Saint Thomas Aquinas was not content to rest upon received wisdom. He questioned everything, and at the end of his questioning he came back around to Christian orthodoxy. In his questioning Aquinas took great pains to examine his opponents’ arguments on their own terms. He did not, as most of us are inclined to do, attack a straw man caricature of his opponent’s position. In his magisterial Summa Theologiae Aquinas employed a dialectical approach. He set out the arguments for his opponents’ position; then he set out the arguments for the orthodox position. Only then did he draw a conclusion. Importantly, it has been said that not only did he take his opponent’s arguments on their own terms, but perhaps the best exposition and most forceful presentation of those very arguments are found not in his opponents’ writings, but in Aquinas’ own consideration of them.  ÂÂ
Richard Dawkins agrees with Aquinas’ approach. By far the most powerful statement in the film clip of William Crawley’s interview with Dawkins posted by Dr. Dembski earlier today is this statement by Dawkins:ÂÂ
“But if millions of people believe that, say, Jesus is the son of God, then we no longer call it a delusion. But if you think about it, it doesn’t actually make much sense to go around and count the number of people who believe something in order to decide whether its a delusion or not. The best thing to do is to go and look at the arguments for or against the belief, and that’s what I’ve done.â€ÂÂÂ
Just so. Print this statement off and keep it handy, and the next time someone tells you that the overwhelming majority of scientists believe in Darwinism, the best response is to say, the world’s most famous Darwinist would say your appeal to the majority “doesn’t actually make much sense.â€Â Then quote the above statement. Dawkins and Aquinas agree. Give us arguments and counter-arguments and evidence pro and con. Head counting and received wisdom do not impress us.