This chapter contains so much foolishness that it is hard to
know where to begin. Dawkins is by this
point in the book assuming that any reasonable person is convinced of Natural
Selection. Therefore, he must find a
reason for religion that is consistent with the principles of Natural
Selection. i.e. “Knowing that we are
products of Darwinian evolution, we should ask what pressure or pressures exerted
by natural selection originally favoured the impulse to religion.”
He goes into a description of “anting” in birds. No one has come up with a verifiable reason
why it is advantageous to spread ants on their feathers, but they do it, so it
must be advantageous or it wouldn’t have come about by Natural Selection. Religion is apparently just the same.
The possible reasons he sees for religion are that people
are being manipulated by a parasite and it is to the advantage of the parasite,
it is of group (though not individual) benefit, it has no genetic benefit but a
benefit that mimics genetic benefit.
Also, religion may be similar to the placebo effect.
He gives a preposterous illustration of “good” soldiers
marching in front of an on-coming train because their drill sergeant was
distracted and forgot to say ‘halt.’ He
claims good believers will do the same.
I beg your pardon! I expect that
many soldiers would not march in front of a moving train. If I was the head of the line, I wouldn’t. I would feel a sense of responsibility for
those following me. I might be willing to march to my death, but not for no
apparent reason! I was once caught
outside by some Mormons canvasing our neighborhood. There was no escaping them as my husband and
I were out working on a clubhouse for our kids.
After they talked a long time, they informed me that I wasn’t “very
teachable.” I replied, “I do not go into
my own church and swallow whole everything I hear. Why would I accept everything you are saying?” We are not all gullible.
Religion may, of course, be due to something else….like a
misfiring in the brain. Huh? It would seem that a flaw such a misfiring of
the brain in so many people would have by this time in human history been eliminated
by Natural Selection, even without the help of Dawkins.
In something I see as totally
inconsistent with his earlier contention that children don’t know where they
stand on such issues, he then talks at length about monism vs dualism, and
declares that children are innately dualistic.
That is, they believe in both mind and matter, and that they are
distinct from one another. The monist
believes that “mind is a manifestation of matter.” “….children are even more likely to be
dualists than adults are…..This suggests that a tendency to dualism is built
into the brain….and provides a natural predisposition to embrace religion.” Again, it seems strange that he would put
such an argument forth. If religion is
bad, why hasn’t Natural Selection eliminated this tendency in the brain, which
after all, in the view of the naturalist, is merely an extension of matter? Interestingly, Christ Himself said, I tell you the truth anyone who will not
receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. Luke
18:17
Dawkins spends considerable time
discussing memes and how they are passed on.
Eventually he gets to his point that religion may contain memes which
have survival value. Religion may
survive, because people are indoctrinated with these meme which themselves have
survival value. One of these which he
cites is, “There are some weird things…that we are not meant to
understand. Don’t even try to understand
one of these, for the attempt might destroy it.
Learn to gain fulfilment in calling it a mystery.” I certainly believe there are things we as
finite beings are unable to understand, but the notion that the attempt to
understand them will destroy them is ludicrous.
Truth cannot be destroyed by our feeble attempts to understand it. It may remain a mystery to us, but we won’t
destroy it…..we won’t even destroy our appreciation for it, which may even be
enhanced by its elusiveness.
One of the problems with this
whole chapter is that it focuses on “religion.”
As a Christian I am not interested in “religion.” What I am interested in is a “relationship”
with God that is made possible through the sacrifice of Christ. And yes, that is a mystery! I have spent my life exploring it, asking
questions about it, seeking truth. I don’t
fully understand it, but I delight in it.
The Almighty Creator of the universe loves me! He also loves Richard Dawkins, who hasn’t
figured it out yet.
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