There's a baby crying....

Recently, I read an article in the Korea Herald by famous atheist Richard Dawkins. Reprinted from the LA Times, (April 18, 2008), the article criticizes intelligent design theory in favor of evolutionary theory. (Same article, from his website)

Dawkin's most recent book, "The God Delusion," has been a bestseller, and there's no doubt the guy is pretty smart. His book is a decent criticism of religion, and he's got some good points.

I have no problem with people who say intelligent design is not science. And his atheism is not a problem for me either. If he doesn't want to believe in God, that's his choice.

What I dislike is the attitude with which he writes. To me, it's just too critical and dismissive of opposing viewpoints, and it's in ways that just aren't relevant. I like experts who are able to speak with a degree of humility. Of course, by nature, finding them in this age when only certainty sells is a difficult thing. Experts these days only sell their ideas through confidence that they're the only one who's right.

The nature of experts, I think, can be illustrated in this story:

One day a baby was crying. Three wise men gathered around and gave three theories (a theory, after all, is an explanation about a certain issue).

The first one said, "The baby is hungry. It needs to be fed." The second one said, "No, no. The baby is uncomfortable. It needs to be burped." The third one said, "You are both wrong. The baby's diaper needs to be changed."

The mother came in and saw the baby crying. She fed it, and the first wise man said, "Aha! I was right!" She then burped the baby, and the second wise man said, "Yes! I was right!" She then changed the baby's diaper, and the third wise man said, "Oh! I was right!"

Now, I can think of a couple lessons from this story:

First, don't ever trust a man's opinion when it comes to a baby. Second, don't ever expect an "expert" to come back and say, "Oh, I was wrong." And third, it really doesn't matter anyway.

There's a baby crying. Let's do something about that.