Converts' Corner

“And I thought and thought and thought. But I just didn’t have enough to go on, so I didn’t really come to any resolution. I was extremely doubtful about the idea of god, but I just didn’t know enough about anything to have a good working model of any other explanation for, well, life, the universe, and everything to put in its place. But I kept at it, and I kept reading and I kept thinking. Sometime around my early thirties I stumbled upon evolutionary biology, particularly in the form of Richard Dawkins’s books The Selfish Gene and then The Blind Watchmaker, and suddenly (on, I think the second reading of The Selfish Gene) it all fell into place. It was a concept of such stunning simplicity, but it gave rise, naturally, to all of the infinite and baffling complexity of life. The awe it inspired in me made the awe that people talk about in respect of religious experience seem, frankly, silly beside it. I’d take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day.”

Douglas Adams The Salmon of Doubt, p 99.

“Douglas, I miss you. You are my cleverest, funniest, most open-minded, wittiest, tallest, and possibly only convert. I hope this book might have made you laugh – though not as much as you made me. . . Douglas’s conversion by my earlier books – which did not set out to convert anyone – inspired me to dedicate to his memory this book – which does!”

Richard Dawkins The God Delusion, p 117

Is Douglas Adams Richard’s only convert? Or is he just the first of many? Please write in to Converts' Corner if you have lost your religion (or have been encouraged to come out of the closet) as a result of reading The God Delusion or other Dawkins books.

Email

151

Dear Richard,

I have just finished reading "The God Delusion", and felt the need to express my own arrival at atheism. Whilst I cannot claim that you converted me, as I have regarded myself as an atheist since adolescence, the book makes me feel far more confident about expressing my atheism. Whilst Australia is a secular society without much religious pressure, although the religious right has become more vocal since the rise of "terrorism" as our leaders like to call it, most people would find the idea of expressing yourself as an atheist as a bit odd. So I generally keep quite about it.

I was pleased by your discussion about the "respect' we are all expected to show for people's religious beliefs, no matter how absurd, yet there is no onus on religious people to respect atheism. Perhaps its because its not a belief. I am offended by their constant displays of their religion.

The disbelief in the existence of God came to me as a child of around 12, when lying in bed one night contemplating these things, I suddenly realised there was no God, and all these other people were wrong. This "God" they all believed in was simply a figment of their overactive imaginations, and a crutch for them to release themselves from real responsibility. It was such a powerful understanding that once realised it, I never doubted it again. It was very liberating, because I realised also that this meant that whatever I wanted in life I had control over. There was no 'other force' managing my destiny. I felt free and powerful.

I am keenly aware of a strong sense of morality which I believe is basically inherent, and don't understand why religious people believe they have the mandate on moral behaviour. From what I can see, religious morality is far more concerned with keeping people's sexual activity under control (especially that of women, and more especially daughters), than with caring for other human beings, and refraining from killing others.

I am proud to say that I have raised two children to young adulthood, without indoctrinating them into any religion, or to atheism for that matter. I have tried to show them that this is a choice for them to make if they wish. We chose not to baptise our children, even though most people do, even if they are not religious (go figure, it must be an each way bet), so that they could be free to make their own choices in adulthood. Nevertheless, they are well behaved, law abiding citizens, with sound morals and now that they are adult, their sex life is none of my business!

I will leave your book lying around though, perhaps they will choose to read it!

As atheists, I think we should be more inclined to express our views and be damned (literally). Thank you for writing this book, as it helps to give me new ways of expressing these things articulately. It is a breath of fresh air in a world stifled by hocus pocus and mumbo jumbo.

Regards

Sue

152

While my conversion to atheism has not been entirely due to your work Mr. Dawkins, it has certainly taken influence from it.
I was not at all raised in a religous family. As a child, the only things I was really taught were that my parents had some sort of a belief in reincarnation, but for all practical matters to consult science as the main way of understanding the universe. However, being raised in a very religious and conservative part of the country, at a young age I found myself isolated in alot of ways and needing to explain to myself a spiritual world view. Instead of making a jump to the logic of my childhood, I found a new faith in neo-paganism as I felt it clashed well with many of my pre-existing political assumptions and therefore was a comfortable fit in helping me explain the universe in a spiritual manner. Over time I did alot of study in it to help fight and defend the views of myself and other modern pagans in a conservative area of the country. However often I felt very uncomfortable with the faith as it has a great number of points where one cannot feel reasonable in practicing or believing it. However instead of coming to obvious conclusions, as many people do with faith I looked for more ways to justify unreasonable beliefs. However, as years pasted it became more obvious to myself that I was using it as more of a "cultural background" type of deal, instead of truely believing alot of the stuff that was taught. What started to break me was my assassociations with other neo-pagans, as many I encountered where either semi-delusional, using the faith to make themselves feel important, or as an excuse for something else(sex,drugs), even as many of them had spent little time in study and most knew next to nothing about the larger theological implications of paganism. However I continued to defend them as I felt I had a spiritual obligation that was mandatory in my fate centered view of the world. After a break of a couple years from school, I decided to return and go to college. With my faith already declining I ended up taking serious courses in psychology(& abnormal psych more importantly), and serious philosophy for the first time. For the record I had never had any problems with science and faith, biology, physics tended to only make me more faithful. However the abnormal psych and philosophy courses started moving away more from my previous beliefs, and made me start to feel that I had became a religious apologist. I can't remember exactly when it happened, but eventually I moved away from the beliefs I had, and started trying to figure out where I was. During this point, a wonderful thing happened, Youtube. By accident, I came across an episode of Penn & Tellers Bullshit! that had been illegally put onto the site. However, lucky for Penn & Teller I became a huge fan and ordered all the DVD's. I became increasingly interested in skepticism. I found I agreed with the skeptics more and more. But I had a hard time moving toward the conclusion that there was no god or supernatural element at all. However, via Bullshit!, I was made more curious about many topics(and also introduced to some interesting characters such as Randi and Hitchens). Once again, while looking on youtube, I came across the documentary "The Root of all Evil" which sent me questioning even more. With the arguement of the celestial teapot almost bringing to full conversion, it was a week later when i found out that the reason one of my coworkers hated me(who was far from any sort of moral high standard herself) was because I was not a christian. With this, my conversion was complete. Only 5 months into my new found world view, I feel sadden and robbed of time from all the years wasted away. I have found a new curiosity and love for the world. Realizing that it is the here and now that matters to us, that our relationships to each other and the world around us that really matter, I have also found a new much higher sense of morality that finally touches me completely. Our limited time gives me a new preciousness to each minute, each book, every song and every kiss. Thank you for helping me not waste any more time.

Faithless in the bible belt

153

Richard,

I was raised Catholic. I went to Christian school all the way through high-school. I went to church camps as a child. I even played Jesus is a play for church at Easter one year as a child! As a young adult I was the person who would look at a beautiful landscape and say, ' and people think there is no god'.

Everything changed for me when my mother passed away at the very young age of 46 from cancer. My mother was deeply religious. I became angry and curious why this god did not answer all of our prayers.

Interestingly I became infatuated with logic in college. Turned out I was good at it where many other students could not or would not allow their brains to be hijacked with critical thinking. As my curiosity grew stronger for picking out fallacy in life, it became blindingly apparent that the biggest potential fallacy I needed to research was religion.

Skip to ten years later (now), and I have read Sam Harris' books, your books, watched videos, read many other books on the subject of religion. I make it a point to devour as much information as I possibly can on the subject of religion. Especially where I find common ground with the author's point of view.

I found Sam Harris' Letter to a Christian Nation to be one of the most well thought out and scathing bits of writing I have ever had the pleasure to read. I had read The End of Faith beforehand and was salivating for more of Harris' impenetrable arguments.

That led me to The God Delusion. (clever title by the way) I actually found myself laughing as you politely sling mud in the face of the religious nutjobs. It has become increasingly clear to me just how weak the argument for religion is. Religious, especially Christian apologists can really get my blood boiling these days. But, thanks to people like you and Harris, I now have the intellectual ammunition to battle their myths with facts. For that I must say thank you.

You have converted one more!

Say it out loud people - it's ok - A-T-H-E-I-S-T!!!!!

Rob Stiff

154

I am currently in the British Armed Forces. In a relatively short life (currently 28 years old) I have seen and witnessed some fairly harrowing events and some incredibly beautiful events. The idea of positive and negative sacrifices is one that is particularly apt in current theatres of operation. Heroism v. Martyrdom; the only difference, I guess, is which side you are on - and even then it could be argued to be the same thing.

What I "believe in" has been forced into my consciousness more and more with each detachment to theatre. I have a great admiration for fellow members who cling to their religious beliefs throughout each detachment, ordeal, funeral. It must be a comfort to be able to know so resolutely that the 18 year old under the flag is going on to "something better". This is where I have found my atheism to be difficult. The business end. I truly believe that death is the end, and that makes death an intensely sad affair because I know that each time we stand saluting a coffin that the world has lost something unique. Sad but true.

Richard, thank you. The God Delusion is the academic reasoning behind my "belief in nothing". However, this is not an easy path that we all tread. It feels very raw and exposed to stand looking at death with nothing between me and it other than a handful of experiences and some awkward first kisses. The thought of me having a "bad day at the office" has occurred many, many times in the last few years but thanks to a few passages in the book that helped me to understand my thoughts more clearly, where there was apprehension in my mind there is now simply an acceptance that all things come to an end. Far healthier than smiling when a friend dies!

I would say that I am converted but I was already an atheist. Let me simply say that I am now simply resolute.

I look forward to see how you will next incense the world!

Gareth

155

Hello Mr Dawkins

First of all, I would like to apologise if contacting you via facebook is too familiar. I have wanted to write to you for a long while though and, seeing your name, I thought that I may as well do it now.

