3E: challenges from science

Question 1

Who is Richard Dawkins?

Answer 1

• Richard Dawkins is an English evolutionary biologist, ethologist, and author.
• he is known as one of the ‘Four Horsemen’ of New Atheism

Question 2

Who is Alister McGrath?

Answer 2

• a Northern Irish professor with doctorates in molecular biophysics, theology and intellectual history. - he co-authored the Dawkins Delusion with his wife.

Question 3

What are Dawkins’s views on the relationship between religion and science?

Answer 3

• he wrote ‘The God Delusion’ and ‘The Selfish Gene’ among many other books on this subject
• lost his Christian faith du to his studies in evolutionary science
• religion believes because of faith in a holy book. Science believes because of gathered empirical evidence
• scientific conclusions are supported by evidence. If evidence disproves them, they are abandoned. This is not fundamentalism.
  -cumulative natural selection explains all life as a non-random, purely natural chain of events that shatters an illusion of design

Question 4

What are McGrath’s views on the relationship between religion and science?

Answer 4

• wrote the ‘Dawkins Delusion’ and ‘Dawkin’s God’
• converted to Christianity which broadened his studies
• natural sciences are consistent with both religion and atheism, nature can be interpreted either way
• scientific arguments against religion are fundamentalist in character, rejecting all evidence that does not support atheistic views
• science does not entail atheism. People who believe or disbelieve do so for reasons other than science.

Question 5

What are Dawkin’s views on the nature of proof?

Answer 5

• proof is where empirical evidence can be tested or observed and falsified
• we make no progress by being satisfied with our ignorance and labelling it ‘God’
• belief must always be grounded in physical evidence
• proof can be presented using science alone. If God existed or acted in any way, science would be able to examine it
• science presents overwhelming evidence that can be checked by anyone. When errors are made, they are discovered and corrected, not blindly retained.

Question 6

What are McGrath’s views on the nature of proof?

Answer 6

• scientific proof is the identification of reasons for believing that something may not be true, noting that our conclusions are provisional.
• not all scientifically proven hypotheses are observable and testable, for example dark matter
• proof in the proper sense of the term is limited to mathematics and logic
• natural sciences depend upon inductive inference so weigh up evidence and judge probability.
• there is a difference between ‘this cannot be proven’ and ‘this is false’. We cannot prove the existence of God, but God may not be a false entity.

Question 7

Limits of science - Dawkins:

Answer 7

• science is the only reliable tool to understand the world. It is limitless in this task
  -religion ‘subverts science and saps the intellect’ by choosing ignorance and refusing to change its mind
• science disproves God. The limits to science are the same limits for theologians and philosophers
• science will explain everything about the world and universe given time
• science is falsifiable, religious faith is not. The presence or absence of an intelligent creator or of a miraculous event is a scientific issue.

Question 8

Limits of science - McGrath:

Answer 8

• there are limits to science, some ultimate questions lie beyond the scope of science
• other disciplines explain aspects of the world, such as the law, sociology and economics. These are not in the domain of science
• questions beyond the scope of science are those concerning meaning, such as ‘Is there purpose in nature?’
• either ultimate questions cannot be answered or something other than science must answer them
• science cannot adjudicate the issue of God’s existence.

Question 9

What is the ‘God of the gaps’ argument?

Answer 9

• the ‘God of the gaps’ argument proposes that although science can tell us about the world, where there are gaps in scientific knowledge they can be explained with reference to God.
• intelligent design is an example of a ‘God of the gap’ argument
• both McGrath and Dawkins believe that this argument is flawed and obsolete.

Question 10

The ‘God of the gaps’ argument - Dawkins:

Answer 10

religious people try to prevent scientists from exploring the gas with a lazy default position - God did it
- religion clutters up a gap that should be filled with more science
- there are many things we don’t yet know; science widens the gap of things that we do know and liberates us

Question 11

The ‘God of the gaps’ argument - McGrath:

Answer 11

• the limited human mind struggles when dealing with anything beyond the world of everyday experience
• ‘GotG’ forces God to be relocated somewhere beyond human evaluation or investigation
• it is not the gaps that need explanation but the comprehensibility of science and intelligence.
• Swinburne argues that the capacity of science to explain w=itself requires explanations