Dawkins on Faith
Posted By Brett on October 15, 2009
Richard Dawkins has, on a number of occasions, defined faith as belief without evidence. Dawkins is an intelligent man and things like this should really be below him.
Faith is synonymous with belief. Both assume an object. There is something that is believed. Any proposition that we hold to be true is a belief. But biblical faith is more than this. Biblical faith not only believes certain propositions, but it rests in them. Biblical faith involves three things: notitia, assensus and fiducia.
- Notitia: This is the content of the faith. What are the facts? This is the very first step of biblical faith. There must be something for you to believe.
- Assensus: This is our assenting to the truthfulness of this content. Here we weight the evidences. We consider the eyewitness testimonies, “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty” (2 Peter 1:16). We examine the historicity of it “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,” (Luke 3:1). We recognize the need for an orderly examination, “Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught” (Luke 1:1). We examine the logical consistency of its historical root, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17). We are called not to just believe anything that comes our way, even if from a credible source, “Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11). We are to take a sober examination of all these things, :”but test everything; hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
Dabney has said, “Protestants, on the other hand, hold that faith must be explicit and intelligent, or it cannot be proper faith; that the propositions embraced must be known; and the evidence therefore comprehended intelligently.” (Dabney, Systematic Theology, Ch11). - Fiducia: This is where we put action to our intellectual conviction. “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” The demons understand the content of the Christian faith (noticia) and they believe it is true (assensus) but they do not rest in it (fiducia) and therefore lack biblical faith.
Both Christians and critics of Christianity need to understand this basic concept. It is just unacceptable for an intelligent critic of Christianity to not understand this basic concept. It is even worse when he has been repeated corrected on this very thing, even in a debate! The fact that he continues to use it does not speak well of his integrity. My admonition to Christians is to take the time to accurately represent those beliefs with which you disagree.
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