I am sure that you get a lot of letters and emails like this but I just wanted to say that I watched your "Root of all Evil" programme the other night and I thought that it was great. Believe it or not, I have a lot to thank you for. Three years ago I started going out with a colleague from work, who is also a solicitor like me. I discovered he was a Mormon but this didn't put me off at all since I didn't know anything about the religion at all. We started going out and I was introduced to his family. They were nice enough at first but soon I started to be under more and more pressure to join them at church, avoid caffeinated drinks and alcohol and read the Book of Mormon (to name a few). I love learning about new things and so started to research the religion. The things that I discovered were frightening - the whole history the religion, who Joseph Smith seemed to be and how they had no evidence whatsoever for what they thought was the truth. I started to fight back - I started to challenge what my boyfriend's family and my boyfriend believed in. My boyfriend's father responded by accusing me of approaching things in an intellectual manner when I should just "accept". I refused to do this. I introduced my boyfriend to Fawn Brodie and had daily debates with him. Gradually, he began to question the beliefs that he had been indoctrinated with since he was a baby. His family saw this happening and grew extremely nasty. They warned me to stay away from him, told him that I had been sent by the Devil, he would go to hell and never see his deceased mother again and so on. It was horrible. I almost suffered a nervous breakdown as I was fighting to stay with the man that I had fallen in love with. In the end, my boyfriend was asked to choose between his family and me and he chose me. We were married on a beautiful day last year in Sri Lanka without any of his family in attendance.

I wanted to write to you as I share so many of your opinions on the danger of so many religions in this world. I know you have so much work to do but I wanted to suggest that you really should look into the Mormon religion. I find the fact that it is mushrooming extremely frightening given the serious restrictions that it imposes on the lives of individuals and how devisive it is.

I hope you read this email. My husband has read most of your books and we watched you and your wife discuss the God Delusion in Birmingham. We really do think a great deal of your work and I know that your work has helped my husband to leave a, frankly, frightening and restrictive way of life.

With my kind regards

Anonymous

156

Dear Richard Dawkins

Hello You did not convert me to atheism, but you armed me with the tools to be proud of my atheism. heres my story.

I was born in 1989 to catholic parents (I was a child of catholic parents not a catholic child is you say) I never believed in religion or it's story's but still believed in god. I have always loved science and at the age of 13 i started learning all I could in evolution and in physics and other fields and really was a deist.

I have OCD and it makes me fear germs and even touching family now I have had to drop out of school because of it. Of all the trouble my OCD has cause me I like having it because once I have a thought in my head i can't let it go and I now study astrophysics my OCD lets me go over a problem over and over until I understand it. one day after reading Stephen Hawking's a brief history of time I started thinking of were god was in all this and god filled less of the gaps he did when I was younger So I started looking up religions on the internet and found atheism and by now i was an ever unbelieving agnostic. when i found out about you and started looking at your website and you youtubes videos and then bought you book "the god delusion" and that made me a proud atheist and since then I have loved watching your videos and seeing how religions and the people who believe in them see the world not for the view but just but waiting to leave. i have never truly seen how religion treats people who don't agree with them or just believe in something else

Now I'm shore you'd be happy to here I am working my GED and going to college this fall to study evolution and astrophysics.

Your Friend Anthony Baker

157

Hi Richard,

I am a 39 year old Mother of 2 and recently started work in a bookshop. My manager had bought a copy of the God Delusion and lent it to me as I was interested in what you had to say. Well, as I read the introduction about you goal to convince people that God is not real, I could tell that it was the book for me and by the 3rd Chapter I purchased my own copy.

I have always questioned why people believe so strongly and blindly in religion. Even as a young child when forced to attend Sunday school, I would argue with the teacher about how the stories could actually be true!! (They didn't appreciate me at all I could tell). I threatened to run away from the Sunday school if I had to keep going and luckily my parents didn't force me.

I have since found out that my father wants to read your book too and is not a believer, it is not something we have ever talked about before! Also my 14 year old daughter is now a big fan after reading the book and watching "The Root of all Evil".

We feel so relieved that there are plenty of other people out there, who can also see how crazy it is to believe blindly in a book that has such hatred in it and as for the Muslims!!!!!!! But the one thing that really surprised me was the reaction from 2 of the people I work with. I was questioned about what was in your book and I did nothing but quote different parts, like the chapter on morality and what is in the bible etc and without me trying to convert them or saying that I was an Atheist, I was attacked with anger for even reading it and when I heard them muttering in the corner that at least they were going to heaven, I decided to drop the subject real quick. One of the girls asked me again later why I was so against religion and this time I told her exactly what I felt, that I was a just and moral person who loved my family and was excited about doing something worthwhile with my life and I didn't need a bible to teach me that, so we agreed to disagree.

I am now proud to say that I am an Atheist and want to do my bit to help the world to see the truth.

I have ordered "The River out of Eden" to read next.

Thank you for confirming what I have always felt and giving me the courage to speak out.

Sincerely,

Janelle Brooker

158

Dear Professor Dawkins

I have never felt the need to make my feelings known or to send an email to a web site and thus literally place a flag in the ground for my feelings concerning religion. For the first time in my life I feel the need to do just that. Growing up in South Africa, a country of great religious belief on the side of both black and white people - (of which I am one of the white minority) it is difficult to express a lack of religion. It is even more difficult in South Africa to express scorn or sometimes ridicule the blind obedience to religious ways and traditions. After reading your book 'THE GOD DELUSION' I felt the need to write this mail. I was brought up in a family that believes in questioning. Nothing is ever set in stone, question everything. And also my parents felt the need to encourage reading. Read everything you can get your hands on. Thus, after reading copious amount of fiction, non fiction and questioning everything as a school boy I came to the gradual conclusion - (by the age of 13 already) that religion expects you to believe in something with ABSOLUTELY no proof. Nothing!...!...I always felt in my gut that this expectation of blind faith with absolutely nothing to back it up was asking a little to much. I did find it strange however that most people did not seem to agree with me. Maybe my Fathers Axiom of 'religion is a crutch for the weak and the helpless' had a bit to do with my skepticism...chuckle...

Anyway...I would just like t say...Douglas Adams is not your only convert, you have at least one in South Africa as well. Continue in your good work. It makes me feel good to know that I am not the only person in the world that questions and does not accept religions expectation of blind faith...! Especially when the other person is someone of the intellectual status of yourself. Added to which, reading the emails from other people around the world leads me to believe that com! ing out of the atheists closet is something that can now be done without someone being stoned for it...well...at least if you chose the right place to do that coming out.

Thank you for a great read!

Rowan Thomas

159

Richard --

keep up the good work. I came to my conversion in a rather natural manner. My family is fundamentalist christian. I converted when, a couple of days after a sermon on that "what you do to the least of these, you do to me" quote from one of the gospels, my father bragged at a meeting in our house (with the minister and the other church leaders) about signing papers to repossess an independent trucker's rig. This was at the height of the 70s oil embargo. All in attendance laughed at the news -- my dad had just destroyed a man's ability to support his family. That just killed any sense of belief I had.

Randy Burbach

160

Dear Richard Dawkins

It really is a pleasure to be a moderator on this site. Thank you for RDF.

Maybe for me it would be true to say that Douglas Adams converted me, and led me to your works.

When I was eight I came home from school with a question as to why it rained in England but not so much in Africa where they seemed to need it most. My mother was unable to answer that question. That evening Jehovah's Witnesses came round and my mother asked them my question.

The next 6 years was one of study. Easily I was reading publications, attending meetings, and going door to door roughly 30 - 40 hours a week. When I started secondary school I was concerned that my school acquaintances (not friends as "bad associations spoil useful habits") would not survive Armageddon. I needed to help them see that only those that called on Jehovah would be saved. Also I knew that if they rejected what I said they would be damned to eternal sleep in hell.

Many a night spent weeping. Not only did most not heed the warning but I became a victim of bullying. The system of things was against me. Yet the congregation almost seemed glad that these people would be destroyed and soon. Even when I was on the floor being kicked I had in mind that Jesus on a stake being crucified was far worse and that he wanted his persecutors to be forgiven.

Thankfully in the main it was verbal and psychological the bullying. Though what was really driving me to despair was the thought I had failed to be convincing in helping to save my class. Half way through the first term my mother agreed to have me taught at home.

This suited me fine. More time to study God's word, witness and help out at home (my younger brother is severely autistic and needs constant care). For science lessons I had the blue book on evolution and creation which Dawkins has multiple copies of.

My mother one day was looking at a list from school of books to read and came across Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. We had a lodger who was a big Adams fan - my mother decided such books were unacceptable as they did not teach the world was created by God. However, the more the lodger told me memorable quotes from the book the more I wanted to read it.

Secretly, like someone reading the Tyndale bible, I read the book while pretending to be asleep. I laughed silently. Not only was the book funny, but there was an illicit thrill that this was naughty but nice. Maybe I was dishonoring my mother reading this book - but it was a fun story!

And then something hit me between the eyes. If I wanted to prove that it was not the Magrathians but God that built the earth what evidence would I need? So at 13 I reread the Creation Evolution book. It did not give me anything except - well how else? Well I could say the same thing about an alien race making the earth.

By now I was close to being baptized. I had no access to science books, and one night when I was about 12 my mother had gone into my bedroom and seen a programme called Murder Most Horrid which had a satirical scene on the Ku Klux Kan - I was in the kitchen having finished watching the news that was on before. My mother accused me of watching this programme, then lying when I pointed out the facts (it had just started, I was in the kitchen before it came on). The result was that we no longer had TV in the house.

So my only source material was JW books. So I decided to look at all the old publications. Thankfully an elder had out of print copies which I was able to look at. I wanted to learn more about the society, and see if they had answered my question before somewhere.

What I discovered was an organization that changed dogma, and made predictions which had never come to pass. I was shocked. To give credit so too was my mother looking at these old publications (especially where new editions of a book changed belief without acknowledgment).

So at 14, having already had an interview as a step towards being baptized we terminated our study. I decided that I needed to go back to school to get accredited qualifications. I went back to my old school and things were fine in comparison to what they were.

