Dawkins Targeting Teenagers with Anti-Christian Propaganda

[Guest shiloh357]

Today's blog is written by AiG speaker and researcher Dr. Georgia Purdom. Dr. Purdom, who holds a PhD in molecular genetics from Ohio State University, wrote the following blog post to inform you about a new book from famous British evolutionist and atheist Richard Dawkins that targets teenagers:

Richard Dawkins’ new book The Magic of Reality was released today. It’s a book targeted to teens to give them answers to questions such as, “How old is the universe?,” “Why do the continents look like disconnected pieces of a puzzle?,” “What causes tsunamis?,” “Why are there so many kinds of plants and animals?,” and “Who was the first man, or woman?”

 

In a promotional video Dawkins made for the book he says the following:

In The Magic of Reality I have set out to show you what is myth and what is real and to persuade you that the true magic is science.

 

Each chapter poses a question. Before giving the true scientific answer I also describe a few colorful myths that have been used to answer the question some ancient and some commonly believed to this day.

Of course, among myths from the Egyptians, Vikings, and Aztecs is the Judeo-Christian “myth” of Genesis. But who decides what is myth and what is real? If our brains are nothing more than the result of evolutionary processes such as mutation and chance, then why should we trust them to differentiate correctly between myth and reality? If Dawkins was consistent with his worldview, he would realize he has no basis for the reliability of his senses. Dr. Jason Lisle stated the following in the article “Feedback: Coming to Our Senses”:

Since God designed the human mind and our senses, we would expect them to be able to function properly. So, in the Christian worldview, it makes sense that our senses would reliably perceive the environment and that our mind would have the ability to be rational. But in the evolutionary worldview, the sensory organs and the brain are just chemical accidents that happened to convey survival value. Therefore, there is no logical reason to think that they should be reliable.

Dawkins also appeared on BBC Newsnight to discuss his book with Jeremy Paxman. Paxman asked:

And part of it is comfort isn’t it [people wanting to believe supposed myths]? If you are told, and I don’t want to get too much into religion, but if you are told that you are a unique creation made in God’s image, loved by God and the rest of it, as opposed to the scientific conclusion which you must come to that you are a pretty unsubstantial speck in the cosmos. One is comforting, one is slightly alarming isn’t it?

Dawkins replied:

Well one is false and one is true. And it is rather important as to whether it is alarming or not to get what’s true. You can make up any number of stories that are comforting but the truth has some value as well.

Dawkins answer that “truth has value” is a not an answer to the question posed by Paxman. What he is essentially trying to “cover up” is the conclusion that there is no meaning and purpose in life if we are nothing more than the result of random evolutionary processes. That conclusion is too depressing and sad for most people (and probably would not make people want to buy his book!) However, the conclusion that we have meaning and purpose in life can only stem from the knowledge that we are made in God’s image and that God loved us so much that He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for us.

 

Toward the end of the interview there is a revealing interaction between Paxman and Dawkins:

Paxman: Do you really care that there are a lot of stupid people around?

 

Dawkins: I do actually yes, I really do, I mean I care that children are being misled by those stupid people.

Paxman: Why?

Dawkins: Because I think that children deserve to know what’s true and what’s wonderful about the world into which they’ve been born. It really is true and it is wonderful and it’s such a crying shame if children are denied that by ignorant and stupid adults as you’ve described them.

Obviously Dawkins and Paxman think adults such as myself and my readers are stupid and ignorant for believing that the Bible presents actual truth. So why does Dawkins care? Because of the children that are being “misled” and “denied” knowing about the wonderful world we live in. Once again, Dawkins is inconsistent with his worldview. Since an atheist has no ultimate foundation for morality, why is it wrong to lie? If when we die we just go to dust and that’s it, then why does it matter what I believe and teach my children while I’m living?

 

I pray that rather than being discouraged by Dawkins and his book, you are motivated and encouraged because resources are available that start with God’s Word as truth to teach your children and teens the right answers to these questions.

• How old is the universe?
• Why do the continents look like disconnected pieces of a puzzle?
• What causes tsunamis?
• Why are there so many kinds of plants and animals?
• Who was the first man, or woman?

Every home with children needs copies of The Answers Books (1–3) for adults, The Answers Book for Teens (just released!) and The Answers Books for Kids (1–4).

