Marcus Brigstocke does not
believe in God. But he is not one of the aggressive Hitchens/Dawkins school.
No, he is a Thoughtful, Reflective Agnostic Who, Like, Totally Understands Why Some
People Need Faith.
That, at least, is how he
presents himself – as a genuine seeker after truth, willing not only to listen
to the claims of religion, but to think carefully about them and not simply
reject them out of hand. After reading his book "God Collar", I remain sceptical
about this self-description. My doubt on this score is only heightened by the
fact that he has not, as far as I am aware, expressed any regret over his
extraordinarily mean-spirited, ill-informed rant against the Abrahamic faiths
during an episode of The Now Show several years ago.
Defenders of Brigstocke might
counter that "God Collar" is an account of one man’s struggle, not a contribution to
the heavily polarised atheist/theist debate, and indeed he freely admits to
being a non-specialist who has not read especially widely in theology, ethics
or comparative religion. It is certainly true that there is a personal and
emotional core to this book, for it is the untimely death of a close friend and
the joys and tribulations of parenthood that led Brigstocke to re-examine his
conviction that there is no God. And he is honest about the fact that he does
feel the impulse to believe, despite finding himself unable to do so.
But I’m not sure I really buy
that. "God Collar" is not a personal memoir that just happens to occasionally
touch on religious themes in a ruminative, exploratory way. It is, indubitably,
a book about faith, with a polemical
and hostile edge. It contains mean-spirited, and often ill-conceived, attacks
on numerous aspects of religious belief. He cannot try the old comedian’s
argument of pulling back when challenged, and just saying “oh, I didn’t really
mean it, I’m just trying to make people laugh” or “I’m only a non-specialist”.
By publishing this book, Brigstocke has entered the arena of public debate
about faith. In that arena, bad and unfair arguments get challenged. And boy,
are there some bad and unfair arguments here.
