By RICHARD DAWKINS
Updated: Thu, 26 Jul 2012 14:57:32 UTC

I whiled away a pleasant hour or so on the plane to Tokyo, reading A C Grayling's excellent little book, Against All Gods. Strongly recommended. Here's a sample paragraph, which might repay discussion:-

There is a biochemistry professor at Lehigh University in the United States called Michael J Behe, darling of the Creationists, who says that biological structures are 'irreducibly complex' and their existence can therefore only be explained by invoking a divine designer. This absurd argument, which alleges a mystery (the existence of complex biological structures) and claims to solve it by introducing an arbitrary and even greater mystery (the existence of a deity), has exactly the same logical force of saying that the shapes of clouds are designed by Fred. (Who or what is Fred? Pick a legend to explain.)

This, it seems to me, should be the last word on all arguments from design, cosmological arguments, arguments from first cause, etc. Will any "sophisticated theologian" dissent?

TAGGED: BOOKS, CREATIONISM, IRRATIONALITY