I saw this video by theologian Alister McGrath on Facebook this morning. I posted the following comments on Facebook in response to the video:
Bud: McGrath is attacking a straw man. Neither Dawkins nor Hitchens said they want absolute proof. No atheist worth listening to would say this. Reason may have limits, but until we know for certain what those limits are, there is no option but to pursue knowledge in order to figure out how much we can actually know. And reason's having limits does not justify discarding reason, or supplanting reason to "fill in the gap." People were "stunned" when Dawkins said he couldn't prove god doesn't exist. Why? Because otherwise intelligent people like Alister McGrath continue to misrepresent what atheists believe.
Bud: One more thing: McGrath refered to Hitchens' line in which he says "our beliefs are no beliefs," but misinterpreted that part of Hitchens' book. Hitchens actually wrote: "Our belief is not a belief. Our principles are not a faith. We do not rely solely upon science and reason, because these are necessary rather than sufficient factors, but we distrust anything that contradicts science or outrages reason." McGrath willfully ignores that part, and I say "willfully" because he's too intelligent to have neglected it on accident.
Bud: I'm going to write about the distinction between necessary and sufficient conditions in my next critical thinker entry, but it helps to understand that distinction to truly grasp what Hitchens is saying. I'm sure McGrath knows it (in spite of his words in this video).
Alister McGrath is incredibly intelligent, yet so incredibly wrong, which makes this video even more annoying. At least I can take a little bit of joy away in knowing that this video has close to six times as many dislikes as likes on YouTube.
— Dead-Logic
