The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The God Delusion
Book Review: "There is no God and Richard Dawkins is His Prophet"
Summary: 3 Stars
I have a dislike of all missionaries, and Richard Dawkins is a missionary. He tries to sell me atheism in an infuriating 'in your face' manner. One of the problems with the book is that the God that Dawkins doesn't believe in is the Christian God. There is very little about Islam and Judaism - and what there is is predictably negative; and certainly, as far as Judaism is concerned, there are gross misunderstandings - and in one case a most unacademic misrepresentation of facts. I do not recall that Buddhism and Hinduism are mentioned even once. A fascinating topic spoiled, for me, by the infuriating manner of the author's presentation.Book Review: "Truly a redefining book for those who question"
Summary: 5 Stars
I was never a "true believer." Just 15, I spent my first 13 years a child of Catholic parents, never realizing the blatant; I wasn't religious.
Sure, I hadn't gone to church in over a year... I wasn't religious at all. I knew that. However, I still had a god, to whom I would cast words upon. Why did I do this? I was taught to do it. I thought I needed god.
Only after I read "The God Delusion" had I realized, unequivocally, that no one needs a god to live a good, productive, long, loving, full life. God doesn't explain existence; it only hides truth, thought, and questioning. By and by, that is exactly what religion is for, embedding unquestioned faith in all. And that is why I have grown far away from religion.
Now, yet only in my adolescence, I am firm in my beliefs: my belief in human spirit, accomplishment, and progress.
I thank Richard Dawkins, for he has brought full enlightenment to me, who was brought up in Catholic dogma.
I strongly suggest this to anyone, but especially those who question their faith, even a little, for this testament to science and understanding has been written for you.
Book Review: "Truth, in matters of religion, is simply the opinion that has survived"---Oscar Wilde
Summary: 4 Stars
The God Delusion is for readers who already doubt the existence of God but who are either holding on to a last thread of faith or who are wary to completely leave their faith due to a belief that religion serves a moral benefit for society or a fear of leaving the religion on which they were raised. I'll admit, I first heard about Richard Dawkins through the 2-part episode on South Park. His idea of a world without religion was intriguing and, always having doubts about the existence of God but afraid of such a world, sought out this book. The first pages were rather startling. I had not realized how villainized atheists could be just because they do not believe in supernatural beings. It is just a viewpoint on the world, it is not hurting anyone. Those who commit atrocities due to their faith are at least respected for their beliefs even if their acts are condemned.
Richard Dawkins first explains the different views on who God is, including the secularism of the American Founding Fathers and Einstein's often misunderstood idea of religion where "God" is the set of physical laws that govern the universe and not a supernatural being. Dawkins, as a professor of science and expert on evolution, takes issue with the assumption that science can have nothing to say about religion because of, what Stephen Jay Gould defined as, the "Non-overlapping magisteria areas" (i.e. ultimate meaning, and what makes up a moral life). In other words, science is supposed to handle the questions of "how," but the questions of "why" are left to theology.
Dawkins then explains why it is certain God does not exist. Of course, this is a very difficult subject to grasp and, I'll admit, the Boeing 747 analogy is hard for me to comprehend but, what I did take away from this chapter is that natural selection is not something that occurred by chance but is a very long process that breaks down the complexity of life into smaller, more probable pieces. Divine creationism, by contrast, achieves all the complexity of the world and its species at one fell swoop. Still, he maintains that if an example of "irreducible complexity" were found, it would wreck Darwin's theory but also destroy intelligent design (pg. 125). But wouldn't such a discovery play into the hands of those championing intelligent design? That point aside, what started the process of natural selection is still unclear to me, but no less clear than the question of who or what created the creator.
An evolutionary look at why humans are susceptible to religion is offered next and is followed by eye-opening chapters on the perceived benefits and actual ill-effects of religion. Do we need religion to teach us right from wrong, give us a charitable nature, and establish our sense of morality? Dawkins insists that modern morality is not founded on religious doctrine. The sections of The God Delusion that were the most revealing to me were the ones dealing with the problems religion (and not just the radical kind) brings to society. There is the obvious wars, violence and killings, but also the in-group mentality, the discouragement of questioning and thus placing anything unknown under the default answer of God instead of seeking solutions through experimentation and research, the resources, time and energy put into religion that could be used for other things, the dependence on the existence of God to bring meaning to one's life, and the indoctrination of children. Surprisingly, Dawkins believes the Catholic Church is unfairly demonized regarding the pedophile issue and finds a more pressing cause for concern with the church's attempts to scare children with stories of hell.
