Review - The God Delusion

Book Info Box
Title: The God Delusion
Author: Prof. Richard Dawkins
Publisher: Free Press

In 1941 a man was born in Nairobi, Kenya. That man has now become Clinton Richard Dawkins, biology professor at the University of Oxford and owner of the world's largest bullseye on his back. Professor Dawkins has now become the recipient of awards and massive recognition but also of notoriety and death threats. This is all down to a single choice he made as early as 9 years old and more permenantly at 16, he became an aetheist.

The God Delusion is the latest in a long line of books written by Dawkins but the first one to focus exclusively on the subject of religeon, a subject matter that has been promenantly attacked by him in previous works such as The Devil's Chaplain and The Blind Watchmaker. To a religeous person the content and purpose of the book, to 'convert' readers to aetheism, is shocking and immoral. However the point of persuasion is not initially focused on the morality and lifestyle benefits that religeon is claimed to bring. Nor is the argument focused on the bad points such as respression of certain groups or so-called extremist violence. The initial problem that Dawkins has is with the threat it poses to his own area of expertise, the branch of 'science' known as Creationism.

As a biologist and firm believer in Charles Darwin's theory of evolution Dawkins is riled to the point of fury by 'Intellegent Design', a branch of christianity that seizes areas of evolution that have no hard evidence for and claim it as proof of a designer who is responsible for the existance of the planet, solar system and every animal on this planet. The subject is attacked with derision and confidence culminating in what could be considered the ultimate wrecking ball to a creationist argument. At all times it is noteworthy that the phrase Intellegent Design is never used as a way of identifying the movement and that Dawkins regularly notes that he refuses debates with creationists not because he is insecure in his position, but that he refuses to give them credibility. In the same space he also attacks the way the belief has hijacked the teaching of science in many schools both inside and out of the USA, his description of the way in which these schools are operated is both hard to believe and terrifying.

Terrifying is the best way to describe the chapters concerning morality and the truthiness of the very basis of all religeon, the holy scriptures. Using genuine bible quotations and references (I looked them up, the damn things come in handy sometimes) he shows that wherever morality and our sense of right and wrong come from it certainly isn't the bible or any other scripture. He exposes the basis of a religeon that professes to be loving and peaceful (a myth rapidly debunked through Dawkins' own website) as a book that glorifies war, discrimination, mob rule and ethnic cleansing. Throughout he refers to terrorists as normal people within their chosen religeon, people who truly believe in their faith and the stories told in the book they've been brought up to believe. They are not extremists, they are merely the sort of person that the religeon was supposedly founded with based on the evidence presented.

The most terrifying and upsetting part of the book though, even to an already converted aetheist is the chapter dealing with the harmful effects of religeous beliefs on children. Partway through reading this chapter I was forced to close the book and head away for something else, it was only as I replaced the book in its usual keeping place that I realised the tears starting to form in my eyes. If all previous chapters haven't convinced a religious person to part with their faith then chapter 9 is the one that will do the trick, tales of the obvious such as pedophilia in catholicism are paired with the mentally damaging vision of hell and the atrocities committed by the Italian Inquisition.

The most important thing to remember is that the book is written from experience. Dawkins was given a typical anglican christian upbringing and was himself molested by a priest, he maintains in the relevant section that this isn't something that has bothered him. Indeed when he makes the comparison between child molesting and the nightmares brought around by the vision of hell inflicted onto children its hard to make the case for pedophilia being the more reprehensible crime. It is this that makes the book excellent, the persuasive way of Dawkins' writing is outstanding and the level of humour contained within its pages is something no-one would ever expect of a science book. I found myself laughing just as much as I winced and struggled to understand the heavy science that filters through in places. Even without a full understanding of these sections the book should be considered essential reading for everyone, obviously religeous people will avoid it like the plague and for good reason. Reading it would destroy the foundation upon which they've built their lives and for a lot of people that is something they could not live with. Everyone with the courage to read it should be commended however, for it does take bravery and determination to make it through the entire book.

Once again, everyone should read it. Those who have read it should get others to read it. Quite possibly this can be considered the most important book of modern times.