a Letter.

I recently read a letter from Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion author) to his 10 year old daughter. It was interesting to me. In it he talks about how we know things. He talks about evidence and that without evidence nothing can be truly known. He tells her to be sceptical about anything that does not have evidence, and to be wary of "hunches" or things that just"feel right". It is quite a long letter, that I in no way believe was actually intended for his daughter, but in any case let me respond in kind, by writing my own letter to my own daughter.

To my Dearest Daughter,

Now that you are eleven, I want to write to you about something that is important to me. Have you ever wondered how we know the things that we know? How do we know, for instance, that the stars, which look like tiny pinpricks in the sky, are really huge balls of fire like the Sun and very far away? And how do we know that the Earth is a smaller ball whirling round one of those stars, the Sun?

The answer is science. So what does science say about how they came to be? Well they don't, at least they don't agree, there is no evidence for that, so they just "hypothesize" another word for an educated guess. yep, a guess. Science is great, I am not deriding it, but when the best minds in the world tell me something, and they know it because of science, and then they tell me later that they were totally wrong. Or scientists disagree, what am i to think about science. Maybe they are not all knowing, just smart men who have some facts, but not all.

You see I am sceptical about, not just religion, but about science too. I don't believe, just because someone told me, or I read it somewhere. I need more than that. People love to put down others, i don't really understand why, but they particualrly like to put down other's ideas and beliefs. Thjey don't want you to reciprocate, that is not fair to them.

Here is the thing for me, in the complete absence of any idea how the world became so complicated, when science tells us that nature should become less complicated (this is a process they call "entropy" that things go more towards chaos as a natural progression), not more complicated. But wait, evolution and science says that the opposite happens, the world, and creatures started simple, and have become more complicated and structured over time. I have an answer, the world is amazing and complicated, and beautiful because... it was created that way.

Now I get that the evidence for it is not so easy to discern as timing the speed of something, but the evidence is all around us. I see the way a pebble thrown into a lake creates waves, and I think of God. I see a bird in flight and I see God's hand in action. To me to say that beauty happened by accident, or love is just one of those biological things, is just silly. I hear people, smart people, say things like that and I just don't understand. I like logic, as do they, and it doesn't make logical sense to me that it is all unintentional and accidental.

My advise to you is simple.

Think, don't just accept, don't just disregard... think. Look around you and see what makes sense to you.

Feel, feel the wind on your face, the rain on your tongue, sand running through your fingers, love for another person, joy at being with them, sadness for no reason. When you feel these things, try to feel like it is all just coincidence, an accident that they exist at all, and never mind that the evoke emotion in you.

Believe, believe what you want, but always be wiling to continue to do the other two things. I may believe something, but that does not mean that I should stop thinking, or stop feeling and neither should you.

Respect, respect other's thoughts, feeelings and beliefs. It is wrong to treat others badly because they don't share yours.

Listen, listen to people, and learn what they care about, what they belive, what they hold dear to them. It does not have to be the same as yours to be just as important to them as yours are to you, but you don't have to change to make anyone else happy.

Be Strong, be strong about who you are and what you think, do not let anyone change you. You be the person who changes you, if after careful consideration, you decide that you want to change, what you do, what you believe, what you care about, or what you think.

and finally, Be Yourself. You are an amazing young lady, who God created to be the only one of you in existence, you are not random, you are not an accident, you are not coincidence. You are unique and special in every way, so do not let anyone take that away from you. No matter what happens, no matter what is said, be You.

You are the only you there will ever be, and I for one, Love you very much.

Dad.