{"id":38305,"date":"2020-03-06T14:48:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-06T14:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/atheist-fears-removal-of-religion\/"},"modified":"2020-03-06T14:48:00","modified_gmt":"2020-03-06T14:48:00","slug":"atheist-fears-removal-of-religion","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/atheist-fears-removal-of-religion\/","title":{"rendered":"Atheist Fears the Removal of Religion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Speaking to <em>The Times<\/em>, Richard Dawkins said he fears the removal of religion would be a bad idea for society because it would give people &ldquo;license to do really bad things.&rdquo; He likened the importance of a higher power informing our morality to the presence of surveillance cameras to prevent shoplifting, warning people would feel free to commit crimes if the need to obey the &ldquo;divine spy camera in the sky, reading their every thought&rdquo; was removed. He said, &ldquo;People may feel free to do bad things because they feel God is no longer watching them.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<p>The Oxford University fellow recalled an experiment that had been set up in a University coffee shop by his former pupil, Melissa Bateson, at the University of Newcastle which allowed students to pay for their hot drinks via an &ldquo;honesty box.&rdquo; The price list was displayed on the wall and was decorated with either floral imagery or a pair of staring eyes depending on the week. Bateson published her findings in a paper, saying: &ldquo;people paid nearly three times as much for their drinks when eyes were displayed.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<p>Dawkins concluded that &ldquo;whether irrational or not, it does, unfortunately, seem plausible that if somebody sincerely believes God is watching his every move, he might be more likely to be good. I must say I hate that idea. I want to believe that humans are better than that. I&#39;d like to believe I&#39;m honest whether anyone is watching or not.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead2\"> <\/h2>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3450,3740,3818,3962,4137,4222,4343,4367,4565,4657,4798,4826,4942],"tax_ctp_topics":[384],"class_list":["post-38305","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-atheism","tax_ctp_tags-debauchery","tax_ctp_tags-divine-knowledge","tax_ctp_tags-family-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-hedonism","tax_ctp_tags-immorality","tax_ctp_tags-lawlessness","tax_ctp_tags-license","tax_ctp_tags-omniscience-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-pleasure","tax_ctp_tags-religion","tax_ctp_tags-restraint","tax_ctp_tags-sensuality"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - 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