Dawkins negative vibes does not help people appreciate both sides of religion

Richard Dawkins (Image: Sunday Times)

I'm not religious. I don't follow a particular religion and I do not visit church on Sundays, nor do I attend Mosque on Fridays. However, I do believe in God. And I'm a firm believer that religion plays a crucial, positive role in society. We saw that with the Islamic faith when Eid was widely celebrated across the world last month, and I'm sure Christmas will have a similar effect when we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ three months from now.

However, not many people today appreciate religion. Richard Dawkins (pictured above), a prolific religion-sceptic, told an audience recently that atheism (those who don't believe in God) is essentially winning the "war" against religion. He has seen recent statistics fall in favour of those who don't preach, pray in sacred places as there is almost 50% of Britons that do not follow a particular faith.

Statistics do not lie. I have noticed that churches, which were an integral part of local communities, are today being converted into apartments. Church owners can no longer afford the mounting costs of building maintenance, and as fewer people attend church, the income in these places has significantly decreased. For me, it is such a shame to see the trend happen and it has somewhat made me wish I attended church a little more often, although it is never too late for me to do this.

Religion has its positive points, like anything else. And like everything else, religion has its issues. Nobody or nothing is perfect or completely ideal. This is something we have to appreciate. One thing we must learn is to take advantage of the positives and make the best out of the negatives, which will come to your advantage also.

So it baffles me to think why Richard Dawkins doesn't think of religion like this? Dawkins, a man of huge intelligence, an influential evolutionary biologist, must know a good analysis must see two sides to every argument. Many evolutionary biologists have varied opinions of God's existence and I will appreciate and accept Dawkins's thoughts on the matter, even if I disagree with him.

But for Richard Dawkins to treat his "atheism v theism" concept as a "war" is absolutely ridiculous. For me, this comment is both childish and insensitive towards so many people. It is like we have moved on from the "war against racism" and we have progressed to attacking religion, and because Dawkins is influential, people believe his theories and therefore, many are turning their back on religion.

Some have the right to be frustrated about some religious concepts. Some religions don't accept homosexuals, for example, whilst others don't believe in sex before marriage. In addition, we have newspapers and broadcast TV and radio news channels emphasise stories that Muslim extremists go out of their way to cause trouble, while British-based Muslims are being disgraced by the idiocy of parties like the British National Party and English Defence League. No doubt these are sensitive issues which people are passionate about and as we live in a democracy, we have the honourable right to speak our concerns. However, we have people like Richard Dawkins who delve so much into the negative of a concept, they have forgotten, or choose to disregard its positives.

Religion has been part of ours and our previous generations' lives for centuries, and to me, supporting or at least appreciate the fact religion teaches us to have faith in one another. To me, if you have faith, you have appreciation, an open mind, acceptance - something Richard Dawkins lacks. Instead, he lets his anger take advantage and then becomes ignorant towards those who try and discuss the positive points of religion. Little does he realise, he isn't perfect. Neither am I, and neither is anyone.

Besides, I believe religion is taking a turn for the "better". My only past supposed "problem" with religion is that it was still trapped in the 20th Century and in order to survive, it needed to enter today's times. I think it's starting to be the case. In Catholicism, they have a new Pope who is sharing the views to those who protested against his religion previously. It may take a while to win them over but he is getting there. The Pope seems humble and may turn Catholic's image around.

We have seen promising changes to Islam too. Even though I am strongly against politicising religion, Iran's new President Hassan Rouhani has pledged for his country to befriend the West again in an attempt to improve relationships former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad retracted. Mending these relationships will take a long while, however all religion needs is a couple of people to improve the image in the long term. For Rouhani, his challenge is a challenging as he has a leading cleric, the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to please too and his views are rather radical. But who knows?

In the meantime however, rather than bury yourself in the past, people should look to the future and embrace the present's positives and possibilities. It is always reasonable to remind people of the negatives, but not so much as to cause conflict. There is far too much grief going on and life would be made much simpler and peaceful if we focused on the positives, as well as acknowledging the challenges which lie ahead.