tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post6908440762864575112..comments2023-10-26T22:06:11.166+11:00Comments on Metamagician3000: Dawkins on the Old Testament GodRussell Blackfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12431324430596809958noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-65417230770068727352010-10-01T01:54:59.141+10:002010-10-01T01:54:59.141+10:00A few years ago Dawkins was interviewed on TV Onta...A few years ago Dawkins was interviewed on TV Ontario (Steve Paikin's show, for those who recognize the name). Paikin read that passage and complained that it wasn't "respectful". Dawkins, IMO, rather blew his reply. First he went off on a tangent about how wonderful that passage sounds when read aloud by his wife -- which is no doubt true, but came across as self-adulatory and pompous. Then he tried to get back on track by explaining he's not dissing religious believers, only the OT idea of God, but never really succeeded in analyzing the notion of "respect", and what deserves it and what doesn't, and calling out the entitlement claimed by religion. I don't think it requires a Simon Blackburn-length treatment to get the basic idea across, and Dawkins didn't.<br /><br />Much though I love me some Dawkins, at times he sticks his foot very firmly in his mouth, and this was one of those times.Eamon Knighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04262012749524758120noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-42881621587146905602010-10-01T00:38:06.394+10:002010-10-01T00:38:06.394+10:00If you look at the OT as an early attempt to under...If you look at the OT as an early attempt to understand and explain reality, the sheer capriciousness and malevolence of the OT god just mirrors the environment that the authors dealt with.steve oberskinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-15765431416787791572010-10-01T00:09:42.462+10:002010-10-01T00:09:42.462+10:00Yeah, you're right Russell. Dawkins is anythin...Yeah, you're right Russell. Dawkins is anything but mean spirited in his critique of religion. He is funny, objective, and possessed from time to time by a justifiable righteous indignation.<br /><br />Of course all of that comes off as strident when you are the walking bundle of exposed nerves that any thoughtful religious person is bound to be (as I myself once was). Your sensitivities are piqued: It's like when you have a nasty hangover and the sound of the toaster popping up your breakfast bagel is just so damned loud...and shrill.<br /><br />I'm glad you pointed out how skilled Dawkins is with language. His humor also goes unappreciated too often, I guess because it is subtle, and when you have a hangover, it's hard to appreciate subtlety.Spencer Troxellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03750605353914336538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-29504746503734088682010-09-30T22:30:11.073+10:002010-09-30T22:30:11.073+10:00If Dawkins' langauge regarding the god of the ...If Dawkins' langauge regarding the god of the OT is taken to be strident and shrill, then so is that of many OT commentators. Yes, Dawkins' description of the OT god is good linguistic fun, but it's also a fairly good characterisation of the god depicted there.<br /><br />One of the things that I noticed when reading through the OT as a child is that, in the Pentateuch at least, god is unpredictable and dangerous. It's hard to know just what it might get up to and how it might respond. The story of the moving of the ark of the covenant up to Jerusalem, after David had conquered the city and decided to make his capital there is a good example. While it was being moved on a cart, Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the ark so that it would not fall, and he was struck dead on the spot. (2Sam 6.7) Then of course there is the time, when Moses is sick, and God threatens his life. Moses' wife circumcises their son, touches Moses with the circumcised prepuce, and throws it in the direction of the threat, and Moses lives. (Ex 4.24-26)<br /><br />These are completely bizarre stories, and yet they give an eerie sense of the mysteriousness and danger of this being called God. Dawkins' amusing description of the OT God does not go nearly far enough. God reflects the uncertainty, contingency and cruelty of life itself.<br /><br />However, the NT God is even worse, for the NT God never lets go, and pursues his foes into the shadowy world of the after life, there to afflict for eternity those who are at enmity with him. In the light of the biblical evidence it is simply ridiculous that anyone should take exception to Dawkins' accurate, if incomplete, account of the nature of the biblical god.Greywizardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04125006513512601904noreply@blogger.com