When I went to 6th form friction developed between myself and mother. She had started reading the Watchtower and Awake! magazines again, while I wanted nothing to do with it. Also I had by now openly read all Douglas' books, radio series, TV series. I came across a reference where Douglas mentioned a certain Richard Dawkins as being an influence on him, an evolutionary biologist. Decided that any friend of Adams would be a friend of mine and therefore went to a bookstore where they recommended The Blind Watchmaker.

I had about finished reading when I went to University. By now relations with my mother were strained. She did not approve of my agnosticism (which for me meant that God as a concept is meaningless and makes no difference if such a being exists or does not exist as I have no way of knowing how the universe is different in either case), or of me going to 6th Form, let alone University.

But I was determined. I needed to get away from the arguments at home, and the emotional blackmail that I would be letting my brother down going to University. One moment my mother was fine with it all, then for no reason she would have a barmy about it. Looking back I realize that she was scared how she would manage without me (my parents divorced just before the JWs).

When my Uncle took me down to University it was the happiest day of my life. It was like an after life. While studying Economics and Politics I came across Bertrand Russell's lecture "Why I am Not A Christian". Overnight I decided that really I was an atheist, but I did not really want to make a big deal about it.

As to my mother, well I still get it in the neck being an atheist. But she and my brother are doing well.

However The God Delusion has awakened in me the political animal that I always was. Secularism is about protecting personal freedom and individual liberty. No one in the name of faith should be able to reduce people's freedom. Also, science should teach science - not the kind of lessons I had when being taught at home which was a debasement of science fitting religious teaching.

So thank you Douglas for entertaining and getting me thinking about logic and reason. And thank you Richard for popularizing science and understanding what needs to be said about the elephant in the room. Together you have enriched my life.

Regards

John Sargeant

161

I can not express how thankful I am to you for helping me put my own doubts and convictions so eloquently and simply. It is easy to feel alone as an atheist. Claims of atheism tend to make others uncomfortable, angry, pity, or even frightened. My lack of religion has ended relationships and put much stress on my closest of friendships. It was horribly strenuous for myself to come to the decision. I always try to explain to my believing friends that it was the most difficult choice I have ever made, that suddenly the one thing I had turned to when I had nothing else was no longer real to me. It is much easier to believe in a God that watches over you, listens to you, and will reward you with eternal life when you die. To discount all this and make the conscious decision to believe in a total end to your own existence takes guts. It is the choice to face reason and truth rather than be contented with fantasy and dogma.

It was always interesting to me that respect for Christianity is held in such high esteem while respect for atheism is practically non-existent. A friend even commented to me that "atheism is a bad word." It is only society's ignorant biases and fears that give such a connotation to the word. Before reading your books I partly believed these words. I thought there must be something dysfunctional about me, something inherently lacking in morals. Your book has given me the conviction to know that my opinion is not only valuable, but ethical. Thank you for helping me organize my passion in my decision against religion. Thank you for being in the corner of every person who has decided they would rather live a life of knowledge and rational thinking than the drugged delusional state of religiosity.

Laura Lovato

162

Dear Richard,

For many years I have been at odds with my beliefs and my self-education. My siblings and I were fond of watching the Discovery Channel and reading about biology and evolution as elementary school children. It is a common family story about how my sister and I scared off a pair of Jehovah's Witnesses at the ages of 7 and 8 by detailing the Big Bang Theory and all of evolution in a fierce debate with them. Opposite of my own beliefs, my has always been a very devote Christian while my father attended Catholic school as a child though he is more of a deist than a Catholic.

My family's tendency toward knowledge but dedication to religion confused me and spurred my quest for answers. From age 12 to 17, I designated myself as agnostic (or TAP as your book entails) due to my inability to pinpoint my beliefs. I willingly attended church with my friend and simultaneously read and studied biology, archeology, and scientific literature. I was mostly an atheist except I could not definitely explain the ubiquity and concrete nature of religion in society. Why were people so drawn to religion?

It wasn't until listening to one of your lectures online that I became fully convinced that god does not exist. My family and mother especially were wary of my decision and still attempt to convert me back. Nevertheless, my beliefs are sound and are spreading in my family. In one 8 minute discussion with my 12 year old brother, I changed his beliefs from staunch Christian (though he never fully read or understood the bible; he only believed what my mother had told him of course) into an agnostic by only asking him questions in a Socratic teaching style. I hope that I have made him skeptical of anything he hears whether it is religious or not.

I want to thank you so much for your insight and I wish the best of luck in your enlightening.

Victoria Soler

163

Dear Dr. Dawkins,

I am so grateful to you, and to others like Sam Harris and Neil DeGrass Tyson, who have done so much to give visibility to atheism (beyond the villianized stereotypes).

I grew up in a Conservative Baptist household. Even though I tried VERY hard to make it work, I had doubts from a very young age about the benevolence of God. The church tells children that "God is love", and not much more; so when I started learning about the things God had done to hurt people, I coudn't help but feel betrayed. However, out of fear and a sense that this Christian lifestyle was my only option, I worked even harder to fit into the religion.

It has been a long, slow process out of the dark, but I have managed to find some peace at last. Reading about science, and about the history of religion, has been my source of salvation from the fear and hate that religion taught me.

I still feel some fear sometimes about hell, I am ashamed to say. When we are taught to believe something so horrible our whole lives, I believe that it scars us deeply.

I work with survivors of sexual assault, and I see similar patterns in them. If, when they were young, their abusers told them that they would get in trouble if they told, they believed it. As adults, they still feel afraid when they talk about it.

Dr. Dawkins, you are right to say that forcing religion on young children is abusive. It can leave us deeply scarred, and can make the process of "coming out" as atheists an arduous one, to say the least.

Thank you for your work, and especially for facing your critics head-on in debates and interviews. You are a powerful advocates for survivors of religious abuse.

--Sara Taylor

164

Dear Professor Dawkins,

I was a raving fundamentalist Christian in my teenage years who lost faith in the religion after reading the bible and seeing how absurd it was.

Unfortunately, I went from Christian fundamentalism to a sort of spiritualism in my early to mid twenties. I despised you at that time. I thought you were an ignorant and arrogant fool.

Being a curious person, I had to find out exactly why all these brilliant and highly educated people like yourself could possibly not believe in a spiritual reality of some sort. So I began delving into a little neuroscience, philosophy, and evolutionary psychology and within a couple of years I was incapable of taking the idea of a human soul seriously. Just finished selfish gene which was icing on the cake.

I want to take this opportunity to formally apologize to you. Also, I would like to say that you do NOT come across as arrogant to me anymore, but as one of the kindest and gentlest people on the planet. Your work along with Sam Harris' work have prompted me to publicly declare my atheism without embarrassment, even in a workplace where almost everyone is a fundamentalist. I turned a Jewish coworker onto you and Harris and she was able to wash herself of years of torturous guilt from her religious upbringing.

So have hope! These books, talks, and appearances do alot of good in the world and are changing the zeitgeist very rapidly. But there's a long long way to go, so don't stop.

With deep gratitude,

Aaron Wray

165

Dear Prof. Dawkins

I can only thank you for writing these amazing book (and your terrific DVD) which helped me as a teenager and my little sister (13 years old ) to shake of the ignorance and arrogance that religion imposed on us and basically corrupted our character. Those might be strong words but growing up in a catholic village in the German countryside can very well be described as ignorant.

I discovered you and your books during my foreign exchange year in Texas and without a question I was "the wired german kid" due to the fact that I didn't believe in a god. It was a pretty tough time to be an outcast of society living in the so called "bible belt" but your books and your website with all its videos have helped me getting through it and becoming a more conscious human ( or a monkey who only got A's on his report cards, as I've been referred to in the US).

Long story short , thank you for teaching me these important lessons that helped me on my way to becoming an adult.

Felix

PS: I truly apologize for any kind of horrible English language mistakes ;)

166

Well - maybe not a convert. I have been an atheist for as long as I can remember. I repeatedly ran away from Sunday school when I was eight years old. I had to study the New Testament's John in school, but I treated it as fiction.

But thanks to your books and those of Sam Harris I'm out of the closet. I no longer feel I have to defend myself. As Sam put it - we don't have to explain daily that we do not believe in astrology. Why should I have to excuse myself for not believing in some 2000 year old scratchings that have been mistranslated and misinterpreted dozens of times?

Trevor Stokes

167

Dear Richard:

My story is quite twisted, but I can summarize it as follows:

I was baptized into the Roman Catholic Church within my first year of life, however, my family did not really attend services regularly, this allowed me to take advantage of a very secular education, I loved science and technology in my early days. In regards to my beliefs, they could fit into agnosticism at this point of life, even though I knew a lot about science and reason.

Once romantic love knocked my door at the age of 23, I fell into all kinds of churches.
- First I became very interested in mormonism, I even got baptized and "confirmed" in this church.
- Then pentecostalism...
- Finally, I was willing to go back to the Catholic Church and even do my "first communion" in order to get married with all the requirements.

(I´m not going into details as I find them very embarrassing)

Something was really wrong, the attempt to increase the odds of succeeding with my opposite sex mates, them being religions, really messed with my core beliefs (agnosticism based on scientific facts).

Luckly (well, kind of), I suffered a big disappointment with my ex-girlfriend with whom I was already engaged (I gave her the ring in front of the images of Jesus Christ and the Virgin of Guadalupe), I thought she was "the one". She was unfaithful in the most horrible and unexpected way and treated me like garbage at the very end. You are right, definitely morals do not come from religion, and even if they do, most religious people do not really follow their "commandments", at least those that really matter.

Now, I fully believe that God is as plausible as a celestial teapot or the Flying Spaguetti Monster.
Nevertheless, I am still trying to recover for the second big delusion: romantic love. Hopefully I can find a nice atheist or agnostic lady very soon, the quest has just begun.

I have read these books so far: The blind watchmaker, the selfish gene and the god delusion.

Thanks for your great work!!, you are a light in this second stage of the dark ages. Consider me your friend and follower to accomplish the mission of RDF.

