I started reading Richard Dawkins‘ latest book, The God Delusion, today. I’ll save most of my comments for later posts because I really need to digest the full meal before I start to speak to the individual courses.
For now I want to talk about the probability of God. Dawkins creates a spectrum of probability on which he asserts each person falls in reference to the existence of God. My question is, at what point on the spectrum does one cease to be a Christian (assuming that we are speaking of the Christian God, which Dawkins is not necessarily assuming at this point)?
- Strong theist, 100 per cent probability of God. In the words of C. G. Jung, ‘I do not believe, I know.’
- Very high probability but short of 100 per cent. De facto theist. ‘I cannot know for certain, but I strongly believe in God and live my life on the assumption that he is there.’
- Higher than 50 per cent but not very high. Technically agnostic but leaning towards theism. ‘I am very uncertain, but I am inclined to believe in God.’
- Exactly 50 per cent. Completely impartial agnostic. ‘God’s existence and non-existence are exactly equiprobable.’
- Lower than 50 per cent but not very low. Technically agnostic but leaning towards atheism. ‘I don’t know whether God exists but I’m inclined to be sceptical.’
- Very low probability, but short of zero. De facto atheist. ‘I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that hie is not there.’
- Strong atheist. ‘I know there is no God, with the same conviction as Jung “knows” there is one.’
Obviously four and below are out of the question with three quite probably included also, but what about two? Dawkins suggests that there are many religious people in the “1″ category and few in the “7″. Of course, he then goes on to explain how ridiculous it is to be in the “1″ and how wonderful it is to be in the “7″, but that is to be expected. What I find fascinating thus far with Dawkins is that he relies solely on these “1″ type Christians to formulate his defense against them. It seems that to his mind, there is no such thing as a thinking Christian.
Incidentally, I am a “2″.
I would probably be tempted to say I was 1, but believe 2. I think a lot of Evangelicals say 1, act 6, and believe 7.
So many people just know what to say, and unless there’s sodium-pentothal involved in some way, it’s hard to get the real information out of them.
Comment by — March 6, 2007 @ 8:31 am
Yes, the temptation is to say “I know God exists”, but the reality is that we will not know until we meet Him face to face. However, we still have every reason to live our lives as if we were 100% sure and not 99% sure. We live this way in reference to most things, this is just how life works.
I agree, it is difficult to get an answer from some. I think a lot of people would feel they were betraying Christ to say they were not 100% sure, and this simply isn’t the case.
Comment by — March 6, 2007 @ 12:19 pm
i am a “2″, too….
Comment by — March 7, 2007 @ 5:04 am
But is it “thinking” or “doubting?”
Comment by — March 7, 2007 @ 8:30 am
There are thinking Christians and there are doubting Christians. When I say I am a 2, it doesn’t mean that because I can’t know 100% that I don’t believe. I can’t know 100% that man has walked on the moon, but I would bet my life on it.
Comment by — March 7, 2007 @ 8:39 am