Response to The God Delusion--Preface & Chaper 1

Dear Dr. Dawkins,

I have been wanting to read your book “The God Delusion” for several years.  Having recently broken my shoulder, I find time on my hands.  In the past two weeks, I have read 10 books, 2 Greek plays, a number of articles in Time and Smithsonian magazines, and oh yes, some A. W. Tozer devotionals online.  I have also continued with my habit of daily Bible reading.

I have wanted to read your book since meeting the father of a young man who committed suicide after reading it.  The young man’s college professor had ridiculed his faith and suggested he read your book.  I have no idea why he allowed it to destroy him rather than discussing the book with someone less likely to be devastated by your attacks.  I did not know him and only met his father briefly.

I thought after reading The God Delusion, I would write one blog, but I have found so much to react to in the first few chapters, that I realize I need to reign myself in or I will be writing a book myself.  Others, more capable than I, have already written rebuttals, which I am sure you dismiss.

But….here are my thoughts.

Preface

“..to be an atheist is a realistic aspiration, and a brave and splendid one.”  Why is it brave and splendid?  It can’t be so just because you declare it to be so.  Is it always brave to stand up to opposition or are there some situations in which it is just plain fool-hardy.  Exactly what does splendid mean?  One of its synonyms is glorious.  Since you are a naturalist, I hope you aren’t being inconsistent by suggesting something so exquisite that it causes a feeling of transcendence.

“Imagine…a world with no religion.”  You then list all sorts of negative things produced by religion.  This is only justifiable if you also list all of the positive things produced by religion.  I could find numerous examples of positive social change brought about by “religious” groups, and of individuals who have laid down their lives in the service of others.  I do not want to imagine a world completely without religion, although I recognize that some awful things have been done in its name.  Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this; to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27 (NIV)

“Far from pointing to a designer, the illusion of design in the living world is explained with far greater economy and with devastating elegance by Darwinian natural selection.”  You promise to explain this is chapter four.  I have not read it yet, but I am wondering how natural selection, which is sort of trial and error with fittest surviving, can be more “economical” than directed design by someone intelligent who has the blueprint.

“There is no such thing as a Christian child.”  “…children are too young to know where they stand on such issues.”   WRONG!!  I accepted Christ as my personal Savior at the age of 7, quite apart from parental influence.  My parents had only come to the understanding of their need about 6 months before I did, and had never explained to me what they had done.  I did watch my Dad throw out his cigarettes and pour all his beer down the toilet, but I didn’t know why.  I came to Christ because I understood that I was powerless to be “good” on my own.  I marched down the aisle at the end of a service where the evangelist yelled and screamed and jumped on the front pew….all of which was a huge turn-off to me at the time.  But, I knew if I went forward someone would explain to me one-on-one how I could get rid of the weight of sin and its accompanying guilt which I already understood was on my shoulders. It was not placed there by that evangelist.  I had been praying for weeks before that in the quiet of my bed at night, that God would help me to find Him. I have reassessed and repeated that commitment at a number of points in my life, as I matured in my understanding.  But, don’t try to tell me that I didn’t know what I was doing on November 2, 1952.  It changed the whole direction of my life.

In the preface, you equate religion with insanity.  I suppose this makes those of us who practice religion “insane,” and yet a very large percentage of us are fully functional, productive people.  This kind of name calling is usually put forth by someone who knows his/her argument is weak.  It is not a fair method of debate.

Chapter 1

You quote Carl Sagan in a way that indicates that religious people don’t have the same admiration for the wonders of the Universe that scientists have.  To which I say:  The Heavens declare the glory of God; and the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  Psalm 19:1  When I consider your heavens the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?  Psalm 8:3-4

I do agree with your definition of God, which you say is “the way people have generally understood it: to denote a supernatural creator that is ‘appropriate for us to worship’.” At least, we go into this with one term defined in the same way.  To be fully descriptive I would add some adjectives such as omnipotent and omniscient, but that isn’t necessary at this point.

You accuse society of having an “overweening respect for religion.”  The illustration you cite is that conscientious objector status is more easily achieved through religious objection to war than by other means.  I wonder if you can support this claim with data.  One of my uncles was a conscientious objector in World War II.  I never questioned my uncle about this, but knowing that he was an admirer of humanist and pacifist Aldous Huxley, I doubt that he pleaded religion to support his views.  He felt he could not carry a gun, and so he served on a hospital ship in the Pacific.  I would like to see statistical support for your illustration.  Perhaps this has changed in the years since this book was written, but I don’t see “overweening respect for religion” in today’s society.

