Richard Dawkins: Faith and evidence

Richard Dawkins addresses many things in his mini-series The Root of all Evil. He's lucid and persuasive, but the timeframe limits him to simplistic arguments which I'm told are much better developed in his book, The God Delusion. I thought I'd add my 2 bob's worth in regard to how evidence operates in the life of your regular Christian.

Regular Christians may not go to any great length to investigate the evidence for their beliefs, and yet they think that having evidence for their faith is essential. "[I]f Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead . . . . if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men." (1 Corinthians 15: 14-15a & 17-19)

So why do regular Christians think there is evidence for our faith? Because the people through whom God wrote the Bible saw Jesus killed and three days later saw him alive. Many of them died proclaiming this truth.

This is how Luke introduces his account of Jesus' life, death and rising: "Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught." (1:1-4) And this is the importance that the disciple John places on evidence in his biography of Jesus: "Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." (20:30-31)


For what is hopefully a thorough, reasoned and loving rebuttal of Dawkin's arguments, see The Dawkins Delusion?: Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine (Alister McGrath and Joanna Collicutt McGrath).