 

Keep fighting the good fight of the faith (1 Timothy 6:12)!

https://answersingenesis.org/blogs/ken-ham/2011/10/05/dawkins-targeting-teenagers-with-anti-christian-propaganda/

[Mike Mclees]

Is the world a great place? That is in the eye of the beholder. Reality says it is not a great place. Because of sin the world is truthfully  a very ugly and wicked place. People without God are autonomous. Self governing and justifying whatever life they want. Thankfully God gave us conscience which is about the only thing that can bring us back to Him. Sadly many are hardened in their heart. but Christ still remains our beacon of hope, not as the world hopes but Because Jesus is our hope. He leads us in the path of godliness through the Holy Spirit witch is a measure to  love one another and walk in righteousness.  

God bless 

   

[Billiards Ball]

So shocking, to learn Dawkins is targeting youth, not!

Let's pray for his conversion!

[Mike Mclees]

On ‎10‎/‎17‎/‎2018 at 11:06 AM, Billiards Ball said:

So shocking, to learn Dawkins is targeting youth, not!

Let's pray for his conversion!

Pray for him yes but the damage is already done. Don't pray that world shall change for Christ. The world being antichrist will not change.  The law has already  made perversion the law of the land

[Billiards Ball]

1 hour ago, Mike Mclees said:

Pray for him yes but the damage is already done. Don't pray that world shall change for Christ. The world being antichrist will not change.  The law has already  made perversion the law of the land

True--I believe with Israel back in the Land, the end draws near, swiftly... thank you.

[Uber Genius]

Great blog post. We do need to be responsible for teaching our children about the world they live in. And that includes how God communicated truths about the world to mankind through authors who wrote out of their own cultural experiences with conceptual understandings that were common to their own culture. 

 

Dawkins struggles against straw gods of his own creation, nothing new to see here, move along.

[Uber Genius]

One poster encourages us above to rely on resources from Ken Ham. 

 

What is troubling is that Ken Ham seems to be the Dawkins of Christian's YEC. Having read his material and attended two of his conferences I was appalled by misrepresentation he makes about the age of the universe and things like the speed of light or geologic age. These are flatly and demonstrably false statements. When I heard about the speed of light not being a constant I was shocked. But he provided a reference and I went and found it through the use of ERIC at my university library. 

The abstract of the study specifically stated that the proposal was not about the speed of light per se, in fact that was considered to be constant. Rather the study was how the measurement from 400 years ago was so accurate despite poor scientific methods and measuring tools. The fact that the precision was now better and that we could more accurately measure it and it happened to be that the measurement fell on the slower side. Far from saying anything about the speed of light changing, the article referenced by Ham specified measurement accuracy. 

Two option remain: Ham misrepresented the study purposefully.

                                  Ham misrepresented the study because he was unable to understand the study.

Neither allows us to us Ham or anyone else misstating evidence as a credible witness. 

This of course doesn't mean YEC is false but rather that we should not be directing people to Christians who misrepresent the data, whether through ignorance or malicious deceit. 

Further, when I asked him how we should respond to the overwhelming fossil evidence of life containing millions of specimens spanning over a billion years he responded by saying, "Were you there?" And he followed up by telling the audience that this was a very effective way of engaging skeptics. 

What Ham missed is that if skeptics used Ham's method, they could easily thwart Christian evidences about Jesus life, death, and resurrection by simply asking, "Were you there?"

This is beyond foolish. 

Please engage the data and various claims rationally. 

Don't rely on sources that feel they are called to misrepresent the data for the sake of Christ. 

Jesus represented the real world and did so while maintaining truth and integrity. 

[Billiards Ball]

On 8/10/2018 at 9:12 AM, Guest shiloh357 said:

Today's blog is written by AiG speaker and researcher Dr. Georgia Purdom. Dr. Purdom, who holds a PhD in molecular genetics from Ohio State University, wrote the following blog post to inform you about a new book from famous British evolutionist and atheist Richard Dawkins that targets teenagers:

Richard Dawkins’ new book The Magic of Reality was released today. It’s a book targeted to teens to give them answers to questions such as, “How old is the universe?,” “Why do the continents look like disconnected pieces of a puzzle?,” “What causes tsunamis?,” “Why are there so many kinds of plants and animals?,” and “Who was the first man, or woman?”

 

In a promotional video Dawkins made for the book he says the following:

In The Magic of Reality I have set out to show you what is myth and what is real and to persuade you that the true magic is science.

 

Each chapter poses a question. Before giving the true scientific answer I also describe a few colorful myths that have been used to answer the question some ancient and some commonly believed to this day.