I totally agree with you regarding the illustration of the boy’s T-shirt as “hate speech.”  It should not be defended on either the grounds of free speech or freedom of religion.  It does not help a thing and only leads to animosity.

You end chapter one talking about the deference which is given to the Islamic religion.  This is not universal to all religions.  Christianity and Judaism are not currently receiving the same deference.  For some reason, it has become politically incorrect to criticize Islam.  I, therefore, object to you setting the rest of the book in this context, since later you admit to taking on Christianity, because it is the religion with which you are most familiar.

Chapter 2

And….do you ever take Christianity and Judaism on!  This chapter begins with an absolute tirade against the God of the Old Testament whom you say is “…arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction:  jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”

Wow!

I hope you feel better having that off your chest.  This blog is getting too long, so I will respond to that in the next one.

Get Your Child Immunized against Measles!

Not getting your child immunized against measles is stupid and inconsiderate!

Yes, yes….I know there are lots of folks out there who vehemently declare the dangers of vaccinations.  Some of their arguments have a bit of merit and others are just lunatic fringe stuff.  They tout their rights as parents to do what they believe is best for their children, but what about other people’s children?

We live in a society, and we interact with each other regularly.  We have an obligation to protect each other.  I would not have considered avoiding immunization.  If parents want to tinker with some of the timing and not throw too much at a child’s immune system all at once, I give them some lee-way with that.  But, not to immunize at all???  I have no sympathy.

And it has nothing to do with statistics and logic.  On this issue, I have raw emotion.

I was born prior to measles immunizations being available.  I had measles.  I remember the agonizing boredom of spending days in bed in a darkened room with nothing much to do.  I was not allowed to use my eyes, because of concerns about damage to them.  More importantly, even though I was a preschooler, I remember the palpable anxiety in my mother.  I sensed she was in great fear for me, although she did not express this to me verbally.

As I grew older, I came to understand the reason.  I heard the stories of my mother’s baby sister and how thrilled my grandfather was to have another girl.  I heard how she became very ill with measles when she was less than a year old.  My great-aunt talked about accompanying my grandmother to take the baby to the doctor.  They had no car and had to go to the doctor’s office on the streetcar.  The baby had measles with complications, and the doctor could do nothing to save her.  They traveled home on the streetcar with a dying baby.  I visited her grave with my grandfather.  Decades had passed, but he still carefully tended the flowers he planted there each year.  My mother told me of her brother Chuck’s grief.  He was older and in school.  He brought the measles home from school and felt he was responsible for his baby sister’s death.

The baby’s name was Ruth Ellen.  I was given my name in memory of her.

I am an admirer of clear thinking and logic.  I believe in parental rights. 

But, on this issue?

I have seen the far-reaching consequences of measles prior to the availability of immunization.  Don’t give me any argument.  I won’t listen.  Just go get your kid immunized!

Orestes by Euripides

At the end of the Trojan War, King Agamemnon returned home having been gone 10 years.  During his absence his wife Clytemnestra had taken a lover, so when he returned, she and her lover killed him.  His son Orestes and daughter Electra then entered into a plot to kill her and avenge their father.  This play opens about six days later.  Orestes has been driven mad with guilt even though he believes he was ordered by the gods to slay his mother.  Also, the people of the kingdom are about to vote on an appropriate punishment for him.  He and Electra expect to be stoned to death for the murder.

Menelaus returns home from the war and asks to see Orestes.  The cause of the Trojan War was that Menelaus’ wife Helen had run off with Paris of Troy.  Agamemnon had agreed with Menelaus that they were bound by their honor to go retrieve her.  The ten years of war had resulted in many deaths, and the war became increasingly unpopular.  (Apparently long wars always have been unpopular.)  Menelaus has secretly gotten Helen back into the city, because he fears the anger of the populace against her.

