Dawkins vs McGrath

• What is Dawkins?

  A militant atheist
• what does Dawkins believe?

  religion is a primitive error which has spread like a virus
• (Dawkins)what does religion undermine?

  science, and promotes bigotry
• (Dawkins)teaching religion by parents and in schools is what?

  mental abuse
• (Dawkins)belief in god is…?

  a delusion, it is irrational and contrary to good science
• (Dawkins)what does religion teach us?

  to be satisfied with not understanding the world
• (Dawkins)what does Dawkins assume?

  that most people find meaning in life and aim to develop moral principles without reference to religion/ a supernatural god
• what does Dawkins ‘The god Delusion’ represent?

  a popular 21st century secular viewpoint
• what does Dawkins claim?

  children might be deprived of a normal education because their parents hold religious views that conflict with a normal education curriculum
• (Dawkins)in ‘The Blind Watchmaker’…?

  Dawkins critics the Design Argument, he says we adapted/evolved to the world, it wasn’t designed for us
• in ’Outgrowing God’ what does Dawkins assert?

  that humanity needs to ‘outgrow’ belief in God, which is outdated, science replaces religion
• Mcgrath defends Christianity in what?

  the Dawkins delusion
• McGrath seeks to counter Dawkins’ position and show…?

  that Christianity is compatible with science
• (McGrath)he says that Dawkins’ is wrong to assume…?

  that science always leads to atheism, he himself became a Christian whilst studying chemistry
• (McGrath)he claims that religion and science are…?

  ‘partially overlapping magisterial’, they come at the world from two different, but equally valid perspectives
• what did Stephen Jay Gould propose?

  a ‘middle way’ arguing that science and religion act deal with their own sphere of human experience
• Why do both Dawkins and McGrath oppose Gould?

  Dawkins - there’s only one sphere, the physical sphere, understood by science

  McGrath - thinks that religion and science do have some areas of overlap - they can enrich eachother
• what does McGrath say about Dawkins?

  ‘Dawkins seems to view things from within a highly polarised world view that is no less apocalyptic and warped than that of the religious fundamentalisms he wishes to eradicate’
• how is Dawkins himself a fundamentalist?

  in his unquestioning acceptance of some atheist views (he’s wrong to assume all theists are fundamentalists - only a small minority are literalists about the bible)
• what does McGrath complain Dawkins suffers from? what does this mean?

  cognitive bias, he favours evidence that supports the point of view he has already chosen - but science aims to eliminate any such bias, so Dawkins ceases to think as a scientist when he considers religion
• what is Dawkins simply doing?

  backing up his prejudice, rather than attempting a serious study