Of course, among myths from the Egyptians, Vikings, and Aztecs is the Judeo-Christian “myth” of Genesis. But who decides what is myth and what is real? If our brains are nothing more than the result of evolutionary processes such as mutation and chance, then why should we trust them to differentiate correctly between myth and reality? If Dawkins was consistent with his worldview, he would realize he has no basis for the reliability of his senses. Dr. Jason Lisle stated the following in the article “Feedback: Coming to Our Senses”:

Since God designed the human mind and our senses, we would expect them to be able to function properly. So, in the Christian worldview, it makes sense that our senses would reliably perceive the environment and that our mind would have the ability to be rational. But in the evolutionary worldview, the sensory organs and the brain are just chemical accidents that happened to convey survival value. Therefore, there is no logical reason to think that they should be reliable.

Dawkins also appeared on BBC Newsnight to discuss his book with Jeremy Paxman. Paxman asked:

And part of it is comfort isn’t it [people wanting to believe supposed myths]? If you are told, and I don’t want to get too much into religion, but if you are told that you are a unique creation made in God’s image, loved by God and the rest of it, as opposed to the scientific conclusion which you must come to that you are a pretty unsubstantial speck in the cosmos. One is comforting, one is slightly alarming isn’t it?

Dawkins replied:

Well one is false and one is true. And it is rather important as to whether it is alarming or not to get what’s true. You can make up any number of stories that are comforting but the truth has some value as well.

Dawkins answer that “truth has value” is a not an answer to the question posed by Paxman. What he is essentially trying to “cover up” is the conclusion that there is no meaning and purpose in life if we are nothing more than the result of random evolutionary processes. That conclusion is too depressing and sad for most people (and probably would not make people want to buy his book!) However, the conclusion that we have meaning and purpose in life can only stem from the knowledge that we are made in God’s image and that God loved us so much that He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for us.

 

Toward the end of the interview there is a revealing interaction between Paxman and Dawkins:

Paxman: Do you really care that there are a lot of stupid people around?

 

Dawkins: I do actually yes, I really do, I mean I care that children are being misled by those stupid people.

Paxman: Why?

Dawkins: Because I think that children deserve to know what’s true and what’s wonderful about the world into which they’ve been born. It really is true and it is wonderful and it’s such a crying shame if children are denied that by ignorant and stupid adults as you’ve described them.

Obviously Dawkins and Paxman think adults such as myself and my readers are stupid and ignorant for believing that the Bible presents actual truth. So why does Dawkins care? Because of the children that are being “misled” and “denied” knowing about the wonderful world we live in. Once again, Dawkins is inconsistent with his worldview. Since an atheist has no ultimate foundation for morality, why is it wrong to lie? If when we die we just go to dust and that’s it, then why does it matter what I believe and teach my children while I’m living?

 

I pray that rather than being discouraged by Dawkins and his book, you are motivated and encouraged because resources are available that start with God’s Word as truth to teach your children and teens the right answers to these questions.

• How old is the universe?
• Why do the continents look like disconnected pieces of a puzzle?
• What causes tsunamis?
• Why are there so many kinds of plants and animals?
• Who was the first man, or woman?

Every home with children needs copies of The Answers Books (1–3) for adults, The Answers Book for Teens (just released!) and The Answers Books for Kids (1–4).

 

Keep fighting the good fight of the faith (1 Timothy 6:12)!

https://answersingenesis.org/blogs/ken-ham/2011/10/05/dawkins-targeting-teenagers-with-anti-christian-propaganda/

I love Dawkins so much! He's so helpful to our cause, since he constantly makes self-defeating, false statements about science, life, religion and God! Maybe more people could read his books soon to get saved!

[simplejeff]

On 3/6/2019 at 12:04 PM, Uber Genius said:

What is troubling is that Ken Ham seems to be the Dawkins of Christian's YEC. Having read his material and attended two of his conferences I was appalled by misrepresentation he makes about the age of the universe and things like the speed of light or geologic age.

THIS may be the flatly false statement. 

Ken may be right.   Last I heard (years ago), most if not all of his opponents have been proven wrong (wrong spirit mostly, and wrong 'facts').

[Mike Mclees]

Dawkins has said that religion is dangerous and divisive. Funny that's just what I thought about him. A self proclaim apostle of atheism but if he did manage to convert the world what then? A world with out God. Of course it's not going to happen  thank God