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Whenever I hear Richard Dawkins holding forth against belief in God and creation, I can’t
help feeling that he is really rebelling against what he knows to be true. As the apostle
Paul wrote, “What can be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it
plain to them.” (Romans 1: 19). Professor Dawkins’ three recent programmes on The
Genius of Charles Darwin (Channel Four TV) were no exception.
Introducing the series, Prof. Dawkins said “What Charles Darwin achieved was nothing
less than a complete explanation of the complexity and diversity of all life.” He hoped that
by the end of the series viewers would be convinced that evolution was a fact.
Predictably, Darwin was eulogised. Showing his personal original copy of Darwin's Origin,
Prof. Dawkins said it was “The most precious book in my library,” and “one of the most
precious books in the entire library of our species.” He said, “Darwin realised that all life
had evolved from single cells” To go from single cells to all life “seemed a huge leap”, but
it “was achieved by small steps over a long period of time” — the popular trick of claiming
that the impossible can happen, given enough time. The problem of the origin of life itself
was neatly side-stepped.
We were told that when Darwin visited a zoo and observed chimpanzees, “The truth
stared back at him from the other side of the cage…. African apes are our closest
evolutionary cousins.” Prof. Dawkins showed us some hominid skulls in a Kenyan
museum. “These are more precious than the crown jewels,” he said in awesome tones.
There were many sweeping statements, with no supporting evidence, such as: “Millions
and millions of pieces of evidence which no reasonable person can possibly dispute”,
“Science now has the evidence that proves evolution is true”, “Evolution is a fact, just as
the existence of Napoleon is a fact”, “Evolution is the plain truth!”
Prof. Dawkins said, “As a scientist I applaud evolution; as a human I abhor it as a
principle for organising society,” and admitted he had “struggled” all his life to understand
why humans tend to be kind and compassionate. He admitted: “When I was young I
looked to God, then I was introduced to Charles Darwin by my father. I became an atheist
and never looked back.” I hope those who try to marry evolution with creation took note of
this sad testimony. Prof. Dawkins concluded the series by saying: “Darwin's theory opens
our eyes to a world of majesty. I find the reality thrilling!” However, he earlier said that we
are just the products of “a harsh, unguided process with no morality or purpose.” That’s
not at all thrilling, but an utterly depressing philosophy of life!