There\u2019s something called \u2018an appeal to authority\u2019. It involves glibly quoting someone more famous or more intelligent than yourself as though that proves the point you\u2019re trying to make. Both Christians and Atheists do it, and it\u2019s annoying.<\/p>\n
I call it the Stephen Fry syndrome (Melchett from Blackadder for our American readers): here\u2019s a wonderfully funny, clever, charming man who everybody loves, and who doesn\u2019t believe in God. He is patently more in-the-know than me, so I can therefore hide behind his beliefs, appropriate them for myself, and never properly engage with the questions at hand. I will also leeringly deride anyone who dares to question Stephen Fry\u2019s view on God, because he\u2019s cleverer than that person, too \u2013 #win<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not that quotes aren\u2019t helpful at times, but they aren\u2019t arguments in and of themselves. They can often act as placebos, giving us the idea that we\u2019re more clued up than we really are, while actually stopping us from engaging with the question of truth. It\u2019s so frustrating to hear people say \u2018Well, you\u2019re an atheist when it comes to Zeus\u2019, as though it\u2019s something that has just sprung into their fertile mind, and not something that gets copy-and-pasted by atheist automatons. (Nb. Christians do exactly the same thing with C.S. Lewis and…er…Bono?)<\/p>\n
So let\u2019s check out some quotes that get bandied around, and look at how we might respond. Remember, shooting down a quotation doesn\u2019t necessarily prove anyone right or wrong, but our gripe is with the people who victoriously parade such quotes like placards of objective truth.<\/p>\n
Truth is not a popularity contest. We are all wrong about lots of things in life, so no matter who says what, our aim should be (in the name of intellectual honesty) to look into the truth of the statement, not at the wealth, social standing, number of Twitter followers of the person making it.<\/p>\n
\u201cFaith means not wanting to know what is true.\u201d \u2014 Friedrich Nietzsche<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Richard Dawkins uses something similar when he says that \u2018Faith is being content with not knowing\u2019. Nietzsche was a brilliant philosopher, but I don\u2019t understand where he plucked this from. I have literally never read a single Christian apologist from throughout history who affirmed this statement. Faith, in Christian terms, means \u2018putting your trust in\u2019, but to apply that here would mean that Christians \u2018put our trust in not wanting to know what is true\u2019. That just doesn\u2019t make any sense. You might think that\u2019s what Faith-heads do, but you\u2019d be way off-piste. I became a Christian in my early twenties, because I wanted to know what was true. I didn\u2019t look at the list of all the worldviews and think, \u2018Hey, that one where you can\u2019t have sex before marriage \u2013 sounds perfect!\u2019 I may be wrong about God, but my route to Him came out of genuinely desiring truth, not ignoring it.<\/p>\n
\u201cMan will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.\u201d \u2014 Denis Diderot<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Nicely said, Denis (who really sounds like he should play in midfield for Auxerre). But in this world we would still be left with someone happy enough to gruesomely kill other human beings using their own innards. How do we get free of that guy? Oh brave new world…<\/p>\n
\u201cThe presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to the presence of those who think they’ve found it.\u201d – Terry Pratchett<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I love Terry Pratchett \u2013 what an amazing mind that man has. But I don\u2019t agree with this. I mean, what if those guys who had been seeking the truth suddenly came upon it? Isn\u2019t that the whole point of seeking something? I don\u2019t find my car keys in the morning and then think, \u2018I better just check in a few more places\u2019. My wife doesn\u2019t come in and say, \u2018I preferred you before you got all hoity-toity and confident about finding your keys; keep looking or it\u2019s divorce.\u2019<\/p>\n
It\u2019s great to seek the truth, but isn\u2019t it ultimately depressing if we never feel like we can get to it. That was the whole problem with Lost! Five series of expecting answers that never materialised. Embarrassing.<\/p>\n
Next week, we\u2019ll look at a few more. And, as you will have noticed, we\u2019re being light-hearted about this, so feel free to get involved in the comments section. It\u2019s great to banter \u2013 C.S Lewis said that, so it must be true.<\/p>\n
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