richard_dawkins_-_the_god_delusion

152 T H E G O D I) E I, U S I G N
agnostics, one Jew, a deist, and 12 Christians (a Muslim
philosopher canceled at the last minute) - offered a perspective
clearly skewed in favor of religion and
Christianity.
Horgan's article is itself endearingly ambivalent. Despite his misgivings,
there were aspects of the experience that he clearly valued
(and so did I, as will become apparent below). Horgan wrote:
My conversations with the faithful deepened my appreciation
of why some intelligent, well-educated people
embrace religion. One reporter discussed the experience
of speaking in tongues, and another described having an
intimate relationship with Jesus. My convictions did not
change, but others' did. At least one fellow said that his
faith was wavering as a result of Dawkins's dissection of
religion. And if the Templeton Foundation can help bring
about even such a tiny step toward my vision of a world
without religion, how bad can it be?
Horgan's article was given a second airing by the literary agent
John Brockman on his 'Edge' website (often described as an on-line
scientific salon) where it elicited varying responses, including one
from the theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson. I responded to
Dyson, quoting from his acceptance speech when he won the
Templeton Prize. Whether he liked it or not, by accepting the
Templeton Prize Dyson had sent a powerful signal to the world. It
would be taken as an endorsement of religion by one of the world's
most distinguished physicists.
'I am content to be one of the multitude of Christians who
do not care much about the doctrine of the Trinity or the
historical truth of the gospels.'
But isn't that exactly what any atheistic scientist would say, if he
wanted to sound Christian? I gave further quotations from Dyson's
acceptance speech, satirically interspersing them with imagined
questions (in italics) to a Templeton official: