The Humanists UK have been circulating this meme again recently.
It occasionally does the rounds. On the surface, it seems quite witty and clever. That’s no surprise, Douglas Adams was a clever, witty author. However, not all that sounds clever is wise and well-reasoned. This is one such case. We can of course forgive Adams, a writer of comedy fiction that. However, you would hope that Humanists UK could come up with something better to advance their cause.
The problem is, that as plenty of people were quick to point out, when you look at a beautiful, well kept garden, you don’t tend to think “There might be fairies at the bottom of it.” It would be weird to conclude that. However, it would be equally weird if you didn’t think “There must be a very good gardener who has developed and nurtured this garden.” The possible existence of other creatures, fanciful or not is irrelevant to the origins of the garden.
Now, it is also worth noting as well that whilst we don’t believe in the existence of fairies for all sorts of good reasons, again Adam’s belief or lack of belief in them whilst enjoying a garden is kind of irrelevant. And whilst I don’t believe in fairies either, there is also the risk with Adam’s argument that it reflects a general lack of curiosity. No, I don’t believe in fairies but if seeing a garden causes me to simply enjoy it in a manner that snuffs my curiosity then that cannot be healthy too. There may not be fairies at the bottom of my garden and so I am unlikely to go down there looking for them but if I never go to the bottom of my garden to look and see what I can find, I may miss out on other things instead.
Of course the big category error is that to believe in fairies is to believe in limited, finite magical creatures that are part of creation. It’s important to be clear that belief in God is not a belief in a magical creature like a fairy. No, I don’t believe in fairies or Disney-esq demi-gods. I believe in the sovereign, eternal creator of the universe.
Faithroots 