Religious goalposts like water into wine
Terry Eagleton has just given an interview on a Canadian radio show called The Current, to promote his book Reason, Faith and Revolution: Reflections on the God Debate. The book was written in defence of religion, which has supposedly been much maligned by the “New Atheists” like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. You can listen to the interview here (scroll to the player at the bottom of the page):
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2009/200906/20090619.html
Some good arguments against the new atheists are welcome and keenly anticipated. Religion makes such a big deal about some ethereal being or concept they call god, so where is it and what is it? Unfortunately Eagleton’s arguments were unsatisfactory, disappointing and lacked any real substance. Apparently atheists are not asking the right questions and are looking in all the wrong places.
The pure waffling and nonsense from Eagleton accounted to little more than moving the goal posts to sidestep the critics’ questions and evade their lines of reasoning. In fact he took it one step further by redefining the goal posts altogether, so that he could mock them for scoring a touchdown while he stands off to the side and points to a waiting basketball hoop. Well, if religion can turn water into wine, why not?
We’ve heard it all before: We no longer believe in Zuess and the other ancient Greek gods because that’s all silly and belongs to a less educated past, and don’t even think about worshipping like a Pagan these days. Apparently the caricatured version of a Christian god is now also unacceptable and you have to go to Theology school to learn the truth, which is all about love and probably doesn’t involve praying to voices in your head any more. So don’t worry, there is a god and religion is not the awful thing those nasty New Atheists portray it as.
He finally touches on some of his own fears for a world without religion, but his ad hominen attack pointing out that Hitchens, as an atheist, supported the war in Iraq, is an ill-advised one. Does he fail to recall the Christian who started that war, or is that just another goalpost in need of refurbishment?
