Scan barcode
A review by pankajmehra
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
4.0
A very thoughtful book, with Dawkins bolstering his ideas/arguments with a collection of materials from well-respected intellectuals, including those who may not agree with the author's atheist views. He presents valid reasons for all that he espouses. A few comments stand out:
"I never tire of drawing society's tacit acceptance of the labelling of small children with the religious opinions of their parents. ... There is no such thing as a Christian child: only a child of Christian parents."
"You are just as much of a fundamentalist as those you criticize."
"Imagine, with John Lennon, a world with no religion."
"I am inclined to follow Robert M. Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: 'When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called a Religion."
"By far the easiest grounds for gaining conscientious objector status in wartime are religious."
"You can't get away with saying, 'If you try to stop me from insulting homosexuals it violates my freedom of prejudice.' But you can get away with saying, 'It violates my freedom of Religion.'"
"George W. Bush says that God told him to invade Iraq (a pity God didn't vouchsafe him revelation that there were no weapons of mass destruction."
"Woody Allen's perceptive whine: 'If it turns out that there is a God, I don't think that he's evil. But the worst you can possibly say about him is that basically he's an under-achiever.'"
"Faith (belief without evidence) is a virtue. The more your beliefs defy the evidence, the more virtuous you are."
"As Einstein said, 'If people are good only only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.'"
"As the distinguished Spanish film director Luis Bunuel said, 'God and Country are an unbeatable team; they break all records for oppression and bloodshed.'"
"We choose and pick which bits of scripture to believe, which bits to write off as symbols or allegories."
"The Bible's story of Joshua's destruction of Jericho, and the invasion of the Promised Land in general, is morally indistinguishable from Hitler's invasion of Poland, or Saddam Hussain's massacre of the Kurds and the Marsh Arabs. The Bible may be an arresting and poetic work of fiction, but it is not the sort of book you should give your children to form their morals."
"In India, at the time of partition, more than a million people were massacred in religious riots between Hindus and Muslims (and fifteen million displaced from their homes). There were no badges other than religious ones with which to label whom to kill."
"Mother Teresa of Calcutta actually said, in her speech accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, 'The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion.'"
"Voltaire got it right a long time ago: 'Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.' So did Bertrand Russell: 'Many people would sooner die than think. In fact, they do.'"
"'There is in every village a torch - the teacher; and an extinguisher - the clergyman' - Victor Hugo."
And so, the saga has continued through the centuries, encouraging masses to "Do as I say, not do as I Do!" Close your minds and unquestioningly follow whatever dogma the "community/religious" bobbing heads preach.
Dawkins' book is an eye-opener.
Digressing from its review, but to support the ideas the author has presented, I feel emboldened to provide this link from a most moving episode of the brilliant serial The West Wing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIHjoT19XpE
"I never tire of drawing society's tacit acceptance of the labelling of small children with the religious opinions of their parents. ... There is no such thing as a Christian child: only a child of Christian parents."
"You are just as much of a fundamentalist as those you criticize."
"Imagine, with John Lennon, a world with no religion."
"I am inclined to follow Robert M. Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: 'When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called a Religion."
"By far the easiest grounds for gaining conscientious objector status in wartime are religious."
"You can't get away with saying, 'If you try to stop me from insulting homosexuals it violates my freedom of prejudice.' But you can get away with saying, 'It violates my freedom of Religion.'"
"George W. Bush says that God told him to invade Iraq (a pity God didn't vouchsafe him revelation that there were no weapons of mass destruction."
"Woody Allen's perceptive whine: 'If it turns out that there is a God, I don't think that he's evil. But the worst you can possibly say about him is that basically he's an under-achiever.'"
"Faith (belief without evidence) is a virtue. The more your beliefs defy the evidence, the more virtuous you are."
"As Einstein said, 'If people are good only only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.'"
"As the distinguished Spanish film director Luis Bunuel said, 'God and Country are an unbeatable team; they break all records for oppression and bloodshed.'"
"We choose and pick which bits of scripture to believe, which bits to write off as symbols or allegories."
"The Bible's story of Joshua's destruction of Jericho, and the invasion of the Promised Land in general, is morally indistinguishable from Hitler's invasion of Poland, or Saddam Hussain's massacre of the Kurds and the Marsh Arabs. The Bible may be an arresting and poetic work of fiction, but it is not the sort of book you should give your children to form their morals."
"In India, at the time of partition, more than a million people were massacred in religious riots between Hindus and Muslims (and fifteen million displaced from their homes). There were no badges other than religious ones with which to label whom to kill."
"Mother Teresa of Calcutta actually said, in her speech accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, 'The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion.'"
"Voltaire got it right a long time ago: 'Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.' So did Bertrand Russell: 'Many people would sooner die than think. In fact, they do.'"
"'There is in every village a torch - the teacher; and an extinguisher - the clergyman' - Victor Hugo."
And so, the saga has continued through the centuries, encouraging masses to "Do as I say, not do as I Do!" Close your minds and unquestioningly follow whatever dogma the "community/religious" bobbing heads preach.
Dawkins' book is an eye-opener.
Digressing from its review, but to support the ideas the author has presented, I feel emboldened to provide this link from a most moving episode of the brilliant serial The West Wing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIHjoT19XpE