The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
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Book Reviews of The God Delusion
Book Review: I'm a Christian but...
Summary: 5 Stars
Dawkins begins by telling how many atheists, while not believing, approve of those who do. They begin with, "I'm an atheist, but..." and then go on to describe the benefits of religion in others. I am a Christian and no less so after reading this book. To me, the existence of God is plain as day. I simply wasn't considering changing my views.
I was, however looking to understand where the other side is coming from-why they believe what they do. Dawkins explains his side brilliantly. I highly recommend this book. Dawkins writes with a rythmn and flow that fiction writers should envy. It was very conversational. I was afraid he would dazzle with technical terms and try to intimidate with scientific shop talk. He didn't.
I don't mean to oversimplify Dawkin's views, but a short quote will help explain why he believes God does not exist.
"The temptation (to attribute the appearance of design to actual design) is a false one, because the designer hypothesis immediately raises the larger problem of who designed the designer."
It's the famous turtle problem, also known as infinite regression. Ultimately, we come to something without a cause and the atheists say that thing could be the universe itself rather than a supernatural being. It's a very old arguement, but still a devisive one. It doesn't resonate with me personally-I just assume we'll know when it's time to know.
One thing that stands out was Dawkins explanation of irreducible complexity. He compared the existence of irreducibly complex systems in biology to that of the arch in architecture. The scaffolding necessary to produce an arch is removed after the capstone has been placed. Dawkins applies this method, or one like it, to evolution.
Another thing that stood out for me is that we almost want our scientists to be atheists. If they are satisfied with the end of what's explainable (God did it), then they will stop looking for answers. The scientific method requires that one, at least temporarily, ignore the possibilty of a supernatural factor.
Again, I wanted to understand where they are coming from, and Dawkins explains his views very well.
Book Review: An estute scientists vantage
Summary: 5 Stars
About half way through this read, I definitely thought I had read better. Its not even as if Dawkins was wrong. But in comparison to Harris' touching philosophical breakdown of region's evils, Dawkins' refutation of somewhat unsubstantial, 17th century theological design arguments seemed not only dry but lacking in fulfilment given 21st century geo-political ramifications of religious exertion (take 9/11, gay marriage, stem-cell research etc.)
Though his great capacity to dissect religious iterations from religious spokespersons is terribly revealing and very thought provoking, and in some scary ways quite hilarious.
But the later half of the book sums up some of the "meat" as it were to be an atheist in the modern era, taking offense to the true crimes committed in the name of God, no matter how subtle or seemingly benign today. Touching commentary on religion's nose being poked where it ought not to go, into private homes to punish homosexuality, and into schools to indoctrinate our innocent children is both chilling and provocative (even if it has been addressed before.)
Most beautifully though is of course Dawkins' perspective. The absolute reveling in science is to be found in few other sources. Dawkins not only defends scientific rationalism (which ought not NEED defense amidst the irrational alternative) but it is done so with absolute poetic majesty as he humbly stares at the universe in awe. He invites us to share with him the spine-tingling amazement of witnessing and learning with him.
His most outstanding point is one of "consciousness raising." That the reason these things need to be talked about is precisely why capitulation to creationist "shut up" arguments is the wrong thing. Shutting up is the last thing we need to do, and being outspoken is NOT an offense to the cause.
While not the most important defense of "godless" reasoning per se, it is a triumphant contribution that should be read by anyone interested in the topic, even the believer who is willing to suspend faith for reason (a dangerous endeavor indeed). Dawkins is brilliant and well-mannered and well-worded, do yourself the favor and pick it up.
Book Review: Devastating demolition of religion's bogus claims - strongly recommended for flat earth believers and other religionists
Summary: 5 Stars
Dawkins has presented a mountain of information that effectively deals a death blow to supernatural religion, and it can only be ignored by those too ignorant or closed-minded to accept rational arguments (and those few reviewers here who try to present religion in a pseudorational way are just embarrassing). Instead, they try to attack Dawkin's character, while they glorify men like Moses, Abraham, Lot and Joshua, who between them had sex with their daughters and sisters, offered their daughters for gang rapes, slaughtered hundreds of thousands of 'men, women, babies and beasts of the field' in a more brutal manner than Saddam Hussain and more destructive way than Osama Bin Laden (occasionally saving the virgins for more gang-raping), invaded other people's lands like Hitler, committed genocide like Pol Pot, etc etc. These were some of the most disgraceful, disgusting individuals who ever stepped foot on our planet, and if Dawkins has exposed these sadistic, domineering perverts, then all the better for humanity. Way to go Lot! Get wasted on booze two nights in a row, have sex with both your daughters, and STILL be revered by Christians! I have to admire the man's bottle - 'Teflon Lot', we should call him.