Sincerely,

Xarold

168

Five times I have read The God Delusion since purchasing it as a bit of respite from revising for my Uni exams in January. Any doubts I ever had about Gods existence were wiped away following my first reading of the book. I am a mature student and the one major thing that reading this book has given me is the knowledge that it is my own work, and the support of a wonderful loving family that has allowed me to achieve what I have. I feel so alive knowing that I have had no outside supernatural help in reaching my goals at Uni, no divine influence to help me achieve my grades, and most definitely no Saintly hand in making sure my work is handed in before the deadline!!! If I had never went back to Uni, I would probably still be in my deadend job hoping or 'praying' that God will sort my life out. Instead, i am now at the end of my 2nd year and looking forward to my Honours year, knowing it is all my own doing!!!

Thank You Richard Dawkins for leading me to this new found belief in myself and raising my consciousness to the next level.

Steve Hooton

169

I've been reading through these fascinating deconversion stories and I thought I'd throw mine in. I fall under the already an atheist category, but when I realized I was an atheist is one of my proudest moments and I also think it's pretty funny, so here it is.

I was six years old, the summer before I was to start school. For some reason, well, because my Mom wanted to conform with her church going neighbours, she thought it would be a good idea to uncerimoniously yank me out of my beloved woods with the naturally occuring jungle jim tree trapezes that edged up against our subdivision on Sunday mornings and trot me off to Sunday School. This involved dressing me in a little suit and spitting on her kleenex to rub the remaining dirt off my face before entering the church. On top of that I was required to sit still in a chair for several hours. So far, none of this was to my liking. The Sunday School teacher caught my interest briefly (I was familiar with the basics of Christianity) when I learned that there was supposed to be a Second Coming, I honestly thought there might be a job opening, that if I was really good then I could be the Son of God, but that didn't last long. Maybe fifteen minutes. And then they started singing. Turns out I was a 6 year old music critic. I thought the songs were really sucky and that the caterwauling accompanying them was a form of punishment. And not knowing the lyrics was like standing in front of a crowd in my underwear to me. But I managed to live through it all and returned to the woods, blissfully unaware that they did this EVERY WEEK!

So the next Sunday rolled around, and I was subjected to the same process. The Sunday School teacher didn't appreciate me colouring Jesus green in the colouring book, either. I was getting the picture.

And finally, the third Sunday came along. By this time I had decided that God didn't exist and that all the Jesus talk was complete gibberish. I had the natural world all around me and I sure didn't see any devils or angels popping out of thin air and bothering me like they do to almost everyone in the Bible. My Mom seemed like she was going to make a habit out of sending me every week, so it was time for my first major act of rebellion.

I was stuffed into the hated Sunday School suit as usual. My Mom went to get her coat and car keys. I was getting desparate, and this was my window of opportunity. While she headed for the closet I bolted for the washroom and jumped into the (properly flushed) toilet, fully attired in my stupid suit. I sat there, arms crossed, and waited. My Mom marched in, and being prone to melodrama, she spent some time overacting and waving her arms. But I was not going, and she was not sending me in anything less than my impressive stupid suit. Checkmate. I never went to church again. My Mom eventually became a declared atheist and went back to university with a degree in anthropology. She died last year.

Anyway. I am kicking myself for not reading your books earlier. I was aware of the Selfish Gene when it came out, but I thought it was probably just another trendy self-help best seller so I ignored it at the time. I was a dumb kid. But since I'm currently on a biology kick I picked up the Ancestor's Tale last summer, and read it while sitting on a remote beach on the fabulous West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island. Grey whales were migrating close to the shore and a herd(?) of sea lions hunted all day long. It was the proper setting for your profound book. Thank you so much! And then I learned you were publishing The God Delusion! Loved it! Now I have two more of your books lined up for this summer, and I will go through them all, several times.

Finally, I saw that they just had the greatest living Brit contest. I am no hero worshipper, but I didn't see that you were even considered. Oh well, I guess Julie Andrews baring her breasts in the 1970's or the Queen owning some Corgis are much more important achievements than being a pioneer in changing the world for the better, as all these deconversions show. But I thank you for sharing your knowledge and your bravery from the remote colonies in Canada.

Neil Kelsey

170

I was drawn to this website while searching for answers. I was raised in the Presbyterian Church, perhaps one of the most boring and staid of the Protestant forms of Western World Christianity. I even contemplated going into the Ministry when I was in my mid-teens. But I had enough sense at the time to question what I really believed in. Did I really believe that God had created the Earth in six days? Did I really believe that Jesus Christ had been born of a virgin birth? Did I really believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God? Did I really believe that Jesus Christ died and was raised from the dead and ascended into Heaven? Fortunately, even at that young age, I could not honestly say that I believed. I found that I resisted Faith. When presented with a choice - faith or logic - I chose logic.

Like most teenagers, I rebelled. I stop going to Church when I was in my late teens and when I left home to go to university, I vowed that I would never go back. But I did. Perhaps I was bowing to pressure from my family. I went back for special occasions – Christmas services while I was home on break – weddings of friends and family members. Eventually, my own wedding; and the baptizing of my son.

While I didn't physically resist these attempts to bring me back into the Church, mentally I fought with myself. Mentally, I resisted. I wasn't totally sure of why. I guess I never believed.

Later in life, while in my mid-40s, I was suddenly stricken with a physical ailment that brought me close to death. I was in the hospital for 61 days, and had numerous operations and medical procedures. However, I survived. But, as the result of my illness (pancreatitis), I am now a diabetic. I control this disease with insulin, diet and exercise. Yet, I try to live my life as normally as I can.

While in the hospital I was visited many times by the Presbyterian minister. He was a friend of my Mothers, and although he never proselytized during his visits (we often talked about politics and current affairs), when I returned home and started to get back to living a normal life, I decided to give the Church another chance.

My mother-in-law, who lived in another province, had tried to convince me that part of the reason I had survived my ordeal was the many prayers that were said on my behalf over the Baptist Prayer Line.

I even started to bring my son – who was now eight – to church with me. I wanted to expose him to the teachings of the church – to make up his own mind about religion - but I never forced him to come with me. It was a social outing for both of us. My wife never accompanied me to church. She had decided many years ago that she was no longer going to be a religious person. Of course, like me, she would go to church with her mother when we visited her during the summer.

When I returned to church, I was astonished at how foreign the Christian teachings had become for me. I soon realized why I had left the church many years ago. This was pure nonsense. How could any reasonable, logical person believe this stuff? I was in a real dilemma. What I thought was an expression of goodness, charity, love and more was really a monumental scam.

Confused and disillusioned, I left the church – returning reluctantly for family weddings and funerals. Even then, the messages that were delivered during these services that should have reflected the immense joy of a wedding or the deep sadness of a funeral were blunted and made meaningless for me because of the nonsense of the ceremonies.

I had decided to live out the rest of my life without religion. Although I found myself in times of solitude wondering just what it is all about.

Then one day I heard an interview on the radio with Sam Harris. A light went on in my brain. I went out an bought both of his books and devoured them. I searched for more, finding Richard Dawkins.

Life is cleared for me now. But I do have one agonizing fear that has come out of all of this.

That is where I am right now in my life. I have great concern for the future of this Earth. I am concerned for my son's sake. Not my own. I fear that the United States of America is destroying itself and this world we live in through internal bigotry, racism, hatred and environmental degradation. I fear for the jingoistic paranoia that seems to have gripped America.

I live in Canada but I have traveled to the United States many times and I have colleagues throughout the country. I trust and admire many of them. But I don't understand why they seem to be helpless in letting this happen to their country and our planet. I am perplexed when I watch American television news. We seem to be confronting a western world in denial. I cannot understand how these neoconservative, supposedly-Christian-based attitudes, including blatant lying and holier than thou behaviour, have managed to pervert the quest for truth, authenticity and fundamental values we used to uphold as immutable. Unfortunately, the American conservative, Christian media seems to be leading the parade.

Maybe we'll all be blown to smithereens. Perhaps, some would argue, that was God's plan all along.

Doug Scott

171

Dear Richard,

I have just finished reading The God Delusion and would like to thank you for helping me put a lot of the ideas and feelings I had about religion into some sort of order. I have never been a believer in any religion but was lacking conviction and was insecure about what I really believed. Many of the points you put across in your book resonated with me and matched many of the thoughts I had already had about religion.

I am absolutely certain that there is no God however I am still trying to get to grips with the origin/first spark of life as a chance event. I have not discarded the possibility of panspermia theories of life beginning on Earth. I have a real problem imagining a molecule as complex and as intricate as DNA just forming by chance. The more I look at it the more it appears to be like a mini mechano set. Certainly no supernatural being created it but perhaps it did land here from some other region of the Universe and was "built" by a far technologically advanced race. Who knows? Maybe we are all truly aliens! I read your book immediately after finishing "Supernatural" by Graham Hancock. A very interesting read if you have not come across it.

Anyway I will do my best to get my christian friends to read your book(s). Some of them will be hard work but I will do my best to release their minds from the chains religion has already bound them in. Cheers Richard.

Kind Regards,

Chris

172

I know i have a slim chance of mr. dawkins actually reading this, or this being published on the site, and if it does get through, i must firstly apologize for any spelling or grammatical mistakes.

My name is Balach Hussain, and I live in pakistan, aged 23, i have been unfortunate to have wasted some 5-6 years of my adult life (after 16), in religion. But over the past two years i have gradually lost my faith (or chains!),, primarily because of my curious nature, trying to get to the truth.. questions such as how god controls the universe, how does it intervene, about fate ,,, leading upto: does a god actually exist? and so on.. Like most people who encounter these questions i got confused, somehow i felt i had the answers but couldn't dig them out or maybe i wasn't ready to appreciate the new thoughts developing inside my mind.. Didn't have any peers or relatives to discuss things, (as u might know things are quite messed up here when i comes to religion.)..

But reading ur articles, watching the interviews and thnx to some other authors it has all come to a conclusion. I realize its possible and actually the best way to live as an athiest humanist rather than a fundo (or even a liberal religious)..

