Portsmouth Cathedral Institute hosts a series of talks on six books that got people talking. Join speakers at the Cathedral for a short presentation followed by an informal discussion.
Free
Lecture by Professor Sir Jonathan Montgomery
Richard Dawkins, formerly Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford, argues that belief in God is not merely irrational but harmful; in religious terms it is ‘evil’. He is prone to rudeness and polemical language, but amply demonstrates that this is mild by comparison to the utterances of faith leaders. He challenges us to defend our belief in a God portrayed in the Bible as ‘a petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.’ Whether or not we find convincing his Darwinist explanation for the persistence of religion, we need to face up to the moral challenge of his robust and stark re-presentation of Christianity. If God has even some of these characteristics, how can our response be worship rather than resistance? There is plenty to quibble with in the detail, but this book profoundly challenges us to explain why our God is ‘good’.
