Farrell Media

John Wilkins is getting increasingly fed up with Richard Dawkins. And I don’t blame him.

Dawkins wants to set up a false dichotomy under which he and all his cobelievers are on the Good Side, the sensible side, the rational side. And yet, these rational brights can call all religion ignorant and stupid without needing to know or appreciate the religious views they deride. Yeah, I know, Courtier’s Reply, etc. Fairyology. Blah blah. But this isn’t about what you and your friends think of religion, Richard; this is about whether what they think causes them to do with science. And guess what? Most religious scientists do great science. Most religious science teachers teach great science. I have known these “accommodationists” for forty years, and honourable men and women they mostly are; just as honourable as the atheists among them.

The division isn’t Accommodationists versus the rest of you. It’s between Exclusionists versus the rest of us. You want to exclude any religion from human society, including scientific society. You are whistling against the wind here. Religion is a fact of human nature and isn’t going away any time soon, so if you want a science based society, and we do, learn to live with them.

Superb post. And check out the comments. All the usual suspects, of course, but some interesting points from many others.