Thanx for ur time and all of ur writing, I'm sure they r helping a lot of people all over the world, just like they've helped me. Keep it up...

Balach Hussain

173

Hi , last night I watched the ' Root of All Evil' on the ABC, I admire your courage in being so brave to make such a program. I am not an educated person but all of what you said is what I have always believed since I was able to think for myself. Though I was brought up in a Christian home I could never believe all the stories of the Bible they seemed more on a par with the Grimes fairy stories. I kept this all to my self as I felt I would upset every one if I spoke out. Watching a program such as this is so good . I feel a sense of relief that I am not all alone in my understanding of how things are in this wonderful world we live in.

Normaj

174

When I was 18, in the summer between high school and college, I was quite anxious about the future I was expected to live out. I was raised Mormon and was quite sincere about my religion, which culturally had many expectations of what I would do with my life. I was expected to go to college for a year, and then when I was 19, spend two years somewhere else in the world trying to convert others to Mormonism. Then, after I returned, finish college, get a good job, get married and have many children. This was a pretty heavy burden for an 18 year old to bear.

As a naturally rational person, I looked for evidence and confirmation of my beliefs, to make sure I was doing the right thing and to feel comforted that God would assist me through all of these difficult tasks. Mormonism teaches that God answers prayers directly and has a personal relationship with each individual. So, I prayed for confirmation and comfort, very sincerely and for several months. Disappointingly, I never received any sort of answer from God, and this just made me more anxious about the life I was expected to live.

One night, while watching a movie with a friend, I had a sudden and profound realization. First, I realized that I was very scared to do all that was expected of me. I also realized that everyone in my life promoted their beliefs in God and the Mormon religion, not because they knew any of it to be true, but they were just passing on what they were told. Everyone else was in the same situation I was in; none of us really knew any of it, but we all did our best to convince each other and ourselves that our beliefs were true. Each week at church, people would tell each other how convinced they were of the religion and share faith-promoting stories. I realized that with this kind of intense and prolonged social pressure to believe and to conform, it was very difficult for anyone to question or leave that religion or culture.

Immediately after this realization, I knew that I could no longer trust other people to give me reliable guidance in my life or provide reliable truth about the world. From that point on, I knew I needed to pursue truth with an independent mind and live a life guided by my own understanding and not by the ideas that others pass on because of social pressure.

I decided not to accept my full scholarship at the University of Utah, viewing college as yet another layer of social co-deception. Instead, I've spent the past 15 years engaged in my own, intense independent study, reading hundreds of non-fiction books on a wide variety of subjects, mainly science books. During most of the last 15 years, I have truly been agnostic, sincerely thinking about the issues of God and the supernatural, not being convinced either way. It was obvious that traditional notions of God and the supernatural were ridiculous, but I still believed there was the possibility of some kind of supernatural intelligence.

However, many of the books I read were Richard Dawkins' books: The Blind Watchmaker, River Out of Eden, Climbing Mount Improbable and very recently, The God Delusion. These books made it very clear to my mind that life is a very natural and spontaneous phenomenon, simply arising and becoming more complex, given favorable conditions. Life doesn't need the guiding hand of intelligence any more than oxygen and hydrogen atoms need God to push them together to make water molecules; it just happens, given favorable conditions.

However, the fact that life arises spontaneously doesn't mean that some kind of supernatural god can't exist, just that god didn't create life. What finally convinced me that the supernatural cannot, even in theory, exist is having read Stephen Wolfram's book, "A New Kind of Science", twice. One of the main theses of the book is that complexity arises automatically, even following extremely simple rules of transformation. Another main thesis is that arbitrarily complex systems of rules can be perfectly simulated by extremely simple systems of rules. This means that every system of rules, even those with astronomically large numbers of rules, is equivalent to a very simple set of rules with the right initial conditions.

This is all very abstract, but what I realized was that all naturalistic explanations assume that existence is following a system with a finite set of rules. That means that the supernatural would not follow those rules, and in fact not follow any rules whatsoever, since any sort of rules or regularity would be within the domain of the natural. So, all the supernatural is left with is utter randomness, since all patterns can be explained naturalistically. Since the supernatural can only be utter randomness, there is no possibility that it could be intelligent in any way. So, I am now convinced that there cannot be supernatural gods or anything supernatural.

However, I am still open to the idea of "technological gods", technological, self-transformative beings who ultimately become so intelligent and powerful we may as well consider them gods, even though they are a natural phenomenon that did not create the universe itself. In fact, creating such beings seems like a meaningful long-term goal for Humanity.

I would like to thank Richard Dawkins for writing such wonderful, captivating and intelligent books. They have truly affected me profoundly and helped me understand and appreciate life and what it means for us to be alive and conscious in an overall dead universe. His books have given me even greater courage to pursue my independent studies and live a life that even though it is unconventional, is deeply meaningful and intellectually fulfilling. He has always been an example of clear-headed rationalism, and I admire him for being so public with his views.

Thank you.

- David Musick

175

Dr. Dawkins,

Before reading the God Delusion, I had considered myself an Agnostic. Figuring that Atheism would be an extremist view, I needed some thorough and rational discourse to change that position. Naturally, upon reading the God Delusion, I now realize that the rational position is as a functional atheist. Just as we're all agnostic in the sense towards fairies or other mythical creatures which we cannot prove, we remain agnostic to most unprovable things. The illumination came when realizing that although we may be Agnostic in that sense, in reality, the proper philosophical position is Atheism. The probability that such mythical things exist are so infinitesimally small that the likelyhood approaches close to zero.

Having realized my Atheism, a whole new paradigm shift has occurred within my thinking. As you spoke of Julia Sweeney and her acceptance of Atheism in your book; the opening of all sorts of new arenas, and the feeling she had of enlightenment, I feel as though I'm repeating those motions. Just like her, I have testied it out, realizing that there truly is comfort and beauty in the universe. The awe that no metaphysical or supernatural forces can possibly effect the outcome of our cosmos is truly uplifting.

--Armen

176

Dear Professor Dawkins,

I was born Catholic. I know you would probably cringe at that statement, but what I mean is that my father was Catholic and I was baptized as a child, etc. However, I can not even think of a single time my father even mentioned Jesus. This coupled with my mother's dislike of all things religious, gave me what I consider to be as clean a slate as possible growing up. My parents did not have a lot of money, and they had enrolled me into several free Catholic schools for the purpose of babysitting me while they were at work. My mother tried to ensure that they were as un-evangelical as possible and did a pretty good job under those circumstances.

As a child, I was aware of religion and Christianity specifically, but it had never occurred to me that people actually believed in any of it. If other people asked me if I believed in Jesus, I would say "yes" just because I thought it was the right answer to the question. Jesus in my mind was in the same category as the Easter bunny and Santa Clause. When I became older (about 15 or 16) it became clear to me that people really did believe in religion and that I was definitely an atheist. My father told me that only bad things can come from discussing religion or politics with other people. I would feign belief at appropriate times, not because I was afraid of being ostracized, but because I did not want to offend or make other people uncomfortable.

I lived in southern California for most of my life, which is relatively tolerant of different kinds of people and beliefs, but I have come to realize that atheists are an incredibly disliked and mistrusted group in the rest of the United States. Reading the God Delusion was like someone putting into words exactly, all of my beliefs concerning religion. All of the recent controversies that your book has caused has made me realize that there are probably a lot of people like me buying your books. I no longer feel like I am being polite by pretending not to be an atheist. Atheism deserves, at the very least, to be as accepted as Christianity in the United States and the rest of the world. I feel the best way to make this happen is for more atheists to "come out of the closet". From now on, when people ask me what my religion is, I am not going to say "I was born Catholic", I am going to say "I am an atheist".

Brian M.

177

Dear Dr Dawkins,

Thank You for such clear writing in "The God Delusion". It has finally made me "own up" to the fact that I don't believe in a supernatural creator or "God". That belief was handed down from my mother. She was a daughter of an Anglican Vicar. Part of the reason I continued to go to church as an Adult was to remember her after she died. Church reminds me of her.

I have used the time in Church to contemplate life the Universe and everything (as much as my limited intellect allows – Your brain seems like a hot-rod though!). Not actually what was in the bible but in a broader sense. I don't have anywhere else quiet and reflective like that in my busy city life. So this is a nice place to sit and think.

I agree that it is "taboo" to criticise religion – a good question – why is it so? My thoughts grow from meeting people who are fervent and "literal" in their belief in the Bible. They do seem to have a "crazy" look in their eye (Now I'm judging them!)

It is probably good evolutionary sense not to anger these types of Religious people – they are crazy and may want to kill you for calling them out on their faith. So is this taboo possibly part of natural selection?

Once again thank you for sharing your brilliant mind.

Matthew B.

178

Dear Professor Dawkins,

Thank you. (ironically my next thought was 'thank god', lol. finally someone has seen the light and told the truth so eloquently)

Your book 'The God Delusion' has finally helped me to jump gladly off the right side of the faith/science tightrope.

For most of my life i have fought battles between a christian faith that gripped me in heart and mind and a strong belief in the scientific evidence presented to me, and doubts that tormented me.

When i read your description of an all knowing, all seeing god who can see inside our heads and read our thoughts i had a euphoric moment of revelation. i actually laughed and cried because it all just clicked into place, how ridiculous the very idea is.