Don't be disturbed by all the braindead who insult your name without reading your book Mr Dawkins. These were the same simple-minded folk who refused to accept that the world isn't flat, or the universe doesn't revolve around the earth - and history will laugh at these insults to human intelligence just like we laugh today at flat-earthers like the authors of the bible, with their 'four corners of the earth'. (Seems 'God' never informed those inspired scribes that the earth is a globe!) To all opponents of this book, all I can say is, if you and your kind believed so long that the world is flat and lies at the centre of the universe (even though you've always supposedly been in direct contact with the creator of the universe), and even killed people for denying it, why should we respect (a) your intelligence and (b) any comment you have to make on anything?
(Coming soon for all opponents of this book - why Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy aren't real)
Book Review: There is no God. Or is there?
Summary: 5 Stars
Is there a God or even a god? It's a big question that's beyond the scope of a single Amazon review. If you asked Richard Dawkins, however, he'd say no. His book, The God Delusion, is his reasonably well-reasoned argument in favor of his position.
"Reason" is the key word here. Dawkins takes an essentially scientific approach to the question. Faith means little to him; evidence is everything. With this approach, he can make a strong case. Actually, proving the non-existence of God is not necessary, as proving a negative is nearly impossible. Instead, it is the responsibility of the believers in God's existence to prove their case. Carl Sagan's saying "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof" holds here, as it does with those who try to prove alien visitations or the effectiveness of dowsing.
Dawkins's assertion is that no such evidence of God exists. The biggest attempt at scientifically proving God's existence, the dressed-up version of Creationism called Intelligent Design, fails on a number of levels. All other evidence can be shown to be hoaxes or delusions. Of course, if you believe in a god (or a flying spaghetti monster), faith may trump reason. After all, an all-powerful God could be truly supernatural, that is, beyond nature and therefore beyond scientific constraints.
Many atheists actually seem less concerned with whether God exists as with the effects of believing in such a God, which is to say religion. They've little good to say about these religions and argue that the seeming benefits of religion (such as moral codes) do not actually require religion to come about. Dawkins makes this case as well, but he's also out to prove that there is no proof of God.
Overall, he does a good job of it, too, though my guess is that he won't sway many true believers. As a writer, Dawkins does a decent job, though I feel the book sags a bit in the middle when he rehashes the many familiar (to readers of this type of book) arguments against intelligent design. It's an uphill battle to try and eliminate God, but Dawkins tackles it with vigor and a good sense of humor.
Book Review: Funny and profound and liberating.
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm on page 283 and after a lot of laughing decided that I have to air how much I love this book. I find there are some 1500 comments on it already, but who cares, here's another reason why you should absolutely read this book:
Have you ever wondered, believers and not quite sure half believers, why Richard Dawkins has not yet been struck by lighting, spontaneous combustion or a mysterious mushroom growing in his groins? I think I know: If there's a god he/she/it just simply didn't have the heart to strike - because this British gentleman is just so hilarious, profound and daring at the same time that I am sure god would protect him because: without Dawkins, Heaven is the most boring place on Earth.
Besides being brilliantly researched and written, this book is truly liberating. There is a lot of courage in that he really counts on humanity to one day liberating itself from religion. This guy truly is a humanist and believes in the better of humankind and inspires this optimism in the reader. It is usually believed that religion is such a strong force that there is no way to ever overcome it, and everyone is tip-toeing around the Eminences and Holinesses and Gurus. That it is so deeply engrained in our culture, and as Dawkins himself describes, a by-product and result of our adaptations for survival. I also believe that it will take many centuries more, and that there can be big backlashes on the way. But if you read this book you may also realize that things may not be as scary as they are made to look. No one should ever fear to mount resistance and speak up against the reactionaries; we should no longer accept and excuse the anti-democratic and repressive propagandists of the now international Christian Right, or their Jewish friends, or their Muslim evil twins, and forget about all the other self-declared Holinesses. This idea I get from reading this book: The only way we can chase these demons away is with a lot of laughter, fresh air and education. It is a book similar to the ones that you may want to give a child to overcome the fear of monsters, though this is written for adults. I'm loving it.