The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

I've just finished reading The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. I think I've used Dawkins' name too much in the past few posts. He is like the Elvis of atheism.

I think it's a good book, a very interesting read, not mainly because I'm biased, but because it puts forth a thorough and solid case for why God most certainly does not exist. The book begins by defining the God he'll be talking about for the rest of the book, which is the supernatural, omnipotent, omniscient God of the major monotheistic religions. Dawkins then argues against the 'evidence' for the existence of God, followed by arguments for the non-existence of God. His arguments work for all supernatural gods, not just the one in the Bible. Next he talks about morality and how morality does not come from religion.

There is also a section on the Old and New Testaments which I think some Christians will find rather harsh. I thought this part isn't all that necessary, because people can always say that a professor of biology is not qualified to cross-examine biblical origins and theology. Dawkins then explains why he feels religion, even in moderation is dangerous.

The last bit is his personal views on religious education for children. This isn't something I've thought about before, since I'm not yet a parent, but I do agree with his view that children are simply too young to understand all the issues at hand. They would've accepted the religious view of their parents without having considered other religious and non-religious views out there. That is wrong in principle, even though parents only have the best of intentions for their children.

There are too many topics for discussion to fit everything in one post. I shall try, in future posts, to bring up some of these topics wherever suitable. Meanwhile, I'd recommend this book to everyone and hope to get everyone's opinions.

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