Menelaus is uncle to Orestes.  Orestes expects him to understand why he had to kill Clytemnestra and to attempt to sway the people in his favor and spare his life.  While they are talking, Tyndareus arrives.  He was Clytemnestra’s father and so is grandfather to Orestes.  However, he has no sympathy for Orestes and argues with Orestes and Menelaus.  Menelaus is torn, and after much discussion, he does not agree to help Orestes.  He is taking a wait-and-see approach.

Pylades then arrives on the scene.  He is a young man of the same age as Orestes and is one of his good friends.  He is betrothed to Electra and was in on the whole scheme against Clytemnestra.  He is from a neighboring kingdom and has been exiled by his father for his part in the murder, but at least his life was spared.  He declares that he will not abandon Orestes and is prepared to die with him.  He assists Orestes in getting to the court where his case is being heard.  They return knowing that the death sentence has been pronounced, but that Orestes and Electra are to be given the option of suicide.

The three friends (Orestes, Electra and Pylades) then come up with another plot.  They will kill Helen and take Hermione, daughter of Helen and Menelaus, hostage.  When Menelaus learns his wife is dead and his daughter’s life is on the line, they believe he will give in and help them.  They carry out this plan, but when they think Helen is dead, she suddenly disappears…spirited away by the gods.  (Keep in mind Helen is supposedly half god and half mortal.)  Menelaus arrives at the palace and seems willing to let Hermione die.  Pylades and Electra are ready to torch the palace, and Orestes is about to kill Hermione, when the god Apollo appears in the clouds with Helen by his side.

He pronounces that:

*Helen is to become immortal and stay with the gods.

*The lives of Orestes, Pylades and Electra are to be spared.

*Orestes is to marry Hermione, at whose throat he is presently holding a sword.

*Pylades is to marry Electra.

*Menelaus is to leave Argos to be ruled by Orestes, and he is to go to Sparta and rule there.

*No one is to blame anyone for the Trojan War.  The gods set it all up to decrease the population.

*Everyone is to make peace with everyone else and play nicely.

And….just like that, all loose ends are tied up and everyone obeys Apollo.  This is just too tidy an end to suit me.  The play and the problems build for 17 pages and then POOF, Apollo appears and everything is resolved in half a page.  This is worse than some TV dramas.  At least in those you can look back and see the beginning threads of the resolution.  This ending comes out of nowhere!

Interesting quotes:

             Menelaus:  What ails thee?  What is thy deadly sickness?

             Orestes:  My conscience; I know that I am guilty of an awful crime.

Orestes:  For such friends as desert us in the hour of adversity, are friends in name but not in reality.

Chorus:  His is an enviable lot, who is blest in his children, and does not find himself brought into evil notoriety.

             Menelaus:  …how can you win a great cause by small efforts?

Orestes:  I will cease praising thee, for there is something wearisome even in being praised to excess.

Apollo:  …for the gods by means of Helen’s loveliness embroiled Troy and Hellas, causing death thereby, that they might lighten mother Earth of the outrage done her by man’s excessive population.

The Phoenician Maidens by Euripides

There is a great deal of overlap in the stories told by the Greek playwrights, so most of the characters in this play have been met before.  The play should have perhaps been named the unending grief of Oedipus.  The Phoenician maidens only serve as the chorus in the play and are not really party to the action.

After Oedipus learned that his wife Jocasta was actually his mother, he gouged out his own eyes.  He lives in blindness in isolated quarters in the castle, and the land of Thebes is ruled by his son Eteocles.  An agreement was made that Eteocles and his brother Polynices would share the throne by ruling alternate years.  Eteocles, however, has refused to surrender the throne to Polynices at the end of his year and has forced Polynices into exile.

Polynices went to a neighboring country and married well.  He has now returned to Thebes with an army, intending to take by force what was promised to him.  Jocasta, mother of the two boys, sees it as her role to try to bring about an agreement.  Both sons agree to a temporary truce in order to discuss what is to happen.  Polynices is determined to have his turn at ruling, which seems perfectly fair since it was promised.  Eteocles is absolutely defiant.  He has tasted power, and he is not about to give it up.  Shall I become his slave, when I can be his master?  He also makes accusations against Polynices for the affront of coming against his own native city with an army.

Jocasta does her best to mediate.  Art thou so set on ambition, that worst of deities?  Better far, my son, prize equality that ever linketh friend to friend…and allies to each other; for equality is man’s natural law.  Her efforts are to no avail.

