The key argument against the existence of God, if I have understood Richard Dawkins correctly, is that introducing the hypothesis of a cosmic designer to explain the complexity of the natural world does not simplify matters but introduces a new level of complexity. If the natural world is so wonderfully intricate in itself, then any entity capable of conceiving and creating it must be even more wonderfully intricate.
Dawkins shows how evolution by natural selection can explain the complexity of life on our planet, and he therefore cannot see how an even more complex being, as a creator God must inevitably be, could come into existence without some kind of evolutionary mechanism.
I acknowledge that evolution explains how something as ‘clearly designed’ at the human eye or the wing of a bird can come about through a simple but powerful process. It follows that the appearance of design can be an illusion. Complexity can be the surprising end result of a simple explanation. It doesn’t follow that complexity (and specifically meaningful, intelligent, seemingly well-designed complexity) always requires some simpler explanatory process. In other words, being able to explain the method by which some complex life came into existence doesn’t imply that all forms of complex life (such as God) can be reduced to a simpler explanation.
This is a very scientific way of approaching reality – trying to understand it by looking for simpler rules and laws which would explain the observed facts. It’s a great way to explore life and one which I enjoy myself. But it’s not the only game in the playground. When it comes to relationships, trying to understand someone by finding simple key concepts that explain their behaviour is probably one of the least helpful approaches. Personal relationships are not about reducing to simple stereotypes, but about embracing the whole breadth and depth of another human life.
I am grateful for Richard Dawkins in making clear that any God worth his salt cannot be a simple, easily understood entity, but has to be a awesomely complex being of fathomless depths. It's a good job we have eternity to get to know him.
