Speaking at a lecture at Swansea University’s Taliesin Arts Centre, [Rowan] Williams described religious belief as ‘naturally self-critical’ which was a point that contemporary critics such as evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, often missed. ‘There are specific areas of mismatch between what Dawkins may write about and what religious people think they are doing,’ he said.

Williams was referring to Dawkins’s book, The God Delusion, in which the atheist scientist attacks God ‘in all his forms’ arguing that belief in a supernatural entity is irrational. Williams said that God is real for believers and existed before the universe did. He said Dawkins had ‘picked up on’ the fact that theologians talk about God as a simple explanation but if God was around before the Big Bang, ‘he must be complex’.

Archbishop: Dawkins got religion wrong | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited.

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