Meanwhile, Creon, brother of Jocasta, has sought the counsel of the prophet Teiresias, who says that the only hope for the city is if Creon sacrifices his son Menoeceus.  Creon intends to send Menoeceus away before someone overhears this and demands his life.  Menoeceus agrees to run away, but never intends to do so.  His plan is to sacrifice himself to the gods to save the city.  He follows through with this to Creon’s grief.

Polynices attacks the city gates with his army.  Eteocles has stationed men at each gate and they repel the army of Polynices even though it is larger.  Both sons survive this initial onslaught.  They then agree to avoid further bloodshed by meeting in individual combat.  One of them must die.

Jocasta calls Antigone, her daughter, to go with her to try and stop the duel between her sons, but she arrives too late.  They are both dead.  Jocasta grabs one of the swords and kills herself.

 

The bodies of Eteocles, Polynices and Jocasta are brought into the palace.  Creon now declares that Oedipus will be banished to remove the curse from Thebes and that Eteocles will be given proper burial, but Polynices will be thrown outside the city for the dogs and birds.  Antigone swears that she will bury her brother Polynices.  Creon declares she will be killed if she does, and that she must on the next day marry his son Haemon.  Antigone declares that if forced to do so, she will murder Haemon on the wedding night.  She plans to leave the city with her father Oedipus and help him in his blindness and exile.  Oedipus and Antigone leave as Oedipus declares, Weak mortal as I am, I must endure the fate that God decrees.

Interesting quotes:

Euripides seems to need to get in at least one nasty jab toward women in all of his plays.  The Old Retainer says, Now the race of women by nature loves scandal; and if they get some slight handle for their gossip they exaggerate it, for they seem to take a pleasure in saying everything bad of one another. 

Jocasta:  This is a slave’s lot that thou describest, to refrain from uttering what one thinks.

                Stay a moment; haste never carries justice with it.

                …lay aside your violence; two men’s follies, once they meet, result in very deadly mischief.

Menoeceus:  …if each were to take and expend all the good within his power, contributing it to his country’s weal, our states would experience fewer troubles and would for the future prosper.

Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?

Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?   Job 2:10

Ten days ago I was an unusually healthy and active 69 year old.  I did pretty much everything I wanted to do.  I cleaned my own home (including the vacuuming and knocking down ceiling cobwebs), went ice-skating, gave rides to family members (including the need to load the wheelchair in the car for one of my daughters), baked dozens of cookies and cupcakes, grocery shopped carrying in my own grocery bags if my husband wasn’t handy to do it, and I certainly bathed and dressed myself.

Then in a split second, my active life was derailed.  

My 23 year old granddaughter was out of town for Christmas, so when she returned I asked her if she would like to go out for lunch with me.  In the car while heading in the direction of several restaurants, we discussed options.  She wanted Chinese.  We settled in a booth and ordered our beverages.  Then I said, “Are you ready to go up to the buffet?”  She nodded and started down the aisle only 3 to 5 feet ahead of me.  As we passed the last booth in the aisle, the cane of the woman sitting there, somehow fell behind my granddaughter, but in front of me.  My granddaughter thinks the woman’s husband knocked it over as he slid back into the booth.

I never saw the cane.  By the time I heard a “clunk” of something hitting the floor, I was already on my way down.  It happened so quickly that I didn’t even have time to put out my hands to try and catch myself.  I hit my knees on the floor but then pitched down unbelievably hard on my right shoulder.  I was flat on my face on the floor of the Chinese restaurant and suddenly surrounded by people claiming to be nurses and worried restaurant staff wanting to call an ambulance.

I insisted that they not call an ambulance and give me a chance to assess myself.  I answered all the “nursie” questions.  No, I had not hit my head.  I was not having any chest pain.  I had no numbness in my hand.  The distended vessels in my hand are normal…..I have had “old lady” hands for decades.

After a bit, I was able to roll myself over and get into a sitting position, and then eventually to lift myself into a nearby empty booth.  I sat there for a few minutes.   I told my granddaughter (who was crying in distress) to go get her food.  I returned to our booth and drank some hot tea.  I was in pain and had no appetite.  As logic kicked in, I realized I could not drive, and that I did not have complete range of motion.  I called my husband and said I would need a ride to the ER.

