justified criticism and a revised version (General)

by dhw, Wednesday, January 23, 2008, 17:07 (5909 days ago)

This website is just under three weeks old, and already it has received much penetrating ... not to say hostile ... criticism. Most of it has come from atheists, and much of it seems to me justified. Areas that have come under particular fire are the home page ... largely because of its generalizations and its sometimes over aggressive tone ... and the sections dealing with evolution. It is disappointing that so far there do not seem to have been any comments from religious or more neutral organizations, and indeed hardly any attention has been paid to the last two thirds of the guide. Perhaps the critics have given up by then, or perhaps it is too soon to expect a genuine cross section of views. - As I tried to make clear on the home page, the guide is merely the starting point, and my hope is that through constructive criticism we will be able to exchange and refine our ideas. It is my intention periodically to revise the text in the light of your comments, and the home page has now been almost completely rewritten, in a much milder tone, while the first four sections of the text, especially the one on "Evolution", have undergone major and much needed surgery. These new versions will be online within the next day or so. - With regard to evolution, however, I would like to comment on the suggestion that the guide as a whole is Intelligent Design disguising itself as agnosticism. I can understand why people may get this impression from a superficial reading, but they have missed the all-important point raised in the forum under "Atheism". The Intelligent Design argument is a major obstacle to my embrace of atheism, but there is a vast difference between NOT believing in something (in my case, the ability of chance to work the almost incomprehensible miracle of life) and believing in something (a conscious, personal designer). The text all through is an attempt to analyse the reasons for my NON-beliefs. In relation to chance, God, the origin of life and the universe, I remain unconvinced by all the explanations, and that makes me an agnostic. But I am open to persuasion! - My thanks to all those who have contributed so far to this forum. Please keep sending in the comments, whether fair or foul.


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