There Is Nothing Blind about Faith

I believe in the sun even when it is not shining; in love even when I am alone; and in God even when He is silent.

The simple truth is that belief is just a normal human way of making sense of a complex world. It is not blind - it just tries to make the best sense of things on the basis of the limited evidence available.

As the philosopher Julia Kristeva observed, "whether I belong to a religion, whether I be agnostic or atheist, when I say 'I believe', I mean 'I hold as true'."

Dawkins clearly believes otherwise. He set out his characteristic views on this matter in The Selfish Gene back in 1976.

"[Faith] is a state of mind that leads people to believe something - it doesn't matter what - in the total absence of supporting evidence. If there were good supporting evidence, then faith would be superfluous, for the evidence would compel us to believe it anyway."

This is an unsustainable view of the relation of evidence and belief in the natural sciences, or anywhere else. For a start, it fails to make the critical distinction between the "total absence of supporting evidence" and the "absence of totally supporting evidence." Think about it.

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