Arch-atheist Richard Dawkins sets about religion with relish in this polemic destruction job. He is convinced, and seeks to convince, that religion, all religion, is a delusion – a persistent false belief held in the face of contradictory evidence.
He first deals with God, dismantling all ‘proofs’ offered by apologists. While conceding the notion of using the term for the creative force that set the universe in motion (‘Einstein’s God’), he dismisses any notion of a supernatural being continuing to run things on a daily basis, answering prayers, rewarding the good (or faithful) with heaven, and the bad (or disbelievers) with damnation.
Having disposed of God, religion, as set out in scriptures, is an easy target, rife as they are with immorality, contradiction, and poor role models. Of particular resonance is the section on how morality has changed over time, diverging from the word of God which is set (sometimes literally) in stone.
All jolly stuff, but Dawkins gets serious, pointing out the harm caused by according religion a privileged place in society, protected from challenge by ‘good taste’ or the law of blasphemy. This allows it to freely foment division, discord, hostility, terrorism, and war. As for religious education in schools (or families) - in his view that constitutes child abuse, harming the mind and critical faculties of the young.
For me he is
preaching tom the choir, so I found it both great fun and reaffirming a devout
atheism. For agnostics, it may tip them over to the light side. As for those
bound by religion, with faith being based on belief not reason, it is more
likely to antagonise than convert.
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