The virtue of uncertainty
From Notorious non-believer Richard Dawkins will ironically be a godlike presence at the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival as he beams in from England for a video interview. On the other hand, former Bishop of Edinburgh Richard Holloway will appear in the flesh. The 75-year-old Edinburgh resident would surely have relished the opportunity to lock horns again – face to face – with The God Delusion author, whom he has previously met at Scottish literary events.
We’ve had a couple of good encounters, he laughs. We’ve treated each other with friendly combativeness. He’s an interesting man.
While they might seem like odd bedfellows, Holloway actually has much in common with Dawkins, who is famous for his outspoken views about the non-existence of a supreme being and the irrational nature of religious faith. Holloway has written 12 books, including Godless Morality, which was controversially denounced by the then-Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey after its publication in 1999 for daring to suggest it is not necessary to be religious to be moral.
Holloway left the church in 2000 after suffering a crisis of conscience. Although he now refers to himself as a "Christian agnostic", he still keeps some ties with his erstwhile profession.
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