Evolution is all around us
As anyone who knows the subject will tell him, it is the furthest thing from chance that one could imagine. That does not mean to say that it has intelligence or design in the sense that creationists might understand.
Mr Myers also calls evolution a theory, though I suspect that he did not mean to state that. It cannot be said often enough that biological evolution is not a theory, it is a scientific fact. The term "theory" is no longer appropriate except when referring to the various models that attempt to explain how life evolves. It is important to understand that current debates about these models in no way imply any disagreement over the fact of evolution. The evidence is all around us.
Other recent books by AC Grayling and Richard Dawkins (and many others going back to David Hume) make the serious point that atheism is not based on blind faith. It's the conclusion drawn by a rational mind from the available facts. Some of us just are not able to believe in fairies or gods or leprechauns, and while most of us, perhaps unlike Mr Hitchins, have no problem with other people having an irrational faith in religion, it is genuinely terrifying to many atheists and agnostics to see how much harm religion does in the modern world - from deluded suicide bombers to teachers who can tell children lies about the creation of the world.
It seems fashionable recently to have a pop at atheists as if we were the extremists. Most non-believers I know are kind and thoughtful people, who came to their lack of faith through reasoning out the facts for themselves. We value a secular society so that we are not forced to live by beliefs that we do not share. How extreme is that?
John Carolan
Cherrywood
Dublin 18
