A number of people
have asked for a copy of the Rector’s sermon marking the Conversion of Saint
Paul. It is printed here as the letter for March.
Dear
Friends
DEFENDING THE FAITH
We have seen rather a
lot of the Oxford biologist, Professor Richard Dawkins, on the television
recently. Just a couple of weeks ago, I watched a programme called, “The root
of all evil.” In it, Dawkins argued, not only that religious belief is
intellectually indefensible, but also that it is morally flawed. His thesis
was, indeed, that religion is the root of all evil— or at least, most of it! He
quoted with approval the Nobel peace winner who had said, “In a world without religion, good men still do
good things; and evil men still do evil things. But in a world with
religion, good men do evil things.”
Of course, there are
many atrocities that have been committed in the name of religion. September
11th immediately springs to mind. But Dawkins has a point when he says that
Christianity also does not have a good track record. Over the last two weeks I
have been visiting my father in St Bartholomew’s Hospital. Every day I have
passed the memorial to the Protestant martyrs who were burned in Smithfield.
Religious fervour has been responsible for some appalling bloodshed. We think
of the Inquisition; the persecution of the Jews; and the cruelty on both sides
in the turmoil of the Reformation— to give just three examples. But Professor
Dawkins parodies Christianity. Of course, it is easy to pick out the worst
excesses of Christian history. But he makes no mention of the ways in which the
Christian faith has enriched and ennobled human life. In Western Europe alone,
medicine, education, science, the judicial system, have all been profoundly
influenced by the Judaeo-Christian tradition.
Professor Dawkins
seems to believe that his great mission in life is to undermine religion. He is
clearly angry that religious beliefs are so persistent: even in the face of
what he believes to be the scientific evidence against faith. Since the results
of the last census, which showed that over 70% of people in Britain still claim
to believe in God, it seems to me that in the media there has been renewed
energy in discrediting Christianity. Professor Dawkins is wheeled out at every
opportunity, to show that religious people are deluded idiots, who collectively
are responsible for the intolerance, ignorance and violence in the world. In
his campaign, Dawkins travels around the world to meet terrifying
fundamentalists whose bigotry supports his thesis. He interviews American
Bible-Belters, who hate anything liberal or scientific. He meets Jews who hate
Arabs; and Muslims who would destroy all non-believers. But his own methods are
unscientific. For he only seems prepared to select the evidence that supports
his thesis that all religion is evil. Neither does he acknowledge that most
religious people condemn as strongly as he does the violence of the extremists.
Professor Dawkins is clearly a man of great passion and integrity. He sincerely
believes that Christianity is an evil force in the world and he wishes to stamp
it out. Well, does that remind you of anybody?
On Wednesday, we
observed the feast of the Conversion of St Paul the Apostle. Saul, the
Pharisee, was a good and sincere man. A man of real integrity. Absolutely
certain of his convictions. He believed that the Christian Church was in error,
was deceiving people, and leading them astray: and should be destroyed. He
marshalled all his intellectual powers to attack it, and undermine its message.
He believed it was his mission.
As you may have
gathered, I have a liking for Victorian hymns. So often, they have powerful and
striking imagery. The Office Hymn for St Paul gives us a colourful picture of
Saul before his conversion.
“Saul the Church’s
spoiler, came breathing threats and hate; the ravening wolf rushed forward full
early to the prey....”
It would be unfair to
describe Professor Dawkins as a “ravening wolf”—but he would like nothing more
than to see the destruction of the Church and all that its stands for. He
believes the Church just plays on people’s fears and gullibility. Like Saul, he
sees Christianity as a deceit.
We should make no
mistake. There is an intellectual battleground out there trying to undermine
Christianity in particular, and religious belief in general. In a free society,
people have the right to attack religion. Thank God we have that freedom. I
would not want to see that freedom threatened. But we should be clear that the
assault on Christianity is gaining ground in the media and in education and
among politicians. But that means that we, as Christians, should be prepared to
join the fray, and present a robust defense of our faith. There have always
been agnostics and atheists: that is not a new phenomenon. But in Britain,
there has generally remained a residual goodwill towards our Christian
inheritance: even among those with their own private doubts. But what is new is
a growing militancy among secular intellectuals. They accuse religious people
of intolerance. But listen to the intemperate language of Richard Dawkins. He,
and others like him, would eradicate religion from our world if it were in
their power to do so. They perhaps do not dwell sufficiently on the two godless
philosophies of the 20th century - Communism and Nazism.
Dawkins’ battle lines
are chiefly drawn by setting faith and science as being essentially in
conflict. His understanding of science leaves no room for God. Sadly, many of
our young people are reaching the same conclusion. They believe you must decide
either for science or for
God. One or the other. So they opt for science. It does not help that certain
fundamentalists especially in the United States, are also saying that these are
the choices. The Church needs its scholars and intellectuals who can hold their
own in the debate. Men like John Habgood, former archbishop of York, himself a
scientist of some standing.
Men like Rowan
Williams, who though not a brilliant popular communicator, can give the likes
of Richard Dawkins a run for their money! We need people who can defend and
argue the faith. You do not have to abandon your reason and intelligence to be
a Christian. We do have to be prepared to engage with those who argue against
the faith.
But at the end of the
day, people cannot come to faith through religious argument alone. C.S. Lewis,
in his book, “Surprised by Joy” gives an account of his conversion to
Christianity. He describes himself as a “hard boiled atheist.” He had
marshalled over the years, his best arguments against belief in God:
scientific, moral, philosophical. But his conversion came, not in the end,
through intellectual persuasion. It was just an overwhelming knowledge of the
presence of the living God. A reality that transcended all his human intellect.
He writes, “In Trinity term, in my room in Magdalene, I gave in, and admitted
that God was God; and knelt and prayed - the most dejected and reluctant
convert in all England.”
When, in the Acts of the Apostles, we read of Saul’s conversion, we hear
how “something like scales fell from his eyes”. Now he can truly see and
understand. It would be an amazing day if Richard Dawkins came to faith. But as
the story of Saul reminds us, stranger things have happened. It was the
experience of his conversion that led Paul to his great understanding of grace.
That we cannot come to God through our own unaided intellectual efforts. There
is a place for those who can argue the philosophical and historical case for
Christianity. And there is a good case to be made. But at the end of the day,
there must be the leap of faith. Like Saul on the road to Damascus, to fall
down in the presence of the living God. The God who reaches out to us: not
because of our tortured struggles and strivings— but just through his great
love. And when through his grace he makes himself known, our only response can
be to fall down before him, in awe; and like the doubting apostle, to say, “My
Lord and my God.”
Stephen Carter