Mahadeo Panchu's Atheism, like Darwinism, begins and ends with ... nothing!

Dear Editor,

I refer to a letter captioned “Dawkins’ Book has been hailed by churchmen and reviewers” (SN 11/01/10) and would appreciate the opportunity to rebut!

Mahadeo Panchu now confirms what others like Surujbally had been loathe to admit ... that McDonald's abortive piece represented nothing less than an attempt to illustrate his own convictions ("... reservations concerning the existence of a supernatural being ..."), and that he expected no one to question his motives, or his sources.

McDonald clearly wasn't just saluting Dawkins’ scholarship, but was selling us his own atheistic basket of fake goods while ignoring the opposing view!

What is now clear is that these pathetic defences of Ian McDonald's obvious self-indulgence seem to be getting shorter and shorter ... the only option apparently left being not to present new evidence, but to engage in the semantic defeatism of phraseology such as "... Thoughtful churchmen and reviewers have hailed Dawkins’ "The God Delusion" as a splendid contribution to national thought..."

It should not escape Panchu's rather unfocused and indeterminate logic that even more "thoughtful churchmen and reviewers" have hailed the Bible as a BETTER contribution to national thought. In our own context, Psalms 14:1 and Proverbs 14:34 would be effective starting points in the search for a national ethos!

As far as an “ethos” goes, atheism begins with nothing and ends with … nothing!

So, in another seamless moment of 'splendid' intellectual confusion, Mahadeo Panchu proves another point that Dawkins made: "... Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist ..."

Sorry, Mahadeo, it gets worse! McDonald's torment ... or delusion ... is a function, and a result, of his own choices about whom he chooses to believe, as readers can judge for themselves in the unedited version of the original submission "I have to believe! ... a response to 'rationalist' Ian McDonald" (http://rogerwilli.blogspot.com/2009/12/i-have-to-believe-response-to.html ).

McDonald went to church on Christmas Eve 2009 CHOOSING to believe the "Dawkin Delusion" that he has been fed, and ignoring the natural and Biblical evidence to the contrary.

If he claims ignorance to this "evidence", and CHOOSES to ignore both Nature and the Bible, then Philip Johnson's "Darwin on Trial" may be a good start for his return to mental and emotional stability. Then there is always Lee Strobel's "The Case for Christ!". It will all lead back to the Word of God!

These exchanges hinge on the presentation of appropriate evidence, and the reasonable conclusions that can be drawn from those facts. That being the case, Mahadeo, Jonathan Wells sums up Dawkins' "contribution" rather well, don’t you think, at page 8 of 8 in the online article "The Survival of the Fakest" ( http://www.discovery.org/articleFiles/PDFs/survivalOfTheFakest.pdf )!

Yours faithfully
Roger Wiliams

January 11, 2010