I have a new post up at Young Australian Skeptics. Here’s the start:
A technique used in religious debates that’s particularly annoying is the claim by a follower of religion X that “X is not a religion”. Some examples:
- Christianity: Christianity is not really a religion; it is a relationship with God. Source. This is the classic one, so you might be surprised to learn most religions don’t seem to be religions!
- Judaism: Judaism is not a religion even though it has a substantial religious aspect. For example, a religion does not tell you how to tie your shoes, how to sleep and how to go to the bathroom. For us, G-d is not something we believe in, by the by, but a complete, everyday reality. Source
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Not an uncommon approach. Intelligent designers say that, unlike creationists, are not promoting religion but science. B*shit. It’s one and the same thing. When the wolf wants to eat his human flesh he dresses up like little red riding hood. It is *that* childish.
Others, are more subtle, and try to claim that their religion is based not so much on faith but on reason. Like Prof. John Lennox of Oxford. Again, b*shit. (Actually, the latter ones are more dangerous because, typically, they are established academics and so they appeal to laypersons from a learned vantage point, using their title-implied authority to establish their arguments by intimidation.)
I have found Lennox to be a bit of a biggot stuck in the cold war era when atheism =communism.
Exactly right. I have been in a couple of his talks, and asked him questions both times. For example, I pointed out to him that he not only promotes god, as an abstract concept, but the specific god of his version of christianity (protestant). And that the reason he is a christian is because he was brought up in a northern-Irish protestant environment. His reply was that his parents were so progressive that they gave him lots of books, including the communist manifesto! And, lo and behold, the young Lennox decided that everything else is false except christianity.
In one of his talks he kept referring to his visits to Soviet Russia. Once, he said, he gave a talk in Novosibirsk where he mentioned that the great scientists of the Renaissance where all christian [N.B. as if they had a choice...] And the Soviet scientists were stunned by Lennox’s revelations and told him “we have been in darkness so far, and the state has been telling us lies that these great scientists were atheists”.
This kind of childish, moronic, arguments are the ones used by Lennox. He is, indeed, stuck in another era. But you would be surprised to see how many followers he has in the UK.
The best bit I remember of Lennox is when he debated Dawkins and when Dawkins mentioned the Big Bang said something like “at least the Bible predicted it — that the universe had a beginning”. To which Dawkins replied something like “well if it’s between the universe having a beginning and not, there’s a 50-50 chance of getting a random guess right so it can’t be that impressive.”
I agree he’s probably worse than most apologists — those who craft their message using reasonable-sounding language have greater opportunity to mislead.
What bothers me about Lennox and the likes is exactly what you said in the last paragraph: They are professors, academics, mathematicians, scientists and *therefore* are taken seriously not only by the naive religious believer but also by the more “sophisticated” ones. This kind of apologists know this well and play their role equally well.
In one of his talks, Lennox went to the blackboard and drew a few Venn diagrams labelling them with letters like G for God, M for materialism, etc. Then he turned to the audience and said something like “excuse me, but I’m a mathematician and I get carried on by mathematical language”. (I felt like getting up and punching him on the face.)
His most famous argument involves his aunt, Matilda. To make along story short, Matilda bakes nice cakes (and offers them to friends, I think). Lennox asks a chemist friend what the cake’s ingredients are. The chemist knows the answer exactly. Then Lennox asks him why Matilda bakes the cakes and offers them to people. The chemist, Lennox says, can’t reply. [Ergo, god exists. QED]
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