Here are two clips from YouTube that pertain to our conversation today. The first is from Richard Dawkins, a prominent athiest, whom I have mentioned in class already. We'll discuss him much more later on. In this clip, he talks about different types of truth, but he calls this relativism, and, as I explained in class today, I think that is too simplistic a dismissal, and not actually what I or Rowan Williams (The Archbishop of Canterbury) is getting at in this interview. Like Karen Armstong, I think that there are many problems with Dawkins and his critique of religion, though I also thing he makes some good and interesting challenges, but again, there will be more on that later. All of that being said, Williams gives a good explanation of what I meant today by "sustained creation" though not necessarily a good explanation of religious truth, although, we can't necessarily hear everything that he said as Dawkins talks over him a bit.
Now, here is Rowan Williams speaking concerning Richard Dawkins. Here I think he is getting at what I was trying to move towards when I asked about falling in love in class today...or even about "artistic truth."
I think these are interesting additions to our conversation. That being said, I don't want to get too hung up on the atheist critique just yet as we'll come back to it towards the end of class. However, what I do want to focus on now is the role of understandings of truth in the conversation between science and religion. We'll talk more about various undestandings of truth throughout history in our next class...as well as St. Thomas Aquinas of course.
Until then, have a good weekend, and feel free to comment here if you like.
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