The God Delusion

[Dr T]

I read Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion last week. I thought it was interesting reading and I had a good time reading it for the most part. I'm really tired and headed to bed shortly but I wanted to post this to see what others thought about that book. He seemed like a likeable person at times but I did not like how he seemed to belittle theists in general and thought he was saying, "at least be an agnostic" but as I read on I understood that it was his opinion that all theistic believers are foolish and backwards in their thinking. He listed a lot of reasons why believing the Bible was silly and how he people really should not believe such ridiculousness. What else do I want to talk about before going to bed? He does not like that people call their young children "a Christian boy or girl" or "a Muslim child" or Buddhist, child etcetera. He believes they are too young to make that decision and that they ought to be called children with Christian parents or the like from different religions. So to all of you, I'm sure he'd tell you not to call your kids "LDS children" but rather, children with parents that are LDS. He also pointed out that the Bible does not teach proper ethics and gives many examples of how bad it is and how it leads many people the wrong direction. He talks a little bit, a very little bit, about other scientific issues that were interesting like quantum mechanics and parallel universes but not enough in my opinion. He holds Darwin in very high regard and thinks Darwin’s "discovery of evolution" is unequalled by anybody in history with the exception of perhaps Copernicus' theory that the sun is the center of our solar system and not the Earth. In short, he really wanted to push people to becoming more enlightened or I guess he'd call it consciousness raising and wants all people to leave the idea that God exists alone and not to propagate it at all and hopes that all people would become atheists. I’m sure there is much more to say about that but I’m too tired. Anyway, if any of you decide to read it or have already read it, I'd like to hear your thoughts. Thank you and goodnight. :)

[HiJolly]

I read the Dawkins book in 2007, along with Harris' book "The End of Faith" and Hitchen's book "God is Not Great". I kinda went on an athiest book binge, I guess.

I feel like Dawkins book is not very good -- he came across as being very self-indulgent intellectually and his mocking tone actually backfired when his arguments were so clearly myopic when he apparently couldn't see that they could be turned against his own beliefs.

Of the three, I thought Harris had the best book by far, though it was unfortunate that the 'faith' he was railing against wasn't the biblical definition at all. So sad.

On Darwin, I loved reading "The Origin of Species" and practically had a spiritual epiphany whilst reading it. Regardless of all the arguements around it and tangental to it, I personally think that organic evolution is God's means of developing life.

HiJolly

[Tarnished]

I tend to find that I get aggrivated with athiestic books I come across. The way they are usually portrayed by the author just rubs me the wrong way. Though I haven't read the book you are speaking of I have come across some child focused athiest books that really bothered me. In general I tend to stay away from those types of books as I don't much like reading things that aggrivate me. Thank you for giving the book review though, it helps if I ever come across the book.

[Dr T]

You're welcome Tarnished. Thanks for your input HiJolly.