I'd like to give you some background, although I'm sure my story will not be unfamiliar.i was not indoctrinated by my parents, they never really gave their opinions too me, when i asked to join Brownies as a child, they took me, and my mother came to the church, but never pressed me either way. i asked to be christened aged 8. they had never pushed me, or promised me to a faith as a baby. It was what i wanted. Aged 10, as a shy child with few friends, i joined a church choir, i loved music and at last, i had a talent and people praised me there and i felt so good, as the years went by i sat in two or three church services ever Sunday, heard every sermon under the sun, sung praises to god in all my spare time and studied. that was my other love, science. biology in particular. Aged 12 i decided to be confirmed, it seemed the thing to do, i wanted to take communion and celebrate with the others. looking back i didn't know what i was doing. my enduring memory of that event was the preparation classes, me sitting there in the lesson on how god created the world saying to all the other 12 year old's and the priest. "No, i don't believe God created the world in six days, he started off evolution" Even at that age i was clear-minded enough to know that evidence pointed to an alternative to the bible, but i was unconcerned by this, as far is i saw, they didn't have evidence then, so now we know we can change what we think. i think this allowed me to eventually break free.

i spent the next 8 years in that environment, a harmless, Anglican girl who took the 'facts' of the bible with a pinch of salt and tried to be good and love God. The trouble came when aged 18, my boyfriend introduced me to evangelicals, they were so nice, so friendly, and so clever in their manipulation. before long i was terrified of hell, i was convinced my family were going to hell because they did not believe. the music and the clapping and the 'social activities' all geared to make teenagers love god more than anything or anyone else, and be afraid of sin, of their natural urges, of the sins they committed years ago, of doubting. if you doubt god and turn your back on him and you die, there's no time then to be sorry and repent, you are going to hell.When i split from the boyfriend these people were all i had, i was distanced from my parents by both being a teenager and being so christian. i got full-immersion baptised and thought i was destined for heaven, announced to my parents that i was going to go to war zones to save people for god and scared everyone stupid. i was totally indoctrinated. this went on for two years. then i went away to university to study biology. i was exposed to the real world again and i began to question, only trouble was, now i had 'the fear'. i was going away from god and the devil would be after me. however i ignored the thoughts and i met a man and fell pregnant in my first year of uni. i became so ill i had to leave uni and go home, i went back to my old churches to see some friends, at the evangelical church i was met with polite smile, snigger's and stares in equal measure, and it was made clear that i (who had been youth leader, singer in the band and paid up member of the 'all for god squad') was not welcome anymore. At the Anglican church of my childhood i was met by friends, people who were kind and pleased to see me, or so i thought. i turned up to choir rehearsals pregnant, helped the kids with a huge bump (unmarried at this time) and they didn't say a word, then the youth leader made an offhand comment to my mother, but one that really stung "oh isn't it nice of bill (the choirmaster)to let Lyndsey come back in her state". i knew then what this model, pillar of the community thought of me. dirty little sinner. i was so hurt i couldn't go back for weeks. she made me feel so bad for the life inside me.

i read the blind watchmaker, i studied my books (though i had no degree to study for i was still interested) i went to college and studied human biology. i argued my faith from an intellectual point of view, more and more as an outsider, i stopped popping in to church. but still there was the fear. God can be seen as a pure, loving wonderful thing if you choose to read the bible selectively, and i have read it. i studied it for years and listened to thousands of sermons, i get it. in doing this i saw a hole, this huge opening where acceptance should be. the bible decried my own sexuality, i knew i was bisexual from the age of 14 (having rejected Ken for lesbian barbie and her beautiful black princess friend from the age of 8 or 9) now i was evil, the people i loved meant god hated me. NO NO NO. i also saw how brutal the teaching is that god can reject you forever if you don't acknowledge that he alone can forgive your sins, and that you are a sinner, just by being alive. and will be tormented forever for not believing, that was the cruelest thing i could think of, especially when i heard that god chooses who to give faith to, you have to ask for it, but according to the evangelicals, god picks who to call to faith, the rest of us can rot.

so after years of this dichotomy within myself i read 'the god delusion', and it fell into place, i was so joyful, that release. the woman you mentioned who said this...(I'm sorry, i haven't got the book with me to quote exactly) 'there is no god. there is no god, oh my god there is no god', sums up that moment so well for me. it is like years of turmoil and fear and doubt fell off and i could see the world as it is, beautiful, flawed, brilliant and waiting for me to discover.

I'm sure this will make you smile, the reason my partner and i sought out your book was because of the words of the Bishop of London at a Campaign for Climate Change rally outside the American embassy last year. he stood there and said,

'No-one should read this book. i sincerely hope none of you do' (or words to that effect)

it was that that brought our attention to it, and without the bishops words i should probably still be struggling. :) Sadly, this wont make you smile, it will not be unfamiliar to you either. there is a friend of mine who refuses to read your book, and i think if he did it might change his life. he had a terrifying night of drug induced visions of hell last year after pumping himself full of Ketamin and crack cocaine in India. when he came back the fear hadn't left him. i think that he damaged whatever area of the brain that deals with religion, because now he is a changed man. he was the last person on earth you ever would have thought it of, he activley ridiculed faith and god. while he has come off all drugs(one positive), he also calls everyone sinners every time he sees them, (very hurtful and insulting to me personally, untill i read your book. now i pity him) torments his long-suffering (almost atheist) girlfriend, refuses to hear anything said against God or Christianity, believes everything his preachers and his 'mentor' (an ex con who found Jesus in prison and now runs a gym/undercover indoctrination centre) tells him. (including that your book is the work of the devil sent to take him from god) and is unable to discuss his faith at all, if you try to talk to him....he wont even listen, you are a devil, his preacher says...read the scriptures, ignore everyone else. as someone who knows those scriptures, i am very well placed to point out the gaping holes now, and try to help him, but he doesn't want to be reached. faith had made him bulletproof.

my eyes are so much more open now, and it angers and saddens me when i see what religion is doing, what i once thought was the source of love and light is quite the opposite, dangerous and deadly, and i hope so fervently that more people can be enlightened and liberated.

Thank you so much, i was asked at college to describe briefly someone i admire. the first person that came into my head was you. you have helped me find something that no one else had been able to. freedom within my own mind. Thank you.

Lyndsey Sharp

179

Mr. Dawkins:

I am currently a baptized Jehovah's Witness in my mid-20's, although since I haven't proselytized in over 6 months, I am in "inactive" status with the church. Even though I would have denied it until last week, I stopped believing in the Watchtower Society and God over a year ago. I'm still wrestling out of my denial phase.

As a child, my beliefs set me apart from the other students in my class. I could not join them in holiday or birthday celebrations, and my religious beliefs differed drastically. The evolution issue came up in high school. However, being in the midwestern United States, our community was very religious. When we were to start the Evolution section, the teacher proclaimed that he was going to teach it, but he himself didn't believe it, and none of us had to either. Needless to say, the unit was in-a-sense "glazed-over." He even had a few copies of the Witnesses' book "Life--How Did It Get Here? By Evolution Or By Creation?" These standard Creationist mantras--most of which are based on a gross misunderstanding of Evolutionary Theory--provided a strong creationist argument that I believed was infallible.

The true seeds of my doubt were planted ironically by a Watchtower publication: the book entitled "Pay Attention to Daniel's Prophecy." Its teachings are littered with vast leaps in logic, making connections to modern events the same way a cold-reading charlatan like John Edward or Silvia Browne would. When I remembered the Watchtower magazine articles about the vague prophecies of false prophets, then compared this with the prophecies of the Bible itself, I saw absolutely no difference. So, I began to look further.

I had known about the atrocities committed by God in the Old Testament (or the "Hebrew Scriptures" as Witnesses refer to them). For a while, I reacted to this with a Gnostic viewpoint (the God of the OT is not the same God of the NT). I was taught that God is always perfect and just, and that if he kills someone, it is divine justice, and therefore inherently perfect and just. This reasoning stopped making sense. It was then I decided that I cannot worship a God who endorses murder, rape, slavery, and torture.

When I heard your famous quote ('The God of the Old Testament is....a malevolent bully'), I was ecstatic. Finally, someone else noticed the things I had. It so eloquently stated what has been in my heart for the past several years. As I begun to break free from Watchtower conditioning, I began to see how silly this whole God idea is.

Withdrawing from the Witnesses though is a completely different manner. Being a JW is not an aspect of your life, it IS your life. Being raised "in the truth," I have shunned friendships outside the group for all of my life. The Watchtower doctrine controls everything: what you do, what you wear (not strictly, we're just encouraged to dress "modestly"), who your friends are, and believe it or not, even your facial hair! If I were to declare my atheism to anyone in the group, I would be disfellowshipped (i.e. excommunicated). This means that no JW, not my friends, and not even my own family, is allowed to say one word to me. Publicly admitting my Atheist beliefs will mean the loss of my friends and family, so needless to say, it is not something I'm going to do lightly.

To be fair, being a Jehovah's Witness aided my life quite a bit. I do not fear public speaking due to my minister training in the church since the age of 8. I know the meaning of formal dress, and can even tie Windsor and Pratt knots (most people my age have rarely worn formal attire). Years of dealing with the general public have enabled me to relate with people. There are many, many other benefits to my life this religion has blessed me with. All of this, however, does not prove it true.

When I wake up in the morning, I weep for the extreme loss than I am about to endure. Without people like you providing reinforcement, I would be lost. You, and others remind me that there is sanity, logic, and rationality in this world. There is something beyond dogma and mind control, and lastly, it's okay to say "I don't know." Admitting ignorance is far better than spreading ignorance.

Thank You,
Brian

P.S. I am blogging my transition period for anyone who would be interested in reading it. I don't see a lot of stories about Jehovah's Witnesses leaving religion altogether (most join another church, or even remain believers in Witness doctrine when they are expelled).
http://diaryofadeserter.blogspot.com/

180

Richard,

I'd like to personally thank you for the freedom you've simply introduced me to. I was raised in the heart of America (I suppose they call it the heart because it's not capable of thinking!) Anyway, being raised on the shiny buckle of the Bible belt, surprisingly, never made me a Christian. I strongly doubted the local hellfire preachers at the young age of seven. Like most children, I was logical, and saw right through it. As I grew in this tiny town, there was one other boy I knew of that shared my disbelief. We would secretly meet in the lazy shade of the park to discuss this forbidden subject. How freeing it was! Our little minds thought we were revolutionaries, thinking thoughts that no man, woman, or child had ever had in the vaults of their minds. Never did we know, that past the city limits, there was a world of people thinking just like us. Trapped in my little town, I felt like the only one alive in a town of zombies, only I had to paint my face dead white and groan to fit in. I had to attend these zombies' Sunday morning meetings and eat the flesh and drink the blood of their savior, Jesus Christ.

