Difference between revisions of "The God Delusion"

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Comments on Richard Dawkin's The God Delusion

(This page is still in the process of being written.)

On Dawkins's website, there's also a [1] of the book with links to online book stores.

This recent book by Richard Dawkins is another milestone in the battle of enlightened minds against the rule of superstition in this world, a beacon for determined seekers for truth, trying to find their way in a sea of ignorance and misconceptions.

Dawkins analyses the central role that religion plays in forming, maintaining and consolidating common belief systems, no matter how improbable, deluded and harmful these belief system seem to be from an intelligent point of view. With the eloquence of a professional writer and the thoroughness of a seasoned scientific researcher, he presents the phenomenon of religious beliefs in all its ramifications in and disquieting effects on human society.

It is, as it always was, generally accepted knowledge, that "nowadays" we do live in an enlightened society and that superstition and organized ignorance are weird phenomena from the middle ages, from our immature past. As Dawkins eloquently shows, this is a grave misconception. Superstition and aggressively organized ignorance rule our present, just as they ruled our past, with all their disastrous consequences.

Dawkins points out that religion helps to keep our minds closed to the mechanisms behind many of the eternal plagues of mankind, like war, genocide, suppression, starvation and, nowadays, the worldwide destruction of our environment. In his introduction he describes how utterly difficult it is for intelligent people to insist on understanding instead of yielding to mindless superstition, how difficult it is to avoid being ostracised for just seeking truth. In particular in well known great leaders of mankind in science and in politics it is often well visible how seriously such people have been or still are struggling with the overwhelming aggressiveness of the superstitious belief systems they have to live and work in and in which they have to survive one way or the other. As an example Einstein is quoted, saying: "I belief in Spinoza's God who reveals itself in the harmonious order of all that exists, not in a God that meddles with the fate and destiny of mortal beings." And Bertrand Russell is quoted, saying: "The overwhelming majority of prominent intellectuals doesn't belief in the christian faith, but they conceal that fact in public in order not to lose their income".

Dawkins suggests to utilize the word God with greater care, because the way many scientists use that word in a special, metaphorical pantheistic sense, is aeons away from the intervening, miracle performing, thought reading, sins punishing, prayers granting God of the bible, of the priests, mullahs and rabbis and of customary usage of the word.

Such battered, intelligent souls find crucial and badly needed support in contacts with other intelligent persons who find themselves in the same minority position. Dawkins says that he took the effort to write this book, among other reasons, to encourage intelligent people to "come out of the closet" and stop hiding their real convictions, making it easier for other intelligent fellow sufferers to find the badly needed support and encouragement to resist the overwhelming and devastating pressure of organized stupidity.

He hopes that sooner or later a chain reaction in the right direction may occur, once a certain "critical mass" of intelligent people, insisting on the truth, has been reached. This is in line with what is described on this Wiki about the critical mass leading to Point Omega, the next major change in human evolution.

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.......................etter tools to take its own future into its own hands, to the advantage of all. Before discussing these two additional chunks of information, we'll quote some paragraphs of Kris' book that illustrate the general line of his thinking.

From "The God Delusion"

....................What would be .............................. ................................. .............................. For sure, man is endo