The God Delusion

I finished reading 'The God Delusion' ( Richard Dawkins ) last night .... again! Yep, you read that right. Again, since I so much enjoyed reading it the first time and I was sure I had failed to fully understand a lot of what was addressed.

Being an aethist and a non-believer in religion and God in general, it is no surprise why I loved the book.

A few reasons why ... :-

Let me begin by a single quote that got my attention.

He describes God from the old testament as "arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction. Jealous and proud of it, a petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak, a vindictive bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser, a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully."

'Nuff said. He had my attention !'

What was also surprising was the fact that Dr. Dawkins, allows for the possibility he might be wrong. Another quote ...

"I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there."

Another interesting point he makes on the subject of morality. He suggests that it does not come from religion. He speculates morals to be "a combination of genetic instincts" which evolved when people realized they could be more productive and beneficial through co-operation. How right I think he is.


Lastly, on the subject of children. Here is where his arguments rocks. Dawkins says a child raised religious is a form of indoctrination and constitutes child abuse. He says it is wrong for people to simply accept terms such as 'catholic child' or 'muslim child' or 'hindu child', because a child could not possibly form opinions any more than they could affiliate themselves with say ... any particular sporting team or political party.

This book is fab, and thought provokingly funny. I'd recommend it to anyone any day of the week and twice on sunday.


"The religious do not deserve respect, any more than respect should be extended to crazy people raving in the streets"