Marilynne Robinson mentions how Dawkins says, “Imagine … no persecution of Jews as ‘Christ-killers.'” Then Robinson criticizes Dawkins for condemning Jews for discouraging “marrying out”. Am I the only one who sees how irrelevant this is? Dawkins never said he loved the Jewish faith. In fact, Dawkins should be praised for being able to criticize Jews and be sympathetic at the same time, it shows that he’s thinking objectively (about Jews at the very least, he seems angry in the rest of his book).
Robinson then criticizes Dawkins for his wanton way of dealing with Hitler’s “science”. He claims Dawkins deals with Hitler in a single sentence, when in fact Dawkins devotes a whole chapter on it. Robinson also forgets to raise the question of whether or not Hitler committed atrocities in the name of science as opposed to personal gain. There’s also the fact that Hitler was raised in a Catholic family, went to Catholic school, and never formally renounced his religion.
Robinson brings up a good point that if we criticize all of religion, we should then be able to criticize all of science. In order to do this, you have to define religion and science. Religion is defined as a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs. All religions do this, including extremist factions, so those are still clearly defined as religion. However, as it says in your psychology textbooks, science requires intellectual honesty. The Piltdown Hoax, being a hoax, clearly isn’t intellectually honest.
Robinson also says, “That God exists outside time as its creator is an ancient given of theology.” This is why we cannot prove/disprove God. Religious zealots always wave the fact that science cannot disprove God as a defense. However, Robinson’s quote is the reason why science cannot disprove God, religions place their God outside the boundaries of science, logic, and all things rational.