Sunday, May 20, 2007 | Reason : Commentary | print version

Pick of the Week: The God Delusion

by Nick Rennison

Reposted from:
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article1798329.ece

When Napoleon asked the mathematician Pierre-Simon Laplace why there was no mention of God in his latest book, the French savant loftily replied: "Sire, I had no need of that hypothesis." Like Laplace, Richard Dawkins famously has "no need of that hypothesis". For Dawkins, the elegant simplicity of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection is sufficient explanation for the diversity of life. In his latest book, he takes aim at all those who continue to believe in the implausible notion of a supernatural creator.

The God Delusion, when published in hardback last year, aroused the wrath of theologians and believers everywhere. Dawkins was accused of everything from simple-mindedness to indulgence in his own atheist variety of the very fundamentalism he was condemning. There is little surprise that his critics were both indignant and worried. Not only does Dawkins pull no punches in his assault on religious ideas (no mealy-mouthed evasions or expressions of regret for him), but he is also a brilliant and entertaining polemicist. Whether demolishing previous arguments for the existence of God, providing a succinct explanation of why natural selection suggests that there almost certainly isn't a divine designer of the universe, or lambasting the often pernicious influence of religion on modern society, he is such a clever and witty writer that he carries readers effortlessly with him. After a reading of The God Delusion, an omnipotent and omniscient deity seems about as likely a being as the Tooth Fairy.

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1. Comment #42949 by heinitz on May 20, 2007 at 6:10 am

"an omnipotent and omniscient deity seems about as likely a being as the Tooth Fairy."

...as long as there's money to be made...

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2. Comment #43022 by Barbara on May 20, 2007 at 9:38 am

Long live Richard Dawkins!

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3. Comment #43035 by bluebird on May 20, 2007 at 10:06 am

'The God Delusion' is rated as a "staff favorite" at our local bookstore:)

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4. Comment #43148 by heinitz on May 20, 2007 at 2:26 pm

'The God Delusion' is rated as a "staff favorite" at our local bookstore:)

That's cool! At my local Chapters bookstore they hide anything by Dawkins (or Harris for that matter)back in the Religion section...although I did find The Ancestor's Tale in Science.

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5. Comment #43157 by themanchoo on May 20, 2007 at 2:50 pm

Well of course it should be in both the science AND religion sections. The former because it is all about science over nonsense, the latter because believers should really be exposed to the information contained in its pages.

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6. Comment #43163 by heinitz on May 20, 2007 at 3:03 pm

themanchoo- you're correct but I was complaining because I have never seen the God Delusion at the front of the store where all the other best sellers are.(and I check everytime I go in)

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7. Comment #43167 by themanchoo on May 20, 2007 at 3:11 pm

Yes I understood that, I just noticed a point that needed raising (someone would have said it at some point anyway!) :-)

Maybe next time you're in there you could smuggle a couple of copies onto the bestseller shelves (or even stick one or two by the window!!).

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8. Comment #43172 by maton100 on May 20, 2007 at 3:40 pm

I concur. Kudos again.

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9. Comment #43200 by coretemprising on May 20, 2007 at 7:37 pm

I'm concerned that you're off your meds.
Other than that everything's good so you have my permission to carry on, and
"Good luck with that."

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10. Comment #43201 by coretemprising on May 20, 2007 at 7:38 pm

Crimeny, that was supposed to be directed to, you know, the troll.
Sigh. Oh well.

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11. Comment #43215 by deejay on May 20, 2007 at 9:18 pm

Late one night at the insane asylum, one inmate shouted, "I am Napoleon!"

Another patient asked, "How do you know?"

The first inmate said, "Because God told me!"

Just then, a voice from another room shouted, "I did NOT!"

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12. Comment #43397 by Phaeonix on May 21, 2007 at 9:13 am

Harris and Dawkins are under my local bookstore's favorites section. God Delusion is in the Science section. Harris is current events, and Dennet and Hitchens are in the philosophy section. Having grown up in the south, THERE most certainly is a difference living the in north...

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13. Comment #43561 by trapper on May 22, 2007 at 2:28 am

i am currently reading the book for the second time. i have promised to loan it to someone i know who is presently recovering in hospital. interestingly enough, this guy is of the jewish persuasion but in discussion with him about previous professor dawkings books,( he has read all his previous works!) i have discovered that he his as much a radical atheist as myself( i have borrowed that great description from 'the god delusion' by the way!) i have a feeling that to declare his atheism to his family and friends would cause him more hassle then just carrying on with the rituals and keeping shtumm.

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14. Comment #43576 by SharrieG on May 22, 2007 at 4:03 am

Ijust read The God Delusion... I'll have to re-read it before I make serious comments, but I was a bit disappointed that Dawkins didn't seem to make a lot of serious arguments - there seemed to me to be more rhetoric and suggestion rather than rigorous logic.
The last chapter was excellent though - where he started talking about science - this one was spine-tingling!

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15. Comment #43609 by stephenray on May 22, 2007 at 5:29 am

Comment #43576 by SharrieG
"there seemed to me to be more rhetoric and suggestion rather than rigorous logic."

There's no need of rigorous logic. The most everyday logic disposes of the possibility of gods in less than a paragraph.

The problem is what to use to persuade the befuddled.

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16. Comment #43618 by SharrieG on May 22, 2007 at 5:57 am

Re: Comment #43609 by stephenray
I guess I'd just read so many reviews of The God Delusion which said that it was such a fabulously rational book, and had such compelling arguments, that I was disappointed to read it and find very little substance.

As I say, I'll have to read bits of it again before making serious criticisms, but it just seemed to be an endless recycling of old arguments and not-very-compelling ideas.

I think it works well as a defence of the internal consistency of atheism. I just don't think there's anything compelling enough for those who aren't atheists to start with to change their fundamental worldview.

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17. Comment #44269 by sheepscarer on May 24, 2007 at 1:06 am

SharrieG the compelling arguments are to be found in The Selfish Gene and the other books on evolutionary biology. You need to look no further than these to understand that our anthropocentric view of the universe is nonsense. In The God Delusion RD frequently reminds us that he has no wish to cover this ground in huge detail again.

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18. Comment #44272 by SharrieG on May 24, 2007 at 1:38 am

Thanks sheepscarer, I haven't read The Selfish Gene yet, but I'll add it to my 'to read' list.
I don't get it though, if The God Delusion is about explaining why God is a delusion, and Richard Dawkins wants to do this and has the arguments to do this, why doesn't he repeat them there? Seems a bit mean to say 'here's a book about God being a delusion' but then it only refers you to another book. Hmmph.

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19. Comment #44337 by lt_zippy2 on May 24, 2007 at 11:34 am

I have to say it was a book I enjoyed. I hhave been an atheist all my adult life and I had a rudimentary knowldge of science.

This book cleared a lot of things up for me and for those sections that were not quite as good (e.g. the rebuttal of the Anthropic Fine Tuning argument, which even Dawkins says is one of the theists "better" arguments) has encourged me to read around the subject. And even I thought Evolution was random chance (and still a better explanation than god), I got put right there!

I now have a large bookshelf devoted to atheistic and scientific works which I never would have bought or read without reading Delusion.

PS I think "Unweaving the Rainbow" is actually a better book than "Delusion"

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