A Strong Logical Critique, Philosophically Rigorous Book

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	• Answering the New Atheism: Dismantling Dawkins' Case Against God Scott Hahn, Benjamin Wiker Emmaus Road Publishing, 2008 - 152 pages average customer review:based on 11 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A Strong Logical Critique, Philosophically Rigorous Book

Simply put, this slim volume packs a wallop through the use of head-on logic and critique. Hahn doesn't dash around Dawkins arguments and create strawmen to attack. He goes toe-to-toe, giving Dawkins his "props" and due when his own arguments are strong...and recognizing when his other points are weak and hackneyed. I was impressed how Hahn finds the logical fallacies in Dawkins' own arguments--the same fallacies Dawkins criticizes in various theistic arguments for the existence of God. In the end, there is little "new" in the "new atheism" of thinkers such Dawkins, Hitchens, or Harris, except for the passion of their critiques and the world stage they are given for their viewpoints. Their perspectives are understandable to some degree in the light of religious extremism and violence, but the evil behavior of people around the world--religiously or secularly motivated--is only an emotional argument against the existence of God, not a rational one. Hahn keeps it at the rational level.

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A very important book. Everyone should read it.

I know we should never judge a book by its cover, but in this case the cover is particularly good. It depicts a caricature of Dawkins, cast as Adam in Michelangelo's Creation of Adam. But in contrast with the original painting, in which Adam submissively holds his finger out to receive life from the finger of God, Dawkins arrogantly holds his finger up, refusing to acknowledge God's existence. A painting represents a moment of time frozen in eternity, and thus, the finger of God continues to point, offering life to Dawkins, but he continues to refuse it. Also unlike the original, in which Adam in his innocence is completely naked, Dawkins at least has a copy of The God Delusion to cover him - but the book is rather small and serves to emphasize his nakedness as much as to cover it. And that is the message: this excellent book leaves him looking very naked indeed.

I have seen several attempts, both long and short, to unravel the errors of The God Delusion (and I have even made one myself), but as far as I can see, this book far surpasses all of them. Its great strength is that the authors do not attempt to knock down Dawkins' assertions point by point but tease out the illogicalities and inconsistencies underpinning his whole argument.

The first four chapters deal with the question of God's existence. Here the authors demonstrate admirably how Dawkins fudges the concepts of probability and the anthropic principle to manufacture arguments which have the illusion of substance but in reality are utterly invalid. They then explain how his failure to grasp the basic principles of philosophy and theology lead him to misinterpret completely the demonstrations of the existence of God, most significantly Thomas Aquinas' five proofs. Since these arguments are central to Dawkins' thesis, discrediting them destroys his whole case.

Along the way, they make some other interesting points: for example, that the human intellect and the development of science cannot be explained on evolutionary principles, since the intellect goes far beyond what is necessary for survival and reproduction, and science, at least in its early stages, was a purely intellectual pursuit with no relevance to survival or reproduction. They also demolish the "prayer experiment" quoted by Dawkins. Most importantly, perhaps, they show how his refusal to understand the nature of God makes most of his arguments irrelevant.

Chapters 5 and 6 deal with moral principles and show that both Darwin and Dawkins are inconsistent in their application of morality. Darwin stated that morality should be based on evolutionary principles, but then contradicted this by exalting the value of sympathy over everything else. Dawkins, claiming that our moral values have all been derived from natural selection and that there is no such thing as absolute good or evil, goes on to propose that we should support good and oppose evil by upholding moral norms which are directly opposed to natural selection. Tellingly, neither of them could give any good reason why this does not invalidate their principles.

Chapter 5 is very well argued but probably a bit long-winded and heavy for the average reader, but chapter 6 is the climax of the book, a brilliant tour de force, which does not so much demolish Dawkins' arguments on morality as allow him to demolish them himself by showing that his ideas are completely self-contradictory. Essentially, Dawkins believes that our understanding of the universe should be based on evolutionary principles, yet all his complaints against the morality of the Bible are really directed against the application of these principles. The Jews of the Old Testament were the perfect exemplars of a world ruled by natural selection, and thus should be most worthy of an evolutionist's praise.

However, it is chapters 7 & 8 which are the most important. They show that Dawkins' atheist rhetoric is not merely an academic exercise but a manifesto designed to be put into practice, like The Communist Manifesto or Mein Kampf. Their glimpse of a world based on Dawkinsist principles is truly frightening, and perhaps closer than we think.

Everyone who has read Dawkins, and even those who have not, should read this book. The tragedy is that relatively few will.

P.S. I must admit, however, that there is one respect in which The God Delusion is far superior to Answering the New Atheism: Dawkins provides an excellent index, while Hahn and Wiker have none.

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Dismantling Dawkins Indeed

I read Dawkins' God Delusion and found it to be just a whole lot of rhetoric, no substance, and a veritable compendium of logical fallacies. Hahn and Wiker do a great job demonstrating the inconsistencies, double-standards, and absurdities in Dawkins arguments. And I really appreciated the fact that they addressed Dawkins alarming social agenda--and with great force. I did dock the book one star because it seemed that in a couple of instances the book lost momentum in the course of one or two of its arguments--either by being unclear, or repeating a point to often, or just failing to seize the opportunity and drive a very pivotal point home (such as Dawkins' illogic surrounding the Cosmological Argument.) Nevertheless, I read this book with great relish and have yet to find a better, more readable one of its kind.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

The essential book for dismantling Richard Dawkins' atheistic agenda. Scott Hahn and Benjamin Wiker collaborate to debunk Dawkins' theories and show how inconsistent and illogical his conclusions truly are. This is the definitive book for college students or faithful Christians hoping to answer Dawkins' claims and assert the logic and beauty of their faith.

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