Richard Dawkins's Child Abuse Claim

(UPDATE FEBRUARY 28: This article is no longer available through the Daily Press website, but it has now been republished at BreakPoint.org.)

This morning the Newport News Daily Press published my response to Richard Dawkins's The God Delusion; specifically, his claim that religion is a genuine form of child abuse. Lest any reader think I was overstating the case, you need not read it in his book; you can find it right on his website: "Religion's Real Child Abuse."

In fact, the evidence shows that generally speaking, spirituality (especially Christianity) is positively associated with mental and physical health. This is particularly true for teenagers, according to the study I referred to in the Daily Press. In over 90 different measures of social, physical, and emotional growth, the more religiously devoted teens do better than the less religiously devoted. (This research sampled teens all over America; the religious part of the sample was predominantly Christian simply because that's a reflection of religion in America.)

Reviewers all over--The New York Times, the London Review of Books, even atheist bloggers and many more--agree Dawkins's book is seriously flawed. Yet it continues its long run on the best-seller list (twenty weeks now). This is in spite of its being filled with factual inaccuracies beyond what I've already mentioned, and even thought in many ways it belies its author's own commitment to a scientific approach. One has to wonder what's behind its popularity, other than Dawkins's acknowledged great facility with English prose. What is it that's attractive about this kind of book? I'd be interested in your opinion.

If you haven't read the book, it's not really worth it. That's not just my advice. If you have read it, don't let Dawkins's easy style and self-assured manner keep you from thinking critically about what he has said. As I said on the Daily Press, Christianity has stood up before many challenges over the centuries. It will stand before this one as well.

In fact, while it's entirely true that the research I've linked to here is not proof of the basic beliefs of Christianity, I think it might lead a non-religious, thinking parent to wonder: "if teens raised in a Christian environment really do this much better, in general, than teens raised without religion, wouldn't it be a good idea, for the sake of my family, to check into it?"

Posted: Fri - February 9, 2007 at 10:57 PM |

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Richard Dawkins's Child Abuse Claim

Thinking Christian by Tom Gilson