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A 'God Delusion' for young people? Dawkins to take on fairies
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Richard Dawkins
“If you want your children to be intelligent,
read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent,
read them more fairy tales.”
I immediately thought of this Albert Einstein quote when I heard that Richard Dawkins is worrying about children reading about wizards and spells and magic wands.
Dawkins is the Oxford-based evolutionary biologist who gave religion a smackin’ right cross with his bestseller The God Delusion.
A few days ago he told Britain’s Channel 4 that he is planning on writing a children’s book “to explore children’s relationship with fairy tales and encourage them to think about the world scientifically not mythologically.”
It sounds like he’s taking aim primarily at his fellow countryman, J.K.Rowling. Frequently we hear from religious zealots who think Harry Potter promotes witchcraft or Satanism and is anti-Christian or anti-religious. Dawkins is worrying that fairy tales are separating kids from rational thinking. This is a unique viewpoint to say the least.
Einstein meant that thought processes are promoted, not reduced, by the imagination. He also said:
“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”
and
"When I examine myself and my methods of thought,
I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me
than any talent for abstract, positive thinking."
Uncharacteristically inarticulate, Dawkins said: “I would like to know whether there’s any evidence that bringing children up to believe in spells and wizards and magic wands and things turning into other things — it is unscientific, I think it’s antiscientific. Whether that has a pernicious effect, I don’t know.”
Dawkins would be right to be concerned if the concept of fiction weren’t being explained to children, but I’m sure that’s not the case.
He’s waiting on the wrong track if he thinks kids are going to turn up looking for Platform 9 and ¾ for a real trip.
On the other hand, giving scientific method a boost is always a good idea. The forces of irrationality don’t rest. I just got a book in the mail that’s being promoted by Zondervan Publishing House. It’s called What is God Really Like? and is written by Beverly Lewis, author of bestselling novels with Amish settings.
This book is so full of the type of God-is-good falsehood that religion forces on children that it should be a criminal offense, if only censorship weren't a bad idea. Consider: “Obeying Him keeps us safe and happy.” Lewis doesn't explain why innocent children get sick and hurt. Or, “He has enough love for everyone in the whole world.” According to the Christian organization Bread for the World, almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes every-day--one child every five seconds. How do they reconcile that with God's unlimited capacity for love? How about the hundreds of thousands of children, herding animals, planting crops, or just playing, who have been killed or maimed by land mines placed by combatants in wars they know nothing about -- about 800 a year at the current rate? Lewis tells kids they can ask God for help "if you're in trouble or lost." Wanna bet that will help? How about including at least one fact, Miss Lewis?. The Second Commandment, say, in which God promises to punish those who don't bow down before him AND their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, whether guilty or not. What is God like in light of this edict? Petulant, narcissistic, paranoid, cruel, and irrational come to mind. On second thought, let Dawkins tell children about science and rational thought. Take a swing prof!
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