One of the strongest denunciations of the God of the Bible comes from the pen of atheist Richard Dawkins and his 2006 mega-bestseller The God Delusion. Here is Dawkins:
The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.
Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion (2006)
This is obviously a mouthful. And I don’t have time in this blog post to respond to every charge in this rather long-winded and overwrought tirade. Nevertheless, allow me to address the allegation that God is “unjust.”
In order to determine whether someone is unjust, one must have a good idea of what it means to be “just.” In order to know if a line is crooked, you have to know what it means for the line to be straight. So, what does it mean to be “just”?
According to Dictionary.com, the word “just” means:
- “guided by truth, reason, justice, and fairness”
- “done or made according to principle; equitable; proper”
- “based on right; rightful; lawful”
- “in keeping with truth or fact; true; correct”
Okay, that all sounds fine and reasonable, but these definitions beg some questions, namely:
- What is truth? (Pilate’s famous question to Jesus)
- What is justice?
- What is fairness?
- What is equitable?
- What is proper?
- Lawful? Whose law?
- And who decides all the above?
I would submit that most of the socio-political polarization in western society today is due to the fact that there is no real clarity anymore and certainly no consensus on those questions.
So if God doesn’t exist (as Richard Dawkins argues) and the “God of the Bible” is merely fictional (as he believes), then the only standard we are left with is what Dawkins himself mentions at the outset of his quote. And that standard is…
What is pleasant?
That, after all, is how Dawkins opens up his broadside against the biblical God. According to Dawkins, the God described in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible is “arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction.”
What other standard is there?
Take out God, and it’s just human beings volleying opinions back and forth. It’s just human beings feeling their way through life — grasping what is attractive and pleasant, and pushing away or avoiding what is unpleasant.
And isn’t that what led to the fall in the Garden of Eden?
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Genesis 3:6, KJV
While Dawkins and those who agree with him will dismiss Genesis as a fanciful myth, the reality is that the Garden of Eden narrative perfectly describes how most people make their choices as well as how they form their values and convictions.
Atheists, agnostics, and skeptics will of course counter that moral justice is ultimately grounded in empathy and the desire for community and relationships. They maintain that God is unnecessary for moral or social order.
This sounds plausible on the surface until you realize that our world is (humanly speaking) hopelessly confused and bitterly divided. The human race has been at war far more often than at peace for all of recorded history. And even when we’re officially at peace, there is continual conflict, tension, and division.
This is true for individuals, families, communities, and nation-states.
If science and biological evolution are the answer, they’ve done a poor job of giving us peace and harmony.
Atheists will of course counter that religion has also failed us. And…
They are right.
I’m not elevating religion as the answer, although I do believe all societies and nation-states should respect religious freedom.
Religion is not the answer.
God is the Answer.
Those who don’t see the distinction between “God” and “Religion” fail to truly understand even the basic essence of God’s reality and nature.
At the very least, we must recognize that human beings are imperfect, flawed, and fallible. And, as such, no human being, human institution, or human movement will ever bring about peace or justice.
We need something more than what human beings can offer.
We need God.
And the worst way we can draw near to God and receive His aid is for us to blame all the world’s problems on Him and condemn Him for it – as Dawkins does.
If you want justice, you must seek out the only One who is truly just.
We’ve had thousands of years of recorded history, and we’ve come up short.
Let’s now turn to the One who has the answers.
