The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

Even if you consider yourself to be religious you cannot help but agree with most of what Richard Dawkins has to say. Although he has a dig at new age practices like astrology and divination his real issue is with the major religions which he feels are dangerous in their fundamentalism, in their subjugation of women, their intolerance of homosexuals/lesbians and other belief systems and their indoctrination of children. Not being a member of one of those mainstream religions I didn’t feel too insulted. He also takes issue with the fact that one is always supposed to respect religious views regardless of how nutty they are.

He openly admits that he’s out to convert everyone to atheism but doesn’t believe that his science is fundamentalist because it’s based in fact. I don’t agree with his opinion that religious people are not very bright. I know many, many very intelligent people who believe in God(s). We all know that to believe in something so intangible makes no sense but faith is not something that you can explain to people who don’t have it. There are, of course, many uneducated people who do believe in God(s) and the same probably can’t be said of many scientists.

Mr Dawkins also states quite correctly that you don’t need to be religious to be a good person. In fact, religious people have demonstrated time and again that they are not always very nice. Indeed, they can be quite mad in their zeal and haven’t helped their cause with the masses of hate mail which Mr Dawkins has received. He’s actually gone as far as Googling an alternative 10 commandments by which most normal people live their lives regardless of whether or not they’re religious and says that you’d be hard pushed to find an athiest who has committed acts of murder and mutilation in the name of their beliefs.

The book covers the roots of religion and why people feel this need to believe in a higher being despite the fact that there is no evidence of his/her existence. Interestingly he wonders if it’s a hangover from childhood’s invisible friend. Are our Gods just adult versions of the invisible friends that we had as children? I don’t remember having one so I can’t answer that. Obviously he also covers the lack of evidence for God(s), Darwinism and lots of science,

In all, an excellent read which has gone onto my list of favourites. Highly recommended as long as you’re not an uneducated fundamentalist.

Julia Oakmoon