Reason Rally (Introduction)

by dhw, Saturday, March 24, 2012, 09:25 (4628 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: Let's all go to the Reason Rally and get rid of all those evil, non-thinking, reasons for a belief in God... -http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/guest-voices/post/who-would-rally-against-reason/20...-Thank you for this article, David. The call to reason comes oddly from a man who in a recent interview announced that he was proud to be an African ape. And the African bishop he was talking to should be equally proud to be an African ape. Here Dawkins plays his usual trick of setting up straw men so that he can demonstrate his own intellectual prowess: -1. "I don't trust educated intellectuals, élitists who know more than I do. I'd prefer to vote for somebody like me, rather than somebody who is actually qualified to be president."-2. "Rather than have them learn modern science, I'd prefer my children to study a book written in 800 BC by unidentified authors whose knowledge and qualifications were of their time. If I can't trust the school to shield them from science, I'll home-school them instead."
 
3. "When I am faced with a mystery, with something I don't understand, I don't interrogate science for a solution, but jump to the conclusion that it must be supernatural and has no solution."
 
I doubt if any of us, including our theists, would object to the inevitable demolition job that follows, but does this mean that the African ape's own views are rational? Let me offer three counter-statements:-1. "I don't trust educated intellectuals who are convinced that they know the answers to unanswerable questions, and ridicule anyone who comes up with different answers or acknowledges the impossibility of knowing the truth. I'd prefer to vote for somebody who combines intellect with a degree of humility and broad-mindedness rather than for an intellectual bigot."-2. "I want my children to learn modern science, but I also want them to learn that science does not have answers to all the questions we may ask about life on Earth. I want them to learn that throughout history, many great minds have offered different answers, and no-one knows which of them are correct."-3. "When I am faced with a mystery, with something I don't understand, I interrogate science for a solution, but so far science has failed to come up with a solution to many of the mysteries I face. It is possible that the solutions are beyond the reach of science."-I hope that someone at the Reason Rally will stand up and make such statements, though I fear that most will ape the ape. His final rallying call is: "Please come to Washington and stand up for reason, science and truth." Presumably, however, we should only stand up if reason and science lead us to truth according to the Gospel of Richard Dawkins.