Dawkins & Superstition II

In my previous post, re-Dawkins understanding of a ‘personal experience with God’ (TGD, p.87-92), I express the thought that far from superstition there is something more powerful and good going on in human experience when Christians talk about having an experience with God. (Atheist Matthew Parris recognized something inexplicable when real Christianity is observed in a whole community of people).
I mentioned one person who was caught in a superstitious moment but changed the world of his day and 500 years down the line of history we still live with his influence. His name: Martin Luther. Dawkins derides Luther for his opposition to ‘reason’. To take just one famous quote from Luther that Dawkins uses on page 190 of TGD, “Whoever wants to be a Christian should tear the eyes out of his reason.” A superficial reading of such statements would suggest Luther was not an intelligent person and make us wonder why he became such a central figure in Christianity and influence Western civilization the way he did. We could of course ask what reason lay behind a modern author’s use and implied understanding of that statement? Where Christians would see biblical ‘faith’ as reasonable Dawkins would want to present the contrary. For Dawkins, all religion is ‘unreason’, including Christianity. But for a more serious treatment on Faith and Reason read Alvin Plantinga (if you have the time - it is lengthy). Plantinga is enjoyed by bloggers for his assessment of Dawkins book, The God Delusion.
For Martin Luther’s lasting influence from his day to ours I found it easy reading of his biography written by Roland Bainton in, Here I Stand, A Life Of Martin Luther‘, Classic Penguin, 2002, p. 384-5. For reviews click here. I’ll do a resume of Martin Luther’s Change of Heart About God (or ‘Born Again experience) in the next post.

Dawkins & Superstition II

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