After Ayaan Hirsi Ali wrote, “Why I Am Now a Christian,” she met her friend Richard Dawkins in a public forum. Here are two intellectuals, one current and one former atheist, having “The God Debate.” It was raw, personal, and oddly affectionate.
After Ali suffered a decade of emotional distress, her therapist suggested the problem was spiritual bankruptcy. “You’ve lost hope,” the therapist said. So Ali prayed. This became a turning point that led to her miracle, emotional healing. But Dawkins wasn’t having it. “You go to church now and listen to the vicar. Do you notice what a lot of nonsense he talks? I mean, do you really take it seriously that Jesus is the Son of God? That Jesus rose from the dead? Jesus was born of a virgin?”
Her rejoinder was insightful and instructive. “You’re coming at this from a place of: there is nothing,” she said. “I have accepted there is something. God turned me around. What the vicar is saying no longer sounds nonsensical. It makes a great deal of sense. It’s also layered with the wisdom of millennia.” She’s saying only when you assume away God can the supernatural be considered nonsensical. But that is “begging the question,” i.e., basing your conclusion on an unproven assumption.
I can think of other fallacies here, like confirmation bias – looking only at evidence that supports a prior conclusion, and the bandwagon effect – looking for the approval of your tribe. I respect scientists who are willing to admit their bias. Here’s Harvard evolutionary biologist Richard Lewontin: “We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs… because we have a prior commitment to materialism. Moreover, that materialism is absolute for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door.” He said the quiet part out loud.
Jesus concluded a story about such intransigence with this line: “They will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead” (Luke 16:31). If materialism is your assumption, you can’t allow a resurrection foot in the door. Even so, Jesus’ resurrection is one of the best attested events in history. And if true, that changes everything. It seems Dawkins would agree. “The idea that the universe was actually created by a supernatural intelligence is a dramatic, important idea,” he said. “If it were true, we’d be living in a totally different universe.”
When Ali understood it is true, the story of Jesus looked plausible. “It doesn’t seem nonsensical to me and I don’t mock it… It’s in fact clever, and it’s wise… I choose to accept Jesus Christ, the teachings of Jesus Christ, the story of Jesus Christ,” she said. If these words express a persevering, authentic faith, then Jesus gained a soul and Dawkins lost a good right arm.