Am I Deluded?
OK, I'm going to read Richard Dawkins The God Delusion, currently the number one selling book in Canada. Richard Dawkins is an atheist and he expressly states "if this book works as I intend, religious readers who open it will be atheists when they put it down." Well. That sounds like a challenge. As I read the book I will be posting comments: on what points will I agree with Dawkins? on what points will I disagree? can he convince me to be an atheist?
Let's start with the introduction. He begins with the line, "I didn't know I could," meaning many people think they have no choice in the matter. They simply have never realized that they do not have to go on believing what their parents did or what they were taught. Well, I have long ago given up that sophomoric idea: I know I could give up on religion tomorrow, I could choose to be an atheist. But the question is do I want to?
Dawkins mentions the John Lennon song Imagine. That's a song I love and yes, Lennon does sing "imagine a world without religion too" - and of course, we all agree that we could do without the crusades, the wars, the hatred, the witchhunts and all the various atrocities committed in the name of religion. But I think Dawkins misses the irony here for we can find as many true and good and beautiful things done in the name of religion, and dichotomy is everywhere. I'm not sure we can see everything in an either/or way.
Next Dawkins points out that "the magnificence of the real world ... can fill the real role that religion ... has usurped." I sort of see his point here, but again I don't think it must be either/or. Why not "both/and"? I love the real world. I am as much in awe over Carl Sagan's "pale blue dot" as the next person! It gives me goosebumps to think that on this little speck of the universe everything that's ever happened and everything that's ever going to happen to us takes place - all of what makes us human, all of what makes us, "us." And since energy is never lost, only changed or transformed, even the physical matter of of our being is here somewhere. I love Annie Dillard's comment that the dead are here on planet earth and there are more of them than us living ones. The Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh understands this and tells us constantly to be mindful - we are the clouds and the ocean and the minerals and the forest. It's all connected and all one. Oh dear, I fear these are just very spiritual (religious) thoughts: surely Dawkins can not be against this kind of religious thinking?
Let's start with the introduction. He begins with the line, "I didn't know I could," meaning many people think they have no choice in the matter. They simply have never realized that they do not have to go on believing what their parents did or what they were taught. Well, I have long ago given up that sophomoric idea: I know I could give up on religion tomorrow, I could choose to be an atheist. But the question is do I want to?
Dawkins mentions the John Lennon song Imagine. That's a song I love and yes, Lennon does sing "imagine a world without religion too" - and of course, we all agree that we could do without the crusades, the wars, the hatred, the witchhunts and all the various atrocities committed in the name of religion. But I think Dawkins misses the irony here for we can find as many true and good and beautiful things done in the name of religion, and dichotomy is everywhere. I'm not sure we can see everything in an either/or way.
Next Dawkins points out that "the magnificence of the real world ... can fill the real role that religion ... has usurped." I sort of see his point here, but again I don't think it must be either/or. Why not "both/and"? I love the real world. I am as much in awe over Carl Sagan's "pale blue dot" as the next person! It gives me goosebumps to think that on this little speck of the universe everything that's ever happened and everything that's ever going to happen to us takes place - all of what makes us human, all of what makes us, "us." And since energy is never lost, only changed or transformed, even the physical matter of of our being is here somewhere. I love Annie Dillard's comment that the dead are here on planet earth and there are more of them than us living ones. The Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh understands this and tells us constantly to be mindful - we are the clouds and the ocean and the minerals and the forest. It's all connected and all one. Oh dear, I fear these are just very spiritual (religious) thoughts: surely Dawkins can not be against this kind of religious thinking?
Labels: God religion atheism books
posted by mamie @ 8:10 PM
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