Sunday 27th April Easter 2

In his delightful book, ‘The God Delusion’, Richard Dawkins rails against unquestioning faith.
In his atheist world, everything must be evidence based, able to stand up to rigorous, scientific investigation. The ‘problem’ with religious people, people of faith, is that they just don’t think – that is, according to Dawkins. Dear Mr Dawkins, may I introduce you to Thomas.

Despite all his friends saying that they had seen the risen Jesus, Thomas was adamant:
“Unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe it.” This is not ‘Doubting Thomas’; this is ‘Independent Thinking Thomas’. Rather than get caught up in the group hysteria, Thomas wanted evidence, he wanted to think it through for himself. He was a disciple of Brian, whose central message is: ‘You’re all individuals. You’re all different. You’ve got to work it out for yourselves.’ So Thomas was prepared to question. And hence tradition has labelled him ‘Doubter’.

But doubt is not necessarily negative. Doubt is not a failing, not a falling away from faith. In order to doubt, you have to have some form of belief. Doubt can lead to creatively rethinking, revaluating what we think and believe. Faith is the resolution of doubt. The problem for Richard Dawkins to resolve is that people of faith ask a lot of questions, have often struggled with their faith, have been through periods of doubt, and are, as a result, more sure of their faith.

So, from me, a big thank you to Richard Dawkins for ‘The God Delusion’. Having read it, I am all the more sure of what I hope for and more certain of what I do not see.
Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again!
ALLELUIA, CHRIST IS RISEN!
HE IS RISEN INDEED, ALLELUIA!

Rev Phil