Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion argues that any creative intelligence, of sufficient complexity to design anything, comes into existence only as the end product of an extended process of gradual evolution.
And since 1) evolution does a perfect job at explaining how complex organisms like us humans came to be, 2) there is no factual evidence for the existence of any god and 3) all philosophical evidence is weak at best, there is almost certainly no god.
Other than that, Dawkins has two other messages: 1) there is nothing wrong with being an atheist, and 2) children should not be labeled by their parents’ religion. There is no such thing as a “Catholic child” or a “Muslim child”. Children have no way of developing such views on the universe and mankind’s place in it, but are being brainwashed with their parent’s beliefs. A “Pastafarian child” does not exist, as it is a child of Pastafarian parents.
My reason for picking up this book — I read precious little non-fiction — well, let’s just say that in the last few years I have become more interested in this topic. Books like Knielen op een Bed Violen (which deals with someone getting lost in obscure orthodox fanaticism) and De Schrift betwist (Maarten ‘t Hart’s columns on the Bible) fit in this pattern, and I kept on seeing recommendations for this book. Can’t say I was disappointed. I found myself agreeing with most of Dawkins’ points, and would probably go as far as recommending this book as well.
- Book read
- Richard Dawkins — The God Delusion
- First line
- The Boy lay prone in the grass, his chin resting on his hands.