A Word on the State of Faith

Courtesy of Michael Novak.

Recently, British scientist Richard Dawkins was described as "an atheist, and a strenuous and militant and proud one." (One does not hear often of humble atheists, but they do appear.) "He thinks religious belief is a dangerous virus, and that it is a crime to infect the mind of a child with it." He calls religions "dangerous collective delusions" and "sinks of falsehood." He especially regrets the public influence of religion: "He is made apoplectic by the pontifications of religious 'leaders' on such questions as whether human clones would be fully human." For Dawkins, in short, "Religion is superstition, like astrology, alternative medicine, and the rest."

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, about ten percent (or a little less) of the world population is atheist or agnostic. So however upscale the views of Professor Dawkins, he has his propagating work cut out for him. Most nonreligious, secularist people, it appears, actually believe in God; they just don't like organized religions.