There is something about the one-liner, bumper-sticker approach of popular atheism that causes the adherents of Richard Dawkins to burst into undulations, applause and approving cheers whenever he feeds them a one-liner or tosses out a bumper-sticker slogan. The presumed brilliance of his succinctions emote flabbergastation in rational thinkers.
Following are three such instances:
The Ju Ju
During a lecture some asked Prof. Richard Dawkins, “What if you’re wrong?”
To which he responded, “What if you’re wrong about the great Ju Ju at the bottom of the sea?”
And the crowd went wild.
This is not only a non-answer but a diversion. Indeed, what if I am wrong about the great Ju Ju at the bottom of the sea? Exactly! What if I am wrong? Then what? Well then apparently, nothing. What are the great Ju Ju’s doctrines? What are the Ju Ju’s commandments? What are the consequences for breaking them? What, if any, atonement has the Ju Ju offered? Etc., etc., etc.
James White commented on this episode here.
Death
During a lecture at the Society for Ethical Culture someone asked Richard Dawkins about death.
In response, he “quoted Mark Twain: ‘I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born.’ The room erupted in loud applause.”[1]
Is this supposed to mean something? It appears to be nothing but a glorification of atheism’s dismal view of life’s ultimate insignificance.
50/50
During his debate with Dr. John Lennox, Richard Dawkins made an interesting remark about the Bible’s statements on the universe’s origins and how the Bible stated millennia ago that the universe had a beginning, that it is finite. He dismissed this fact by stating that the Bible had a 50/50% chance of getting it right, at which point the audience roared in approval.
I wrote about this issue in my essay “In the Beginning…”: the Lucky Guess. The bottom line is very clear: if the Bible is thought to be wrong on some point then that discredits the Bible. Yet, if the Bible is correct on some point then that does not accredit it. When the Bible is thought to be wrong it is all the more reason to discard it. But when it is right then it just got lucky. Clearly, this is a convenient argument whereby the Bible is useless since if it is wrong it is just wrong and if right then it is lucky.
Considering that his attempts at more complex arguments and his failed exploits into philosophy fare no better Richard Dawkins is probably better off sticking to the one-liner and bumper-sticker approach. At least these make Pavlov’s dogs happy.
[1] Sean McManus, If God Is Dead, Who Gets His House?