Summary
The following letter was written by Richard Dawkins, one of the world's most respected scientists. It is addressed to his daughter Juliet, who was ten years old at the time. The letter originally appeared as the last chapter of his 2003 book, A Devil's Chaplain. It is reprinted as an appendix in my book, Thank God for Evolution, by permission of the author. I included it for three reasons. First, it powerfully distinguishes the relative value today of, what I like to call, private and public revelation. Second, it provides an invaluable critique of traditional, flat-earth faith, while offering sound guidance for an evidence-based, naturalized faith. Third, it shows why scientific, historical, and cross-cultural evidence provide a far more accurate and useful map of reality than do tradition and authority.
