The God Truthiness: Island Hopping

In writing the last post I neglected to look at the second last section of chapter 4 - 'An Interlude at Cambridge'. I want to give it a separate post because it touches on stuff which arises out of the chapter and comments made about Dawkins' use of science to critique the existence of God. marco recently declared that “My not reading it [The God Delusion] is in part a protest by one as me who believes that the existence of God can neither be disproven nor proven.” (italics mine) I'll soon examine the implications of that stance, but by way of introduction let's look at 'An Interlude at Cambridge'.

Dawkins attended a conference on science and religion where of the 18 speakers he was the only atheist. In his words:

The theologians of my Cambridge encounter were defining themselves into an epistemological Safe Zone where rational argument could not reach them because they had declared by fiat that it could not. Who was I to say that rational argument was the only admissible kind of argument? (184)

I'm going to talk about my opinion here, and it relates to the 'God of the Gaps' that Dawkins previously mentioned. By building a 'Safe Zone' around God the theologians of the conference are making the same mistake that ID proponents make when they secreted God in a gap of scientific knowledge. Science marches on whether philosophers and theologians wish it to or not. Recently I foolishly claimed “You won't find God being dismantled by philosophy and theology. They are the house of cards that Dawkins is pushing over using science.” and dr clam quickly took me to task for it with “You can't push philosophy over using science any more than you can find the prime factors of the colour blue.” He's right, and I thank him for exposing the flaw.

If philosophy and theology continue to barricade themselves they won't be dismantled by science, they'll just be made irrelevant by it. For thousands of years events in the natural world were explained as supernatural. But now we have the sciences of Geology, Physics, Chemistry etc. Science then turned inwards. Previously Psychology was regarded as part of Philosophy, but in the last 200 years has grown into its own science. The working of the mind is now being demystified by scientific approaches. The ancient science of Medicine now joins in this, too. Gradually Philosophy and Theology are whittled away as a scientific discipline takes over.

I'm going to put on my Damien Broderick cap. Its a funny little cap that gives me a wide-eyed faith in science. But its a cap that becomes weightier as every year more is added to the several thousands of years of accumulated scientific knowledge. Our schools and universities are now predominately scientific institutions (although recently universities seem to be devolving into business colleges and MBA production lines, but that's another matter). I really don't see the future learners at these institutions participating much in Philosophy and Theology. Whether philosophers and theologians like it or not their field is being subsumed by science.

And now even God, once a bailiwick of only philosophy and theology, is being encroached on by science. It's early days, but for every one of today's established sciences there was early days. Days when that science was if not ridiculed by religion, then sometimes actively and brutally opposed by it. But slowly superstition was replaced with fact. Thankfully these days we live in a world where dissent with religious doctrine won't have your books banned or even burned, and you placed under house arrest. My Damien Broderick cap informs me that science will make inroads to the God of Philosophy and Theology at a speedy rate. Dawkins' book is now making headlines about the controversy, but I'm sure others will soon follow. A perusal through his “Books Cited or Recommended” shows there's already a wealth of like-minded books available.

So I'd be very careful in mounting a defense of God by getting him to stand on the beach of his little island refuge with a “No Entry to Science” sign hanging around His neck. It may well take on the appearance of a noose. For as the Allies did in the final days of the Pacific theater of WWII, you don't have to confront an enemy to capture their territory. You can just steam on by leaving them alone on their island wondering where everyone else has gone, thinking that a war long over is still being fought.