John Blanchard goes to the heart of the matter in his response to Prof. Richard Dawkins’ best seller The God delusion.
Blanchard exposes Dawkins’ mindset and highlights major flaws in his case against God. He is at pains to deal fairly with his opponent, addressing issues rather than attacking the man. The result is an apologetic of a standard we have come to expect from Dr Blanchard – thorough, well argued, balanced and concise.
As an experienced Christian apologist, Blanchard is well qualified to expose the non-scientific nature of many of Dawkins’ claims and point out the limitations of science. Referring to Dawkins’ core message that we are mere ‘survival machines’, Blanchard replies that ‘our lives deny that we are machines; our feelings, our hopes, our likes and dislikes, our choices and decisions all shout that we are not robots’.
On the question of morality, Blanchard shows that Dawkins cannot satisfactorily explain our instinct to do good, while Dawkins’ attribution of evil to God reveals an ignorance of fundamental facts in the Bible’s teaching.
Dawkins’ concept of an upward surge in moral and ethical standards over time is shown to be untenable in view of twentieth century history in which millions were slaughtered.
In discussing Dawkins’ view that religion is a major root of evil, Blanchard distinguishes genuine Christianity from the evil done in its name. He reminds readers that ‘more brutality has been carried out by atheists than by those acting in the name of religion’.
In examining the person of Jesus Christ, Blanchard shows how Dawkins’ claims about Jesus contradict the facts of history and the biblical data. In the book’s last chapter, entitled ‘Faith: beyond the facts’, the author sensitively presses home the ‘life-changing and eternal effects and implications’ of what the Bible says about the Christian faith.
This book is highly recommended for any willing to engage with the issues raised by Dawkins.
