G'day George,
Your point is well taken. Although “the God Delusion” is one of the few books I have bought in recent times (my library card is my most valued possession), and although I agree with most if not all of the arguments Dawkins puts forward, no, humility is not a word that springs to mind when I think of Dawkins.
In fact, I think Dawkins has all the makings of a fine 'fire and brimstone' preacher.
Except for one small attribute, of course.

Dear George,

The attitude by religion to Einstein's and Dawkins' areas of scientific interest differs. The Vatican and other representatives of mainline religions have accepted scientific cosmology. Mainline churches accept that the world was not created in six literal days, that the earth orbits the sun and that the sun is one of many stars. Galileo was under house arrest by the Catholic church partially because of his insistance that the earth orbits the sun, and Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake in 1600 since he thought there could be many solar systems. No significant religious figures currently deny the findings of Copernicus and Bruno. At least one Catholic cardinal currently denies evolution.

There is still an ongoing battle about evolutionary biology with 'faith' schools in the UK and other places teaching Creationism and Intelligent Design. Einstein was passionate about the view of the universe he could see, and Dawkins is passionate about evolutionary biology. The relativistic universe is not under attack, but evolution is. Einstein's passion has been accepted, but Dawkins' is still under attack.

One can find justification in the Bible for an earth centred universe. Joshua 10:12 Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. 10:13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. 10:14 And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel.

There is not the same acceptance of evolutionary biology as of cosmology. If Einstein's scientific findings had been under attack by religion he might have had the same attitude that Dawkins has.

G'day Davidf,
your argument is perfectly reasonable, but I'm not sure if it's entirely relevant. We are still discussing Theism v. Atheism, are we not? Or have we moved to Creationism v. Evolution?
As someone posted earlier:
“However, none of that means that he had any particular insights as to the existence of any kind of God. IMHO God is one of the great human inventions to deal with the mysteries of the universe. It seems to me there can be no experts in that area – only opinions which are based on our exposure to the surrounding culture and our resistance or acceptance of it.”
I would have thought humility was an attribute of personality, rather than strength of belief.

Dear Grim,

I was responding to the difference in Dawkins' and Einstein's attitudes toward religion. Einstein's scientific theories are not under attack by the theists whereas Dawkins' are. Therefore my post was relevant to atheism vs. theism. If theists left evolutionary biology alone I doubt that Dawkins would feel so strongly about atheism. Theism is one thing, and the Bible is another. I see no reason that a person could accept the existence of a God and completely reject the Bible. Why should they be put together? My atheism stems from a rejection of a Bible. The arbitrary, brutal God pictured there is no god I can worship. All the other gods I have heard of also seem unreasonable. However, maybe somewhere there is a reasonable deity. Such an entity could have no relation to the Bible or Koran.

Right now one of my concerns is the intolerance of theists. My youngest grandson is bullied in school partly because his father is an atheist. In an ideal world people would accept what other people believe. Atheists would accept theists, and theists would accept atheists.

Unfortunately Christianity and Islam are both missionary religions which seek to have everybody believe the same as they do. I am glad there are two missionary religions as they can act as counterweights to each other.

There are also missionary atheists. I wish there were no missionaries at all. I would like to see a world where people could make their beliefs known without anybody else getting their knickers in a twist about them.

However, when religious belief conflicts with scientific findings I regard science as pre-eminent.

david f,

Thanks for bringing some perspective to this thread (something that has been sorely missing in the last couple of days) regarding Einstein vs Dawkins. Rusty touched on the same point too, but unfortunately George chose only to address a very literal interpretation of what he said. 

It's so easy for us to all sit here and - smug in the knowledge that a brilliant, early 20th century scientific mind said some stuff that makes us feel good about our worldview - so pompously attack those willing to put themselves out there in defense of what their life circumstances and times have lead them to believe is right. But until we put ourselves in the firing-line for something we believe in too, then we're all just pontificating.

david f,

I think there would be plenty of people who believe in 'a God' (not necessarily the Christian God, but even many of these also) and who reject the Bible - or at least refuse to take it literally. I expect the same would hold for some Muslims, not taking the Koran (Qur'an), at least all of it, too literally. (Some in both camps seem to pick and choose, and interpret meaning, at will.)

It seems certain that all fundamentalism, all closed-mindedness, is retrograde, if not outright divisive and destructive. Wish it could be otherwise, with all scripture being benign and having only one intent and purpose - that being for people to lead good, ethical and responsible lives, in harmony with one-another and with the natural world.

That is my God - the God of peace, harmony and respect for all life. The universe, the cosmos, is great; and if I interpret Einstein correctly, his great love was in both admiring and in trying to understand, to comprehend. I think we should do no less, and with a mind open to all possibilities - but always in a positive way.