Just Finished Reading: Atheism – A Guide for the Perplexed by Kerry Walters (FP: 2010)

Over the past year or so I have become increasingly bored with the so-called God Debate (or should I call it the So-called Debate). I have come to the conclusion that those arguing the point are merely stating their own opinions and attempt to argue against the opinions held by the other ‘side’. Neither group can offer the killer argument because there isn’t one. You can neither prove nor disprove the existence of God – especially to the other side’s satisfaction. Any debate about God him (or her) self is speculation of the idlest sort. If God exists (which I firmly do not believe despite everything I’ve just said) I sincerely doubt if we could know anything significant about him/her/it. It would, I feel, be a bit like asking an ant crawling along a cable to speculate about the attributes of the Internet as data pours along the fibres beneath its feet. It’s about as pointless as it gets. What increasingly surprises and saddens me is that some of the world’s greatest minds – and not just on the side of the Atheists – spend a great deal of time, effort and energy debating the subject when they could be off doing something useful with their lives.

With that in mind it might surprise you that I spent a long weekend reading this book especially as I’m hardly perplexed about my Atheism. To be honest I’m not exactly sure why I picked it up either. I’d actually forgotten that I’d bought it and had only recently rediscovered it ‘lost’ between two piles of books. In a moment of weakness I thought I’d see if Professor Walters could actually produce a readable and interesting book on a subject that I had basically given up on. Surprisingly he did – which is why I managed to read its 177 pages without throwing my hands up in horror/exasperation or being bored to tears. He did elicit a few eye rolls (especially when he talked about a rapprochement between theists and atheists) but overall managed to be very even handed in his treatment of both sides which was honestly refreshing these days. At times I did feel he was giving the theist too much leeway but then, within a few pages, I felt that he might be giving the atheists a bit too much credit. If I had to place him on one side or the other I’d plump for him (just) being on the side of the atheists as he effectively called into question every theist argument for God rightly saying that they are all inadequate and some are so seriously flawed as to be embarrassing. He also rightly pointed out that there is no killer argument on the atheist side that shows beyond doubt the God does not or cannot exist. Their arguments are better (both he and I believe) but they are not the last word.

I can’t say that the last section ruined things for me but he did call into question his apparent impartiality by proposing and calling for a constructive dialogue between the two sides of the debate – over the apparent common ground of spirituality. He was very careful to draw similarities between theistic beliefs and the natural wonder and sometimes awe we all feel sometimes just by experiencing the world/universe that we’re all part of. Whilst I acknowledge that such a thing exists I think that he’s making a fundamental mistake of attempting to compare things that, on the face of it, could be seen as the same – or very similar – things but are in fact quite different. Awe at the universe might be a factor in religious feeling but I don’t believe that a meaningful relationship between the two opposing sides can be built on such a thing.

Anyway, this is an interesting book for either atheists or theists who are, like me, tired of the polemics and tirades from both sides and just want to understand what all of the fuss is about (not a great deal I contend). In centuries to come I hope that people are truly perplexed as to why so much energy and words were used on this subject in the same way we laugh at the supposed medieval debates on angels dancing on pin-heads.