Years later, I hit the dusty road to college in a town hours away from Zombie Town. I stumbled into a course that changed my life forever: Philosophy. I devoured every Philosophy book I could get my hands on. Then my appetite turned towards Astronomy. Then, looking for dessert, I stumbled upon Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene.

After all of this self education, I still socially labeled myself an agnostic, just to be on the safe side of it all. Deep down I was very passionate about my disbelief, but bottled it up as if it were poison. One day, I decided to ask my Mother of her religious beliefs. To my surprise, she told me she is agnostic but never really wanted to say anything until I was old enough to have made my own decision on this grand question. For Christmas (of all holidays) she gave me a gift, your book The God Delusion. She had never read it herself, but knew that my curious mind would enjoy it. I have read it several times, for it comforts me with a sense of pride every time. So I write to you, as a convert from agnosticism to the beautiful life of atheism.

Now it hasn't made me the village atheist, looking for arguments with those pesky believers. But it has allowed me to simply be proud about my deep wonder and curiosity about this majestic universe that I woke up in. It has inspired me to pull together and raise awareness of the reality of this world. To me, this doesn't mean shoving my belief down their throats because that's the same tactic that made me spit out Christianity. As I witness your method of softly and patiently informing people, I can only water the seeds that you've planted in their minds. Someday, we may have more people with flourishing thoughts. A garden of wonder. A sea of ideas!

Regardless of a persons religious beliefs, I would hope they recognize you as an inspirational human being. You are full of patience, curiosity, wit, brilliance, and love of existence. Next to never do I classify a person as a hero, but I must say if there ever was one in my life, you seem to fit the boots. Thank you for everything you've done for us fellow creatures on this peculiar pebble.

Sincerely,

Gregory B. McCormick

181

I was raised in a catholic home. Here in Mexico it is very common that you "must" belong to the "official" religion, which is catholicism. At the age of 16 I started to question the authority of the church, and the established truth that it managed to exploit. Despite my being a part of a very believer family I saw myself questioning and questioning that that they taught me to believe as I grew older. It came gradually and not as a shock. One fine day, I decided that I didn't needed to believe in a god to be happy, or to feel "complete" as they put it. (whatever that means)

My family, fortunately, accepted my atheism without questioning my motives. They taught me to embrace a religion, but they taught me also to think by myself. I know it sounds contradictory, but it is as I put it. Eventually I started to talk a lot about and against the official church and the religion in which I grew older. The only thing they asked of me is to respect the others believes.

I think, and I've told them this over and over, that only people deserves respect, but not their ideas. If all ideas deserve respect, then we should respect even the ideals that people like Hitler lived upon. This short phrase usually helps to end any argument. Sometimes it does not. But the important thing, is that now, and after several arguments over the years, my parents, my brothers and most of my friends start to question some of the very foundation of the religion and the church that they grew attached to. The pope is no longer the infallible messenger from god, and I have seen or heard my parents watching some nonsense about religion on TV and start to say "Aw, come on! that's ridiculous!

It is then, when I think that there is still some hope. That some fine day, maybe, we will eventually have the maturity to disregard the very existence of celestial fathers, and start taking the life and the responsibility that comes along with the territory and that we have the right to. and the obligation to embrace.

Lic. D. G. Mario Romero

182

Dear Professor Dawkins,

I just wanted to find some way to thank you for writing 'The God Delusion'. I was brought up as a Catholic and was a fairly strong believer until you opened my eyes and I had a kind of reverse 'Damascus' experience (perhaps I should change my name to Saul). Your message that it is ok to question religion is a very important one and I will do my best to spread that message in the Catholic school where I teach. Thanks to you and people like you we may yet establish a society based on logic and not fear and ignorance. Thank you once more.

Paul Brady

183

As a teenager who had "given my life to the Lord Jesus and accepted God as my personal Saviour" I read a lot of religious books by C.S.Lewis. One of these descibed his conversion to Christianity and bore the title "Surprised by Joy". The title was a play on words, really, since it also described his love affair with, and subsequent marriage to, the American writer, Joy Gresham.

The problem for me was that "being saved" was a huge anti-climax. The emotional high of getting up at a public gospel meeting and "accepting Jesus" was followed by nothing more miraculous than life as usual. No joy there for me. But then, of course, the problem must be mine. My lack of commitment, my emotional deficiency. After all, you couldn't very well blame Jesus!

Strange, then, that 50 years later, upon reading The God Delusion, I was completely surprised by the feeling of liberation and exhilaration that it gave me. True believers know that atheists are a pessimistic negative bunch of people but I can attest to the very opposite. If there's no hereafter, then for goodness sake, make the very best of this life. As Robin Knox-Johnston said, "Paint your life in bright colours".

The whole experience of moving from agnosticism to atheism has given me confidence to openly express my views about religion, and life in general. It may be regarded by some of my friends as "bad taste" or "ill-mannered" but I'm afraid they'll just have to get used to me.

Why do we always have to remain silent and listen to clerics pushing their views on moral issues such as abortion, contraception, sexual orientation and euthanasia? I guess this must be the origin of the word pontificating!

It's about time that ordinary people challenged these views of the world and called them to account. Richard Dawkins is often attacked for his "fundmentalism" and his strident tone. Rubbish! Ordinary people like us must be prepared to speak up for a more rational view of the world. We're not a political party but at least we're not afraid to face the reality of everyday life and death.

Thankyou, Richard, for helping to raise my consciousness.

In my own way, I, too, was Surprised by Joy.

Allister

184

Hi Dr. Richard,

I realize you are an extremely busy person, so I will be fast. I have just read your book "The God Delusion" and now I have two questions for you:

1) I was raised a catholic and almost joined a religious congregation many years ago. Thankfully I decided not to do it, and instead continued my studies at the University and graduated Summa Cum Laude and then obtained my Master in Business Administration. After many years of thinking and finding myself disappointed with the catholic church, and now having the luck of hearing from you through the BBC documentary "Root of all Evil?" and reading your book "The God Delusion", being against any kind of religion is not a problem for me AT ALL. Actually, it is extremely natural and easy for me now. However, I am having a hard time to say or even think "I don't believe in God, I'm an atheist". I can't avoid feeling guilty, even though rationaly I am convinced that I should be an atheist. How do I get rid of this religious brainwash?

2) I am originally from Venezuela (catholic country) and moved to Canada (extremely multicultural) a few years ago. Living in Canada where I see so many different religious people everywhere (including women covering 100% of their bodies and faces), how do I manage to control my feelings of rejection and disappointment towards them? I cannot believe how stupid I have been all these years for believing in so many lies, and I cannot believe that in the 21st century people are getting even more and more religious. How ignorant can humans be? Is there any hope?

Thanks so much for helping me in my liberation process.

Emilio Puentes

185

I've never been a strict Christian, but books like The God Delusion and The Blind Watchmaker helped me take the step from complacency in a semi-religious background (my father is a Christian, though not outspoken, and my mother is a pacifist agnostic) to de facto atheism. I now have a much clearer outlook on life, and whilst it may not be as happy, and I may not fit in with society to the same extent, I would much rather, as your "only convert" says, take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day.

Thank you, Richard Dawkins. I might not be a multi-million selling author, but you have changed my life for what I believe is the better.

Yours sincerely,

Christopher Fraser

186

Hello,

Although not strictly a convert (I have always been an atheist, or have at least always challenged the idea of a god), I have found the God Delusion to be a thrilling and thought-provoking read (well, listen. I bought the audiobook on cd). Very many good points were raised, and few could be argued. I would like to say that you are a very brave man. Although some of your points are shared by many, surely theists are the last people in the world you would want to "tick-off?" As you describe in your final chapters they are (not wholly, but for the main part) some of the most vindictive people on the planet, who like nothing less than to be disproved. In fact one of my own theories is that (again, as you surmise in your final chapters) with the indoctrinatoin of children from a very young age, surely pride is at stake when, after decades of teachings about god and his morals someone comes along and basically proves that everything you have known is a lie. That is like someone approaching yourself and proclaiming that there is no such thing as medicine. This has been going on through time, as with many breakthroughs in science i.e. the earth is round, everyone has their own personal time, we are distantly related to apes etc... This, I think, is the case throughout the world. No one likes to be proved wrong, but on a point as massive as one's belief structure, that's gotta hurt!

To finish, I hope one day day meet you in person, if not to bandy around some theories (a pan-dimensional god?) then simply to shake your hand.

Yours "Faithfully"

Owain Williams

187

I have enjoyed and savoured the many comments I have read in Convert's Corner. Growing up in a dysfunctional christian home, with one parent, bedeviled to the bottle, my mother brought my sister and I up to find comfort, solice and hope in prayers and church attendance. The more desperate my mother became, the more extreme our church experiences, eventually climaxing in rampant faith healing, tongue-speaking, demon exorcising, scared to think differently, belief.

For 25 years, I believed that God didn't/wouldn't heal/fix my dad because of any of the following reasons; he was teaching our family a lesson; we were suffering for the sins of our parents parents (the sins of the fathers etc); we didn't have enough faith; my father was demon possessed and God couldn't help him until he surrendered his life to God (oh the arguments and splintering in the family that caused as we tried to manipulate/force dad to play by our rules.); I'm sure ther were other reasons.

There was an upside - I think I was a pretty good christain. I read christian books, listened to christian music, I attended a christian school, later a christian University where I trained to become a teacher, now I teach, yes teach, in an evangelical christian school. By all measurable standards, I can be as sincerely, honestly and humbly pious and socially concerened as the next socially concerned, ncie evangelical.

