The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins

Well this was quite annoying at times, I think he over writes, it could be much more to the point, also he is unnecessarily rude, in particular the names/labels he uses.

As to the arguments, less to fault him here, most of his arguments against "proofs" of God are fine, but familiar from Christian theologians. His arguments about how awful the church can be are also fine but again Wink, Wallis, Mclaren et al have been there before him.

Where I would take issue is with his selective rating of the bible (we all do this!) he talks about the awfulness of the "Old Testament God" but this is not news, he says Jesus is a little better (but can't resist adding "if he existed at all") but that ultimately the Old Testament and New Testament are exclusive, they are about the Jews only. He quotes some verses to back this up, but ignores? all the passages from the prophets that speak of caring for the alien and stranger, he misses Jesus on loving our neighbour and then defining the neighbour as "the other". He misses so much in the gospels that point to this message being for all people. It is annoying as if this is deliberate it undermines his argument and if it is a mistake then he really hasn't done his research.

His arguments about how natural selection could have caused the rise of religion, ie. mems etc. was, for me, not very convincing. Also his explanation for why we are good still leaves morality as some kind of accident of evolution (not that I have a better explanation).

Overall, not as annoying as I thought it would be.

The atheist delusion | Review | guardian.co.uk Books

Below is a quote that made me laugh, but the whole article is very good (quite long).

The atheist delusion | Review | guardian.co.uk Books: "Dawkins's 'memetic theory of religion' is a classic example of the nonsense that is spawned when Darwinian thinking is applied outside its proper sphere. Along with Dennett, who also holds to a version of the theory, Dawkins maintains that religious ideas survive because they would be able to survive in any 'meme pool', or else because they are part of a 'memeplex' that includes similar memes, such as the idea that, if you die as a martyr, you will enjoy 72 virgins. Unfortunately, the theory of memes is science only in the sense that Intelligent Design is science. Strictly speaking, it is not even a theory. Talk of memes is just the latest in a succession of ill-judged Darwinian metaphors."

The Complex Christ | Signs of Emergence: Religion: Ignore God, It's About The Sacred

short article about another article that looks at the anti-religious backlash (have i got that right?)

The Complex Christ | Signs of Emergence: Religion: Ignore God, It's About The Sacred

Science& Faith

interesting article in guardian...

"The God disunion: there is a place for faith in science, insists Winston"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,,2064897,00.html

/ link should work now if anyone has tried it before and had problems.

templeton prize acceptance speech

Maggi Dawn, always interesting, has a quote from Charles Taylor's speech on getting the Templeton Prize. Fits in with our dicsussions of the trouble with athisism, well worth a look...

http://maggidawn.typepad.com/maggidawn/2007/03/templeton_prize.html

Mustard Seed Shavings: The God Delusion 8&9

This is an interesting post that links in with our discussion of "The Trouble with Atheism"

Mustard Seed Shavings: The God Delusion 8&9