Some liberties are taken in this book. Dawkins assumes the American Founding Fathers would be atheists if they lived today. He remarks that Gould did not mean what he wrote in "Rock of Ages" which put forth the NOMA idea (why did he write it if he did not mean it?). Some sections of the book are a little difficult to understand, especially those concerning "memes" (cultural variants) and I am not sure where Dawkins was going with the section on "religious education as part of literary culture" which lists phrases taken from scripture that are used in literature and conversational English. Otherwise, I found The God Delusion well-written, easy to grasp for the most part, fair and inspiring. It has given me more confidence in my beliefs, especially concerning the fearful revelation that "if God does not exist, this life is it." The back of the book includes a directory to support groups for those struggling with the fears and doubts of religion.
Book Review: 'Creationism in a Cheap Tuxedo'?! I Like Tuxedos!
Summary: 4 Stars
Richard Dawkins sets out to convince the reader that the god hypothesis is highly unlikely. Whether many readers are persuaded is in doubt. Most, like me, probably came to the book as atheists or deists of some sort anyway. The arguments seem well-aimed to convince the reader with an unformed opinion, but in all honesty that's a bit hard for me to judge.
As a nonscientist I found the first four chapters where Dawkins explains a bit about natural selection and a dash of physics to be useful, instructive, and supportive of his 'god is very unlikely' hypothesis. He does a fine job undermining any scientific basis for intelligent design. He quotes a description of intelligent design as 'creationism in a cheap tuxedo' - although I don't know how the tuxedo people feel about that.
Dawkins then wanders off into an unconvincing discussion of the Darwinian roots of religion, but ends strongly in examining the ills that religion brings to humans. Dawkins also provides an appropriate modicum of footnoting and a useful bibliography.
Dawkins' enthusiasm, while refreshing, leads to an unfortunate pedantic style. If it didn't open up a big can of epistemological worms I might even he says he's preachy! High literary value is notable by its absence, but nonetheless, Dawkins does make his topic accessible and fun at times for the general reader and it is a most important one.
Book Review: (Abrahamic) Infidels Unite!
Summary: 5 Stars
Richard Dawkins' well-written, scholarly, and persuasive treatise, "The God Delusion", is a comprehensive and devastating assault on God, Abrahamic religion, and the perverse behaviour it engenders. Dawkins' systematically prefaces his wide-ranging assault by first drawing a distinction between Einsteinian and Abrahamic religion: the former renouncing belief in a personal, supernatural god (Albert Einstein is, of course, the most famous and visible figure of this `religion') versus the personal god embracing latter (note that the latter includes the three great monotheistic religions - Judaism, Christianity, & Islam), followed by a brief review of core terminology (theism, deism, & pantheism). Dawkins' then proffers that the existence of God can - and should - be tested like any claim - via a scientific hypothesis. His penultimate conclusion, "God almost certainly doesn't exist", owes its directness to the arguments and evidence used to support the hypothesis: "any creative intelligence, of sufficient complexity to design anything, comes into existence only as the end product of an extended process of gradual evolution." The allusion to evolution - Darwinian evolution - underscores many of the arguments in the book and is invoked multiple times to illustrate that the elegance upon which our existence relies is *not* due to chance or intelligent design. To quote Dawkins, "Intelligent design is not the proper alternative to chance. Natural selection is not only a parsimonious, plausible and elegant solution; it is the only workable alternative to chance that has ever been suggested...[intelligent design] is simply not a plausible solution to the riddle of statistical improbability. And the higher the improbability, the more implausible intelligent design becomes" (pp.120). This book continues in the same vein: presenting arguments, counter-arguments, and evidence to debunk the naïve and shortsighted belief in God and religion. Dawkins also manages to interject the timely quip or quote (either his or another's) to much effect, to wit, "All religions are the same: religion is basically guilt, with different holidays" (Cathy Ladman, pp167-8); "People say we need religion when what they really mean is we need police" (H.L. Mencken, pp. 228-9); "Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet" (Napoleon, pp. 276); and two of my favorites, "Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful" (Seneca the Younger, pp. 276) and "There is in every village a torch - the teacher: and an extinguisher - the clergyman" (Victor Hugo, pp. 309). This book ought to be read by anyone with an open, eager, and truth-seeking mind but, unfortunately, the very folks that should be reading it, won't. At any rate, a stellar read worth purchasing, reading, and discussing in open discourse!