Dawkins, famed atheist and scientist, is leaving his position at Oxford University to write a book about the effects of Harry Potter on kids. The point mainly is to stir kids away from magic, spirituality, etc. toward science and evidence (as if the two were mutually exclusive). In the article link, Dawkins is quoted at a recent conference, talking about a related subject. He said:
It is evil to describe a child as a Muslim child or a Christian child. I think labelling children is child abuse and I think there is a very heavy issue, for example, about teaching about hell and torturing their minds with hell…It’s a form of child abuse, even worse than physical child abuse. I wouldn’t want to teach a young child, a terrifyingly young child, about hell when he dies, as it’s as bad as many forms of physical abuse.
Dawkins is blind to the light of the gospel (2 Cor. 4:4). We can’t blame him; he can’t help it. He is especially lacking common grace from God. Yet, he’s still responsible for his sin and folly. I honestly don’t think I know anyone, even the most liberal person in my sphere, who would say that physically hitting a child is better than calling them a Christian.
I can only ask, “Richard Dawkins, are you serious?”
JAMES PRUCH 
15 responses to “Richard Dawkins, Are You Serious?”
Jimmy: Daddy. What happens when we die?
Dad: Well son, according to the comforting ideology of Richard Dawkins, you will cease to exist everywhere but in the ground. Or possibly stare into blackness for eternity. Don’t be afraid son….
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Jimmy: Daddy, what happens when we die?
Dad: Well son, God will more than likely send you to a special place, of burning and fire and smoke and torture and anguish for you to live forever, and suffer and burn and scream until the end of time… … … But he loves you.
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Darron,
God does love people. That’s why he sent Jesus to die for our sin. I’ve messed up. You’ve messed up. Richard Dawkins has messed up. We’ve all sinned. Because we’ve done wrong, punishment is required. The price of sin is death. That’s why 100% of people die.
So, if you trust Jesus to save you from sin, you get to be with him in heaven instead of going to “burn and scream until the end of time.” I think it is quite loving of an all holy, just, and powerful God to make the provision of salvation for really bad people like you and me. You ask, “How can a loving God send someone to hell?” People like you cannot get over that, can you? That question is so tired! That question proves nothing.
Instead, I ask, “How can a perfect, just, holy God let a worm like me into heaven?” Still further, you’ll ask, “How can a good God allow so much evil in the world?” Good question. Where does he stop the evil though? The murder level? The anger level? The speech level? The thought level? How can he allow *you* then to exist (or me for that matter)? You are evil. Don’t think so? Lusted over a woman lately? Been greedy? Been selfish? Put yourself first (just once) before others? Get angry to the point of bitterness and malice? Cursed someone? Eaten so much that you feel lethargic? Gotten drunk to point where you can’t function? Slandered a friend? Been irritable to a spouse/neighbor/friend? Lied to your boss? Stole company time/money? I could go on and on. And, here’s the worst part. If you answer, “No” or “I’m not that bad,” then you are filled with pride and are like one of the Pharisees that Jesus condemned.
It’s about perspective, Darron. You can choose to view it from your perspective or God’s. Very simple.
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Darren. I pray that this is the actual conversation that is going on all over the world between parents and children.
Jimmy: Daddy, what happens when we die?
Dad: Well son, we are all born sinful due to our nature passed down from the first human beings God placed on the earth and therefore we all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.
However my son, We have a God who loves us very dearly and decided to place his only son Jesus, a perfect man on a cross to pay for our sins so that we do not have to spend eternity in hell, but in heaven with our savior and God Jesus. So if we love Jesus and believe that he has indeed died and risen from death for the forgiveness of all our sins and all the times we put our toys or friends above Jesus, or the times you don’t want to obey your mother or I, or the times we lie and steal or anything else we do everyday that doesn’t please God, we will be spending eternity in Heaven with him.
My son, let’s pray to Jesus to forgive us our sins and thank him for the sacrifice he has made so that we are able to spend eternity with him in heaven which will be far greater than any time we have on earth. I love you son and I want you to know that no matter what anyone else will ever tell you, God loves you too because you are his child. Goodnight
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By the way, Darron, here’s a question. Honestly answer: if I have a son and I’m a Christian and he lives in my home and I call him a “Christian child,” do you think that’s worse than beating him?
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Darron, I apologize for spelling your name wrong in my previous post. Forgive me.
Now, it seems to me that you may not be a Christian, am I right? I hope that maybe you understand the point of my reply, the fact is, we don’t have to spend eternity burning in hell and neither do our children, they need to be aware of the eternal possibilities that await them, hopefully they have parents or others in their lives that will point them to the direction of Jesus. And not use the possibility of going to Hell as a weapon of fear to get them to believe what we believe. Its about loving God because he first loved us and sharing the joy of God with others so they do not have to experience eternal damnation, but eternal pleasure in the presence of a loving, infinite, glorious, and just God.
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A child who is beaten but not killed will survive. You raise that same kid in a very religious home, without ever hitting him, he might fly a plane into a building or drive his car filled with explosives into an abortion clinic.
Dawkins was saying something sensationalist but it does have some truth to it.
Atheists don’t fly planes into buildings.
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so children should stay away from churches and sunday schools that intentionally serve the purpose of bringing a child closer to God?
I hate religion, my children won’t grow up in a “very religious home”. They will grow up in a loving home that isn’t based on what they have to do to stay away from hell, but a home that encourages them to know Christ. A loving home, not one of fear. I love God, I’m not religous, and I will never fly a plane into a building.
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Sisyphus Fragment,
Neither do Christians.
:)
james
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No, they just perform domestic terrorism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion-related_violence
September 11, 2006 David McMenemy attempted a suicide bombing of a women’s clinic in Davenport, Iowa after scouting targets throughout the Midwest. It was later revealed that the targeted clinic did not perform or make referrals for abortions.
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Sisyphus,
People like that do not prove themselves to be Christians!
In general, atheists find extremes when it comes to things like this. You’ll find the craziest “Christian” and then group all other Christian with them! If I were to find a story about an atheist who said, “I’m an atheist, but I think that morals could perhaps come from a higher, moral being,” you would say, “You are not a real atheist!”
Why the double standard? Let’s test whether or not someone has the evidence of a true Christian by what the Bible says, not what someone merely confesses with their mouth.
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These people would not be fanatics if there wasn’t something to be fanatical about.
You blow yourself up over god, not sports teams or tv shows.
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Sisyphus,
You’ll have to write more than that. Your comment is puzzling to me as it has little to do with my comment and question.
The Bible talks a lot about people who profess Christ, but have no fruit (evidence) of a real life change.
james
P.S. By the way, I really like Nebraska football. :)
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Sisyphus,
We all are fanatics about something.
What/who do you worship?
Cars? Sex? Food? The Yankees? Cowboys? NASCAR? Hollywood?
james
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Sisyphus,
I know hundreds of real Christians that would never even think of doing an act of violence like terrorism that you are linking to people who love God. So if you can say that teaching children to be Christians is bad because some nuts in the world take things too far because of their beliefs, then I am going to say that because I know many Christians who are good, loving people, then God is good. And children need to know him. You say you are right, I say I am right.
How do we really know?
I find my answer in the Bible and faith in my savior and creator.
Where does your answer come from?
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