Beginning 3 or 4 years ago, I started to observe christian behaviour. I stopped looking at what I got out of being a christain (identity, being a somebody in a closed community etc) and started observing and reflecting on what were/are the motivations, the expectations, the committments of both myself and others claiming faith. My withdrawal from the faith came in gradual steps. My dissatisfaction with organised religious church structures came first - still wanting hold onto belief in god (not wanting to lose salvation). I read the bible cover to cover and wrote 100 000 words in journal notes. This was an eye opening expereince for me. The god that I had grown to believe in through church was structures was not the god I encountered in the bible - i immediately began to pray differently, experience church life differently.

Whilst in New York on a holiday I picked up Sam Harris', End of Faith and Karen Armstrong's History of God. Somewhere in there I also bought and read, The Devil's Chaplain.I listend to quite a few TTC (The Teacher Company) lectures on the history of the bible, the history of christianity, archeology and the neurons in my brain just churned and churned with both excitement and interest. My wife and I visted Greece and Israel - whilst still attending church, yet drastically and continually challenging my previously closely held beliefs. Heck I teach in an evangelical school and I was a youth group leader, lead communion services and occasional lay preacher. I went to Israel with an open mind and one question. Is there any enlightened thinking amonst monotheism or is it just bronze age mythology and bronze age bigotry. I'm not supersticious anymore but when I stood at the Western (wailing) wall I wrote some very pointed reflections that I placed in the wall and I contemplated like I never had before. I believe the answers to that soul searching/heart wrenching desperation to resolve the arm wrestle with religion and beleif in god within myself.

Upon returning from Israel, I read Letter to a Christian Nation and then heard about The God Delusion - I bought it. I have read it once and listened to the audio twice. Richard, in his eloquence, clarifies for me over and over again. Other factors have contibuted - my long held belief in the authority/inerrancy of the bible was a biggie - Bart Ehram's Misquoting Jesus helped me more fully understand the way teh bible was written etc.

The story isn't over - as yet I need to find a way forward. Still working in an evangelical school, ensures I play my cards close. I try where possible to point out the elephants in the room, yet have to duck for cover and say I was just playing devil's advocate. Vocationally, I have to be senstive - but I am looking for a way forward.

This website is one of my homepage tabs and I read/watch/listen to every 'latest news', and their comments each night.

Thank you Richard for your determination and resilience. Looking forward to you coming to Australia. I hope you would be warmly received here. From experience, most of the Christians I know are too concerned with themselves and their own comfort to be too bothered. If only they knew the growing movement of disbelief is acutally well positioned.

Thomas

188

Dear Mr Dawkins,

First off I want to thank you for your book "The God Delusion. It was the most incredible life changing book I've ever read. In fact I enjoyed it so much I'm about to read it for a second time (around 3 weeks after the first).

Here's my story. I was a Christian up until I was around 12 years old. My faith began to waiver after my pastor's son told me that Catholics and Muslims were going to hell. "How could this be?", I thought,"I thought all good people went to heaven." As you can see I didn't really have a full grasp on Christian theology at the time. At any rate I quit going to church after that. I just couldn't reconcile what I was being told by members of the church and what was being taught in our youth group.

I remained an agnostic up until 2005, at which point I decided to finally give up on God. As you might imagine this wasn't easy as I was still very much afraid that I was wrong and would end up burning in hell.

I became very adept at debating with Christians with only my thought processes. However, I soon found that this wasn't enough. I simply did not know enough about physics and evolution to make much headway with the more intelligent (or crafty you pick) Christians. That's when your book came into my life.

My wife is very lucky to have such an open-minded grandmother as I would never have been able to read "The God Delusion" until much later. Everything in your book made a lot of sense and the pieces began to fall into place. Coupled with Carl Sagan's "The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search For God" I became much more confident in my atheism and "came out" to my wife and co-workers. Surprisingly my co-workers took it well. They tried to re-convert me, but this time around I was able to present much more solid arguments.

In closing I want to extend the largest thank-you I can muster in a written letter without sound too silly. THANK YOU!!!

Ryan Martinez

189

Dear Editor,

I've been agnostic for most of my life and have recently converted to atheism. I'm not sure that there is much doubt left but on rare occasions I would still like to believe in faeries. Dawkins talks about the deaths brought about in the name of religion. Unfortunately for me, I have witnessed the thousands of 'little deaths' to self esteem and confidence in the little boys around me in the West of Ireland. The God Delusion provides a language and framework for many of the feelings I developed as a youth. The book was a gift from my young son last Christmas and it brings me joy to think that I may have given him some confidence in return.

Yours etc.

David O'Sullivan

190

Dear Prof Dawkins,

Of your books, I've only read "The God Delusion". This has clarified some issues for me and I have now fallen off the agnostic fence firmly onto the atheistic side. For years I have ranted and raved silently at how people could believe every word of the bible was divine, yet there are so many versions – surely some human influence must have carried through?

My parents ( Church of England in name) never forced the religious issue in our family – we could choose for ourselves. I did the confirmation and youth camp things, but it never really worked. I'm far happier being an atheist.

The reaction to me actually stating my atheism to work colleagues has been interesting to say the least!

If I cannot be officially "un-baptised", do you think I can approach the Roman Catholic Church and ask to be officially ex-communicated?

Jeremy Anderson

191

I was an agnostic, but now, by page 104 of your book, I'm there, an atheist. It didn't take more than a bit of reasoned argument to convert me. Perhaps a theist will be able to convert me back with an equally well reasoned argument, however, I doubt it will consist of anything more than saying "God Loves you no matter what you believe ". Well that's nice of him, I might as well not bother then.

Whatever you do, don't; write a book entitled The Father Christmas Delusion. I couldn't bear that.

Glynn Worthington

192

Dear Richard,

It was actually Sam Harris who deconverted me from Catholicism, but I immersed myself in so much of your writing that I think you deserve some of the credit. Thank you for everything you do.

Andrew

193

Dear Richard,

I was baptised and raised in the Catholic faith, to Catholic parents. From what I have heard of other people's experiences within Catholicism, it seems that my upbringing was very benign and I consider myself fortunate. As a result, I never really questions religion or my own faith – it was just another part of the social framework of my life.

I first had my doubts when we did Religion Education at high school, and we learned about other faiths. My first and most profound thought was "If these religions exist, then what on earth makes Christianity correct? For that matter, what makes Catholicism correct? What if none of them are?".

I sort of lapsed into atheism rather unthinkingly after that, but it was challenged quite strongly when I met my first girlfriend, who was heavily involved in that rather offensive brand of happy-clappy, touchy-feely Protestantism, where "Onward Christian Soldiers" gets sung a lot and an outright, blatant intolerance for every faith which doesn't conform, including other branches of Christianity. It was disturbing – a real eye-opener.

And no, we didn't last long together.

Interestingly it actually sent me back to Catholicism for a while. Not because I felt strongly about it, but because I felt that "my" religion was under attack, and as a result, part of my childhood. Looking back, my reaction was an instinctive one of self-protection, but it did force me for the first time to think about what I believed and why I believed it. And that was the point where I realised that I simply did not believe and could not defend any aspect of my old faith.

However I didn't have the upbringing or the training to vocalise what I did think, or at least suspected to be true. Then I saw the interview you did with Johnathan Miller in "A History of Disbelief". I was absolutely fascinated, and you personally seemed to be articulating what I couldn't find the right arguments or words to express about my own thoughts. Since then I've become an enthusiastic followers of your works, and am working my way back through your earlier books. I've also been introduced to Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Daniel Dennett, and in the company of such intellectuals I feel that my eyes are opened afresh every day.

That, and knowing that there are so many other people out there who feel the same, means that the world feels that much better.

Thanks for everything, and keep up the stupendous work.

Best wishes,

James

194

Dear Richard.

I was born and raised a Roman Catholic and in my young years had decided to become a priest. I tried to gain all the knowledge I could by asking questions at school (Catholic School). The Priests answered some of my questions but unanserable ones were met with "you must have faith". This was the start of my conversion to an Agnostic. The start of my conversion to Atheism was in my late teens when I read Bertrand Russell, Darwin ,and most of their works. I am now 70 years old . I must say that I felt that most of the troubles with mankind were caused by religous and creation advocates.

I have just finished "The God Delusion" and was happily suprised to read the facts that I have always relied on since I was a late teen. Your book should be required reading by every parent and every older child (who could understand it) Thanks for putting into words the things I have believed since my late teens.

I know they would never give out the Nobel Prize for this book but you deserve it Regards and keep plugging away at it.

Paul Plante

195

Richard,

Before reading "The God Delusion" I was an agnostic who had not really taken the time to investigate and draw any conclusions on where I stand. Looking back I don't see how I could have failed to research such an important subject. I guess I was so caught up in my day to day life that I never made time to think on the big questions in life.

Your book was an eye opener! Among other things after reading it I realized I had no idea what evolution really was and how it worked. One of the reasons I had remained agnostic was simply because I did not understand how all the order and beauty in the world could have came about. Now I know. I have gone on to read many of your others books as well as absorbing myself in the books of Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens.

Because of your books I now understand what critical thinking means and how to apply it in my life. It truly is a shame that one has to go outside of a standard education to learn how to think. Also your book has rekindled an interest in science in me that I had forgotten was even there.

In closing, I am now an atheist. As a matter of fact, I am an out of the closet atheist who is glad to share his ideas with everyone around him in the hopes of spreading the truth to others. Thank you so much for writing your books and changing the way I see the world. I am forever in your debt. Keep up the good work!

Mike

--

Is god willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.

Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.

Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?

Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him god?

196

Richard,

I tried to practice Christian religion - and I would find myself thinking; 'I just don't get it'. The God Delusion explains why I never did - and so much more.

You have steered me to become a born-again atheist - for which I thank you sincerely.

A year ago, I asked my work colleague 'How can the eye not be designed' He said "read The Blind Watchmaker". I did, and On the Origin of Species - and I was on my way.

Thank you so much for your public works, and for opening my mind.

Best wishes,

Jeff Daniels

197

Richard,

I am 58 years old. I spent most of my adult life as a Christian fundamentalist. My husband and I raised our s