes…
It seems that many religious believers can’t understand a life without authority figures. When arguing with a Christian recently, he told me that Richard Dawkins believes in Intelligent Design therefore I ought to accept it too.
What he did was he took a clip from the ridiculously edited film Expelled in which Dawkins says that it is possible that perhaps aliens might have planted the first seeds of life here on Earth. My Christian friend then used this clip to justify his claim that Richard Dawkins believes that aliens did in fact plant the seeds of life here on Earth and intelligently designed the human race.
Aside from the fact that this wasn’t Dawkins’s belief or opinion, it wouldn’t matter if it was. What I tried to explain to my Christian friend is that Dawkins isn’t the boss of me nor is any other famous atheist. There are no real authorities in atheism. Sure, when it comes to particular subjects some people carry more weight than others in virtue of having studied a great deal on the subject, but their authority only goes as far as their evidence can carry them.
Stephen Hawking is an author on Cosmology, by when he said that any alien race could come to Earth would be hostile; everyone recognized that as his opinion merely. Hawking’s speculation may be worth slightly more than most on the subject, but it is still speculation based on no real evidence.
For many religious believers, authorities are absolute. If the Bible says it, it is true because the Bible is the authority. God and Jesus are authorities figures and back in the day the head of the house was an absolute authority too. But for people of reason, evidence is the only real authority not Dawkins, Hawking, Darwin or anyone else.
Related articles
- Exclusive: Richard Dawkins Converts to Christianity (or not) (futuretwit.com)
- Has Science Disproved God? (choiceindying.com)
- Hitchens to receive Dawkins award (whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com)
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, Authority, People of Reason, Religious Manipulation, science
