'There's probably no Dawkins. Now stop worrying…'

Similarly Sam Harris, one of the 'Four Horsemen' of the New Atheism, upon entering a debate with Craig remarked, 'I'm very happy to be debating Dr Craig, the one Christian apologist who seems to have put the fear of God into many of my fellow atheists.' Craig has also debated Australian atheist Dr Peter Slezakand Christopher Hitchens among many others.

Craig's address at The Sheldonian Theatre is part of his Reasonable Faith Tour of the UK. The stage will be set up with an empty chair for Dawkins, so that, should he choose to turn up, he can debate Craig. But because "there's probably no Dawkins", a panel of atheist, agnostic and Christian philosophers will be there to respond to Dr Craig's critique of The God Delusion. There will also be a question and answer time between Craig and the audience. (For more information go to www.bethinking.org )

Frankly, by avoiding debate with Craig I believe Dawkins is doing a disservice to atheism. At least from the perspective of this sixteen year old, it looks very much like Dawkins is afraid to take on Craig, and is more interested maintaining his pop star status among New Atheists than engaging in rigorous debate.

My recent reading of Dawkins' The God Delusion was also something of a disappointment. I had hoped to find some intellectually stimulating arguments for atheism. What I found however was not much more than an expression of Dawkins' personal disdain for religion.

It is interesting to note that what Dawkins calls 'The Central Argument of My Book' is little more than him informing his audience that he hopes the future of physics will explain away 'the appearance of design' in the universe and therefore, God 'almost certainly' does not exist.

However it is the vituperative style which Dawkins employs which I find most distasteful and counterproductive when it comes to what should be an intelligent discussion of an important topic.

The 2012 Global Atheist Convention in Melbourne is being promoted as 'A Celebration of Reason'. Let's hope that Dawkins doesn't represent the pinnacle of what the conference has to offer.