Dawkins, Harris and Me

There was an article in this week’s Newsweek about atheist scholars which was, not unexpectedly, heavily related to the philosophies of Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins.

Harris and Dawkins are probably the most radical and outspoken voices criticizing religion and faith. I’m especially looking forward to Dawkins’ new book “The God Delusion” which should be released sometime this year.

So where do I line up here? I don’t make it any secret that I consider religion not only false but dangerous as well. At the moment I consider today’s brand of Conservative Evangelical Christianity the single biggest threat to Western Democratic principles that has ever existed. The hatred and intolerance that led Christianity to enslave people different from themselves, attempt to erase all traces of pre-Columbian culture and destroy the Library at Alexandria is alive and well in the message of today’s Evangelical Preachers and the oft fleeced flock, with vapid expressions on the faces, nods unthinkingly at the words like bob head dolls in the back of a car going down a bumpy road.

So in terms of religion I’m squarely in the Harris and Dawkins camp. I’m convinced that either our species frees itself from religion or religion will ultimately lead to our destruction.

I’m not as ready to side with Harris and Dawkins in terms of the existence of God. Logically speaking the only honest intellectual position is Agnosticism. Dawkins claims he’s Agnostic about God in the same way he’s Agnostic about Santa Claus which means he’s certain that God doesn’t exist. I’m not so sure. There is only one thing I’m absolutely certain about and that’s Shakespeare had it right when he put the words “There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy” into Hamlet’s mouth.

The universe is a strange place and the knowledge we possess is minuscule. Relatively speaking what we know compared to what there is to know is probably about the size of a flea compared to an elephant. Actually I’m more of what I’ve heard called a “Militant Agnostic.” A Militant Agnostic’s philosophy is “I don’t know and neither do you!”

I’ve also described myself as an “Agnostic Deist” which means I don’t know if God exists but if he does exist then I believe the Deist concept of God is the most accurate. So I guess I’m a Militant Agnostic Deist.