The God Delusion?

The Ihtifal Committee at the BWC hosted a talk by Dr. Stephen Phelps last night, and he spoke on the topic of the new atheists. It was a fascinating discussion about the situation the world finds itself in with the disillusioned masses no longer looking to religion to solve their problems. In the talk Dr. Phelps referred to several contemporary authors, most notably Richard Dawkins, regarding the topic of atheism.

The God Delusion is a book by Richard Dawkins in which he poses the argument that we delude ourselves into thinking an exterior entity, a 'God of the Gaps' if you will, could be in control of the universe and our fates. This "God of the Gaps" Dawkins argues, is one who is referred to for understanding only when all other possibilities have been exhausted. Don't understand something? This "God" must have done it; that is how things have been explained for millenia.

From what I understand, his entire premise for the book is that this "God" cannot possibly exist because His existence is far too improbable to be true. My understanding of the situation is that, although Dawkins seems to make quite cogent arguments in his book for the improbability of the existence of God, there is a fatal flaw in his original premise and thereby his reasoning - God cannot exist the way we think of existence in the physical realm anyway, so in a way Dawkins is both right and wrong.

Look at it this way: we can argue 'til the cows come home that God doesn't exist because His existence in this realm is far too improbable and complex. But Baha'is understand that there is absolutely no way to adequately term the existence of God in words or ideas anyway, because His existence is gauged far beyond any sort of material or physical existence (which is the only kind of existence we can understand in this plane of reality).

Dr. Phelps used the example of a two dimensional reality where a three dimensional object passes through. To the inhabitants of that reality, they can only see a single aspect of that object at any given time; sometimes it looks like a circle, sometimes a square, sometimes a line. They cannot possibly grasp the concept that all those points of reference are the same object being looked at from different angles at different points in time.

That is the same way we should think about God. We cannot possibly hope to completely understand God's reality, as it far surpasses anything we could imagine or describe in this inadequate realm of physical existence. So no matter what you argue, you'll still be unable to come up with any way to describe the existence of something that does not exist in a reality of existence; you simply cannot apply the laws of our own reality to God.

But I think it really all comes down to this point Dr. Phelps made - whether or not you believe God exists, it only matters what kind of life you can lead, how you can be a shining example of love and justice in this world. And just because you don't believe in God doesn't mean that you don't have a soul, a moral centre, a spiritual core, an ethical compass leading you to do good things.

Atheists tend to argue that you can lead a moral life without God or religion in the picture. I tend to wonder how many of them can knowingly detach themselves from living in a world that has been permeated by religion for millenia? For example, North America has been run from a Judeo-Christian standpoint since settlers arrived from Europe. Can you then argue that someone can live a non-religious but moral life in that society, whose laws and ordinances all stem from a religious background anyway? Sure you could, but I think you'd be wrong.

I hope this post doesn't come off as me spouting rhetoric or soapboxing, but I really felt moved by Dr. Phelp's talk last night, and it really got my brain juices flowing. My flatmate and her friend have been planning a "defending the Baha'i Faith against attacks" evening, and I cannot wait to see the materials they have put together. It should be really good, and I think it will really further my understanding of all these topics and ideas.