i have finally finished reading the god delusion by richard dawkins, and i highly recommend it.
A preeminent scientist – and the world’s most prominent atheist – asserts the irrationality of belief in God and the grievous harm religion has inflicted on society, from the Crusades to 9/11.
With rigor and wit, Richard Dawkins examines God in all his forms, from the sex-obsessed tyrant of the Old Testament to the more benign (but still illogical) Celestial Watchmaker favored by some Enlightenment thinkers. He eviscerates the major arguments for religion and demonstrates the supreme improbability of a supreme being. He shows how religion fuels war, forments bigotry, and abuses children, buttressing his points with historical and contemporary evidence. The God Delusion makes a compelling case that belief in God is not just wrong, but potentially deadly. It also offers exhilarating insight into the advantages of atheism to the individual and society, not the least of which is a clearer, truer appreciation of the universe’s wonders than any faith could ever muster.
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it was a bit like preaching to the choir for me… i don’t believe in god, and never have, so the whole business has always a non-issue in my life, but this book does an excellent job of logically framing the argument that not only is it highly unlikely, if not totally unlikely that a god-like being exists, it’s actually quite damaging to live with the delusion that this is a possibility.
as Robert Pirsig said, “When one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion”
the most interesting part to me, was about how atheists are less likely to be in jail or commit crimes because they generally have a higher intellect that those that believe in god, and there is already many well documented links between intellect and crime. but they go on to talk about how these supposed “moral christians” in the “red states” (republicans) have higher crime rates, more dangerous cities, more people in jail and generally speaking more social problems than those states with less religious people.
i’m not sure that anyone would disagree that religion has a long and bloody history that continues today, but i did enjoy the attention brought to the fact that it’s not always a holy war… it can be everyday violence that’s being committed that has a religious correlation.
anyways, this book doesn’t focus on how religion is “bad”… it really just focuses on how religion shouldn’t exist. it’s rational and full of scientific fact and references, heavily from Darwin that drive home the point.
here’s some of my favourite parts of the book, as framed by wikipedia:
In The God Delusion, Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that belief in a god qualifies as a delusion, which he defines as a persistent false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence
Since there are a number of different theistic ideas relating to the nature of God(s), Dawkins early in the book defines the concept of God that he wishes to address. He coins the term “Einsteinian religion”, referring to Einstein’s use of “God”, as a metaphor for nature or the mysteries of the universe. He makes a distinction between this “Einsteinian religion” and the general theistic idea of God as the Creator of the universe who should be worshipped. This becomes an important theme in the book, which he calls the God Hypothesis. He maintains that this idea of God is a valid hypothesis, having effects in the physical universe, and like any other hypothesis can be tested and falsified.
Dawkins turns to the question of why he feels so hostile towards religion in Chapter 8, arguing with examples that religion subverts science, fosters fanaticism, encourages bigotry against homosexuals, and influences society in other negative ways. He gives examples of cases where blasphemy laws have been used to sentence people to death, and when funerals of gays or gay sympathisers have been picketed. Dawkins states preachers in the southern portions of the United States used the Bible to justify slavery by claiming Africans were descendants of Noah’s sinful son Ham. During the Crusades, “pagans” and “heretics” who would not convert to Christianity were murdered. In an extreme example from modern times, he cites the case of Reverend Paul Hill, who revelled in his self-styled martyrdom: “I expect a great reward in heaven…I am looking forward to glory” he announced as he faced execution for murdering a family planning doctor in Florida, USA.
Dawkins devotes chapter 9 to the “indoctrination” of children. He equates the religious indoctrination of children by parents and teachers in faith schools to a form of mental abuse. Dawkins wants people to cringe every time somebody speaks of a “Muslim child” or a “Catholic child”, wondering how a young child can be considered developed enough to have such independent views on the cosmos and humanity’s place within it. By contrast, Dawkins observes that no reasonable person would speak of a “Marxist child” or a “Tory child”.
The final chapter asks whether religion, despite its alleged problems, fills a “much needed gap”, giving consolation and inspiration to people who need it. According to Dawkins, these needs are much better filled by non-religious means such as philosophy and science. He argues that an atheistic worldview is life-affirming in a way that religion, with its unsatisfying “answers” to life’s mysteries, could never be.
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if you’re interested, you can read the first chapter online here - http://richarddawkins.net/godDelusion
but i would suggest buying it. it’s a good read and any critical thinker will enjoy it.