After x-rays determined, I had no broken bones, I was sent home with my arm in a sling and instructions to ice it for the first 2 days, take Tylenol, and see an orthopedic doctor if things didn’t improve.  For the first two days, I was in too much pain to try to move it very much.  The third day, the pain was less and I had some side to side movement.  My elation over this was short-lived when I realized that I could not lift my arm upward at all.  My brain sent the message, and my arm trembled trying to respond, but my arm was like that of a puppet with the string cut.

So, the ortho doctor says he believes I have a “massive rotator cuff tear.”  I will need surgery, but first I must have an MRI.  I am waiting for insurance approval of this.  The wheels are turning slowly, and I am beginning to be horrified at the long-term impact of this on my life.

Of course, some what-ifs have occurred to me.  What if we had gone out to lunch on a different day?  What if we had decided to go to a different restaurant?  What if we had gone to the buffet 2 seconds earlier or later?  Why did I have an appointment with that cane?  If someone had been trying to trip me, they could have tried 50 times and not done it with such effective precision.

But…I believe that for those of us who love God and desire for Him to guide our lives, He works in the smallest of details to put us where we need to be when we need to be there.

I am not happy that I am currently so helpless and dependent on my husband.  I bathe and dress myself with difficulty and need his help with some of it.  I am trying to plan meals that can be prepared one-handed or require just a bit of help.  I am key-boarding this with my arm in the sling suspended over the keyboard so that I can reach with finger and wrist movement.  Yesterday I discovered I can play the piano in the same way, as long as I stick to the basics and don’t get carried away with my right hand.  I can’t imagine how I will go months without driving.  This may completely destroy our plans to meet our son and his family in Colorado next month.  Annually, they come from California and we come from New York, and we share a condo in the mountains for a week.  My husband skis and my son and daughter-in-law snowboard.  I do neither, but enjoy the quiet time and the joy of being with family.  The real draw this year is the sweet baby girl that joined their family 6 months ago.  I was looking forward to watching her so they could enjoy their activities.  Sigh!

But…

…man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.  Job 5:7

and

Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?   Job 2:10

Interesting guy, that Job,

and

an unfathomable God.

Where is He?

Where is He who is born King of the Jews?

We have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophets.

Where have you been for the past three days, my son?

We have been searching for you anxiously.

In the temple, about my heavenly Father’s business.

Where is the carpenter, the son of Joseph?

He is creating some furniture for my home.

In the workshop building, repairing…..waiting.

Where is the teacher about whom we have heard?

We have come to see a miracle and hear his words.

In the boat, commanding the wind, quieting the storm.

Where is the Messiah? Where is the King of the Jews?

If he is such, let him save himself and us….but He is

In the throes of death, suffering on a cross.

Where is my Lord?  Where have you laid him?

He is no longer in the tomb, and I must find him.

He is risen and goes before you.

Where is He who will liberate His creation?

Do we not all groan in bondage to decay and death?

He will come from the heavens with a shout!

He is building, repairing, waiting, commanding.

Suffering with us, He is about His Father’s business.

He goes before you and will come as the prophets have written.

When?  Will it be today?  This year?

It is not for us to know the times or dates,

The Father has set by his own authority.

Where?

When?

We wait.

Scriptures used:  Matthew 2:2-5, Luke 2:43-49, Mark 6:2-3, Matthew 8:23-27, 27:42, Mark 16:4-7, Romans 8:21-22, I Thessalonians 4:16, Acts 1:7

On a Quiet December Morning

In the quiet, still and windless dawn,

Snow hangs on trees undisturbed.

Dark branches silhouette against the gray

Of morning sky.

On the sidewalk snow, imprints reveal

Nighttime activity of small creatures,

Little feet with a purpose unknown to me

Have passed by.

Outside my bubble of quiet calm.

Lies a world of turmoil, in need of peace,

But with jubilant angel declaration, He came!

Is that not why?

And so my feet must move with purpose,

I must leave an imprint in the cold world,

Come with me to see the babe in the manger

And lullaby,

Glorify,

Magnify

Crucify! 

Crucify?

Ah, yes…the plan from the beginning of time.

Atonement requires a spotless lamb.

The Son of God grows up.  He lives

In order to die.

To the still and darkness of my heart

Comes a flash of blinding light…insight.

I see my need, your gift!  Oh, Savior…

Do not pass me by!