Constant Coulibaly

British writer and champion of evolutionary atheism, Richard Dawkins, wrote a few years ago a book titled Outgrowing God. It is a beginner's guide intended to help young people "grow out of" what he calls "all kinds of superstition." The latter term is a reference, in Dawkins' own words, to religious beliefs, particularly Christian doctrines.

In an interview on a BBC television program that aired just a day before the release of the book, Dawkins stated that he considered anyone as uneducated who believed in the biblical stories of Adam and Eve and of the creation of the world. He said, “40% of Americans believe that humans were created less than ten thousand years ago, that is what I call uneducated.” Dawkins believes that humans have evolved over several million years from other forms of life. He went on to say in the interview, regarding the British public, “I don’t think there’s any evidence that there is a high percentage of people in this country who believe in Adam and Eve and that the world was created in six days.”

With this publication, Richard Dawkins appears to continue his longstanding battle against "his oldest foe, the Almighty" – as described by the British newspaper The Times. His previous work, The God Delusion, also reflects his ongoing efforts to undermine belief in God. If only Dawkins could cultivate in young people, at a tender age, a predisposition to embrace scientific evidence and reject Christian teachings, he would likely see that a success in "eradicating" belief in the Christian God. His goal seems to be trying to stop Christianity, and religion in general, from being taught to new generations. This, in my view, is an evil agenda. For, as a former Professor for Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford, he must know that the transmission of values across generations is central to the survival of any social group.

Dawkins' latest campaign is, to me, one more push in his pernicious effort to promote a more secularized society in the United Kingdom. Already, the level of religious affiliation in this country has declined significantly over the past decade. The population of people living in England and Wales who claim to have no religion has risen from 25.1% to 37.2% from 2011 to 2021. Meanwhile, the proportion of individuals in England and Wales identifying as Christians has decreased from 59.3% in 2011 to 46.2% in 2021. To what extent the writings of contemporary British atheists and advocates of science, including Dawkins, have contributed to this decline in religious identification in the UK is difficult to ascertain. But their influence has possibly been a contributing factor. Dawkins is well-known for strongly supporting the idea of separating religion from public life and for criticizing organized religions. And his views may have resonated with many people.

One thing, however, is certain. While Dawkins may feel the need to keep attacking religion and its values, science alone cannot fully explain the existence of the universe and everything in it. Can lifeless matter, which evolutionists claim is eternal and the origin of all things, but cannot prove, reasonably become anything living? Until scientists can explain how a non-conscious reality, such as a rock, transformed into something capable of complex thought and awareness like the human brain, atheism will fall short of providing a complete explanation for the existence of the world. Unless atheists can tell us how non-living matter developed the capacity to produce blood or milk (as seen in mammals), the theory of evolution will remain incomplete.

The complexity of the universe points to an omnipotent Creator who has always existed. Recognizing this, the psalmist exclaimed, “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork” (Psalm 19:1, cf. Rom. 1:20).

Evolutionists admit that the intricate design of a watch demands an intelligent designer. Yet, they refuse to apply the same logical reasoning to the astounding complexity of the world or even the human body. Take the respiratory system, for instance. The alveoli in our lungs are structured like grape-like bunches of tiny air sacs, each one covered by a network of capillaries. These capillaries are so small that red blood cells must pass through them one cell at a time. During respiration, an elegant exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen takes place across the thin walls of these capillaries, as the blood releases carbon dioxide waste and takes in the life-giving oxygen we breathe into our lungs. What an ingenious, intelligible, and utterly fascinating mechanism! It testifies to the amazing design of the human body. The psalmist captured this sentiment when he declared, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.” (Ps. 139:14). But evolutionists will argue that the wonderful works in the human body and in nature all came into existence by chance. Such a claim simply defies reason.

The renowned Christian philosopher William Lane Craig once explained that “science explicates a phenomenon in terms of certain initial conditions and natural laws that explain how those initial conditions evolved to produce the fact under consideration.” However, he argued, this scientific approach cannot explain the origin of the universe itself. The universe is considered the "First Cause" that is, the very beginning that set everything else in motion. Thus, it cannot be explained in terms of prior initial conditions and natural laws leading up to it.

Therefore, Craig concluded, there cannot be a purely material explanation for the state of the universe; it requires a personal explanation. In other words, there must be a Person with a will behind the existence of the universe. That Person, in this writer’s own words, is God. This American philosopher’s view harmonises with the first verse of the Bible which states, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

As Christians, we have the responsibility to faithfully pass down this fundamental biblical truth to the next generations of Christians and anyone else who is willing to study the holy Scriptures. We must in fact pass unto them all truths from the Bible. Pauls said to Timothy, “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2). This is how we can counter the efforts of atheists like Richard Dawkins to end belief in God.