The cowardly sophistry of Richard Dawkins

I was reading an article about the most famous atheist in the world, Richard Dawkins, in the Times and realized there are significant differences between Christian missionaries and Dawkins. Dawkins muses that he would like to "convert" Muslims to evolution, odd language to begin with, but his proposed methodology is to have his books translated into Arabic so he can sell them. He "wishes" someone would do it and then complains that his books have been censored so no one has ever been able to read them in the Middle East. If they were able, he believes they would immediately see his point and come round to his way of thinking.

There are several things that separate Dawkins in this proposed missionary endeavor or actually desire, from Christians. The first is that Christians haven't simply waited and wished for someone to translate the Bible so that others can read it, they have actually gone about the work of either translating it themselves or paying for the work to be done. They haven't complained about censorship of the Bible or it being banned in these countries, they have risked their lives smuggling it. They haven't sought to make the Bible a bestseller, they have given them away for nothing.

Another distinction is that Dawkins gives only a second hand account about what may have happened to his Turkish publisher. He "may have been arrested." It seems that Dawkins hasn't actually gone to try and convert anyone in person. Christians have risked their lives on their beliefs because they believe that it is eternally important to others that they take these risks in the belief God loves those other people. Dawkins rests easy, hires a publisher, stays home, gives lectures to fawning audiences, attempts to sell books and bemoans the failure of the enterprise.

The only risk Dawkins takes is that Christians will disapprove of his work and disagree with his writings. The price he pays for that risk is that his books sell well to those who agree with him and even more so because of the controversy. Christopher Hitchens, Dawkins fellow in arms against religion, characterizes Christianity and Islam as equally dangerous, but this article puts the lie to that false equivalency. Dawkins work isn't censored in the west, he is at no physical risk and he openly speaks his opinions. To do so in a Muslim country would require a greater level of courage of conviction. That courage takes a committed Christian, someone who truly believes that this life and the next are important, that other people truly matter, and that what they believe is worth dying for.