In his attempt to rebut Richard Dawkins’s “The God
Delusion”, Professor McGrath seems to have misunderstood the reference to
God, Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy (Features, 6 February). It has nothing to do with whether people
put them into the same category or not.
Dawkins was simply pointing out that our most cherished beliefs are
sometimes mere wish-fulfilment and may run contrary to the facts. It would be nice to have a benign spirit
ruling the cosmos and to have a secret continuation of life after death,
but many of us find that our experience of life and our understanding of
how the world works point in the opposite direction. Likewise, free gifts from Santa would be
nice, but they are not very likely.
Sometimes we have to admit that we were wrong. We may have kept up a tradition or a
belief for years, perhaps even generations, but a time may come when we
have to admit that we were wrong.
The history of human progress is littered with obsolete ideas and
practices that had, in the end, often with great reluctance, to be
abandoned.
People are beginning to question the morality of
segregating children on the basis of religion, as we do with our segregated
schools. They are beginning to
question the religious practice of celibacy as facts are revealed
concerning paedophile priests and church cover-up. They are beginning to see that religious
division underpins some of the most intractable conflicts: Jew v Muslim in
Palestine, Protestant v Catholic here, Muslim v Hindu in India/Pakistan,
etc. Seeing the tribal nature of
these conflicts, people are beginning to doubt both the beliefs and
practices of all religions and their doubts are well founded.
Religions are more of a hindrance than a help when it
comes to dealing with the problems that confront us now. The ICCC report on climate change should
sober us all. For years we have
acted as though we could abuse and mistreat Planet Earth and it would
always recover. Parts of the planet
are grossly overpopulated; our seas are polluted and fish stocks are
dwindling; our cars and planes produce exhaust gases which are wrecking the
atmosphere, etc. The situation is
grave indeed. In a few years, if
nothing is done, floods and hurricanes will make thousands homeless and
devastate food production.
And yet, despite these dire prospects, at the last
international conference on population growth, the two main religions
blocked proposals for increased reproductive health care and contraception
for poor and developing countries which have none. President Bush has followed this lead by
diverting funds away from NGOs which promote family planning and giving it
instead to their faith-based opponents.
We will be better placed to deal with the problems
before us if we are clear on the facts of our situation and united in our
actions to deal with them. Ancient
religious beliefs divide people into opposing camps and divert our energies
and resources into pointless disagreements and conflicts. I agree with Richard Dawkins that
abandoning obsolete religious ideas is the sensible thing to do and
entirely in keeping with our increasing understanding of the planet that we
inhabit and our place in its history.
People who wish to explore a more rational outlook on
life, one which has no truck with the supernatural, but is instead grounded
in the facts as we know them, should investigate Humanism (www.humanists.net/belfast). The slogan of the Belfast Humanist
Group, “One Life, One Earth, One Humanity”, expresses both the realism of
the Humanist outlook and its aspiration to a better future for all.
Les Reid
Chair
Belfast Humanist Group