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Jul 04, 2017AaronAardvark1940 rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Like many, I attended Sunday School through my youth. I recall asking more questions during confirmation classes than most of my peers. When I was still in high school, roughly sixty years ago, I read Malinowski’s "Magic, Science, and Religion." This book caused me to ask myself questions about my beliefs. My introduction to Dawkins was through the "Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing," which Dawkins edited. It is a wonderful collection of great writing in the sciences that was published in 2008. Unfortunately, TCCL does not have this book. I next read "The Selfish Gene," and will probably read more of Dawkins’ works at some point, although biology is not a particular interest of mine. Incidentally, many of Dawkins’ detractors do not seem to understand that he does not believe that genes have personalities. He clearly believes that a scientific approach to the question of God’s existence is a valid exercise. His often dismissive and acerbic tone could make this book unpleasant reading for religious readers. The only realistic possibility for the existence of God is an old-fashioned idea that has more recently been labeled Intelligent Design. If you cannot imagine reading anything else in this book, at least take time to read the seven or eight pages Dawkins devotes to “irreducible complexity.” Although arguments based on this notion have been made since Darwin’s time, we now possess the knowledge to knock them down. Antony Flew is aware of this aspect of the ID argument, but appeals to a different aspect as the basis for his conversion. But that’s an issue for comment on his book… "The God Delusion" is really an anti-religion screed, and seems to be an equal opportunity offender as far as I can tell from the comments. Religious folk who believe that morality can’t exist without God, but don’t want to read Dawkins’ arguments about proofs of God’s existence/nonexistence should be willing to read at least the 25-30 pages he uses to discuss “The Roots of Morality: Why Are We Good?”