Dawkins: _The God delusion

Dawkins, Richard. The God delusion. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006. ISBN 0-618-68000-4.

Summary: Although many people believe in God, there is no evidence to support this belief, and the rational arguments offered in support of it are unsound. As an explanation for the existence and nature of the observable universe, the hypothesis that God created it is too complex and too arbitrary to be seriously considered. Physics and biology can account for most natural phenomena much more simply and comprehensively.

Religion in general, and fundamentalist Christianity in particular, is a superstitious delusion caused by fear and an excessive respect for authority and sustained by fear and intellectual laziness. It is not needed as a support for morality and is counterproductive as a source of social or political policy and as a basis for international relations.

Dawkins's writing in this book, though forthright and engaging, is noticeably weaker than his brilliant work in The ancestor's tale and some shorter works. Here he relies too much on anecdote and polemic, opening himself up to the charge that he is a theological lightweight, impatiently talking smack about matters in which he has no expertise and only a casual understanding of the works of serious authors.

On the other hand, Dawkins is not writing for a scholarly audience this time. He addresses himself to the general public, and his goal is fairly modest: He wants people to know that atheism is a humane, open, sincere view of the world that includes a proper appreciation of its beauty and is entirely compatible with morality. On this occasion, at least, he's not trying to prove that there is no God, only getting his readers accustomed to the idea that denying God is not an act of criminal wickedness. To the extent that he can present himself as smart, personable, and moral, therefore, he doesn't need tightly reasoned refutations of theologists in order to make his point.