The Atheist Delusion - Why I don’t agree with Richard Dawkins in 10 parts
Richard Dawkins has put together an interesting package. His book, The God Delusion, has inspired a great deal of discussion and controversy. After reading the book, I find myself disappointed. I was expecting so much more. For such a great deal of noise, I expected some solid, faith-shattering arguments. Instead, I felt that Dawkins’ arguments were weak, lacking in solid logic and poorly assembled.
Why then am I going to spend time and effort refuting a book that I found to be so negative? Well… the popularity of the book requires some strong refutations in order to set the record straight. That’s my main purpose in posting this set of responses. Additionally, I can’t stand to see these guys (Dawkins, Sam Harris and the rest of their “crew”) thinking that they’ve got the upper hand. I have a keen interest in apologetics, so refuting this type of writing is a great passion for me. Note, apologetics doesn’t mean apologizing for my faith, but rather defending it on intellectual grounds.
Before I get started on my critique, a couple of first thoughts. There are a couple of things that Dawkins does quite badly throughout this book. They are:
- Lack of respect - Dawkins takes on a very confrontational tone in his writing. His arrogant and offensive tone is off-putting and it distracts from his writing. While he is entitled to his opinion, his negative attitudes towards religious belief can at times be seen as an emotional response rather than a rational one. Thus, his lack of respect towards those of alternate worldviews takes away from some of his arguments.
- Stereotyping - Dawkins groups all religious believers into one big pot, confusing the beliefs of many different faiths into his own, convenient negative hodge-podge. Rather than develop a clear and concise definition of his fundamentalist religious targets, he bunches all religious believers together. His glossing over of religious belief leaves the reader wondering if he has a clear understanding of the religious claims of each reader.
So without further ado, over the next few days, I’ll be tackling the following subjects, one by one:
- Straw Men - Dawkins weak proofs of God
- The Ultimate 747 - Is that the best he’s got?
- Problems with Organized Religion and Sociological Explanations for Religion
- The objective roots of morality
- The Historical Jesus
- The problem with fundamentalism
- The slippery slope of abortion
- Why not rid ourselves of religion, politics and economics all at the same time?
- Childhood abuse and brainwashing
- On Evolution and concluding thoughts
Be sure to check back daily. My goal is to post a new section each day, but this will ultimately depend on how much time I can devote to my posts each day. Please do forgive me if I can’t keep up to the daily writing requirements to get these finished on time.
Ultimately, I think the answer becomes one of cohabitation. I feel the presence of God in my life every day. And, I appreciate God’s presence, just as I appreciate the scientific progress in understanding the world that God has provided for us. I am thankful for the scientific research that allows us to lead fuller, richer lives. But I am conscious of the limitations that surround practical scientific research. While science provides us with tools for survival, science lacks the moral compass required to be wise with it. for that, I look to God.
In Him,
Todd Dow
September 11, 2007 at 11:53 am
Hi Todd,
I am looking forward to your series on this and you will likely see many comments from me throughout this series. Now to be upfront, I have not read Dawkin’s book but I have read many other publications that argue many of the same points. I would comment that what you criticize Dawkins for I would criticize many religious people I know for the same things. Specifically, lake of respect for others opinions, many times if you question anything that comes out of “organized religious groups” you are immediately viewed as a bad person going to hell..(assuming you believed in hell) and that you are stereotyped into that bucket.
I also wanted to add a comment about how religion provides a moral compass. While many people do use religion to get this grounding I would say that this really provides a very small part in most peoples development. Though I did attend Church growing up I didn’t need to go to church to know it is bad to kill people, it is bad to covet thy neighbours wife or property, etc. I learned way more from what my parents taught me, or from dealing with people that I respected throughout my life, than I did from any sermon. To suggest that you HAVE to have religion to develop any moral compass is an insult to many people. It may work fine for you, but I have found it pretty useless and irrelevant throughout my life.
October 27, 2007 at 3:20 am
I too look forward to reading more of this series. I have been addressed with this book myself, and while I’ve not had the opportunity to read it I’m interested in seeing a intellectual and religious consideration on the matters at hand.
December 1, 2007 at 4:02 pm
I just feel I need to refute the “lack of respect”-argument.
This is something that religious apologetics often bring up. For me, it however is apparet that this argument is severely flawed.
I have since childhood have had an interest for politics. Many heated debates has occurred over the years. I have had discussions with many persons with very different ideological standpoints as to how politics should be invoked. I have hardly ever in those debates been accused for “lack of respect”.
But, a few years back I also started to discuss religion. With the situation in the united states going the way it is (that is, downhill from my perspective) and also after finding my way to some christian blogs here in Sweden (where I live) i started to discuss the matter.
But, what amazed me was that I now, suddenly, heard the argument that I was disrespectful of their beliefs all the time. Why is that? I had in no way changed my way of debating, I was merely debating a different subject, and still this is the kind of responses I received.
I think it’s all really simple. Religious belief is a very integral part of a believers life. Therefore, being confronted with different views can be very hurtful. But this is a problem for the religious believer to deal with. I do not see why I should show any special consideration discussing religion, when I don’t do that when I discuss politics.