The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins: An Intricate Case of Science Versus Religion

Dawkins’ long and in depth book is really about how the existence of God stands up against science, or in other words, rationalization against the supernatural.

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He begins by stating that a rational discussion is thwarted by a fear of stepping on the toes of religion. Violence and drug-taking is also made excusable when under the guise of religion. Unlike nature and science theories, religion does not evolve. It has special privileges. And according to Dawkins, is the trouble with religion.

Is America is more Religious than England?

Dawkins asks why some races are more religious than others. He examines the case of America, who are on the whole more religious than England and suggests this might be because modern America is borne from immigrants seeking comfort after being uprooted from their homeland.

This could be further argued in the case of children who are prone to ‘dualism’, a ‘parent’ complex, almost like having a familiar. A consoling voice in the head makes us feel we are not alone. Perhaps this belief clings into adulthood, creating a lifelong faith that offers spiritual solace.

Dawkins introduces the concept of ‘NOMA’ a non-overlapping magisteria, where science and religion cannot encroach. If one overlaps the other, religion can no longer exist. This can be seen in the power of prayer. If a group of candidates were asked to pray for a subject and the other not to pray, a paradox results. According to clerics, prayer is about faith, not science, (unless the experiment proves that prayer works). But if the experiment proves that prayer has no effect upon the outcome, it could be argued that religion is about faith, not hard proof.

Writers of  the Scriptures

This obscurity can also be seen in the Scriptures, authored by various scribes with various political agendas, long after the time of Jesus. Some of it is illogical. An Old Testament prophecy states ‘the Messiah will be born from David’. This is not strictly true, as Jesus is born from a virgin (Joseph’s ancestry becomes immaterial) Personally, I still see Joseph as Jesus’ father, if not in body, but in mind and emotionally.

But what about God’s great design? Well, Dawkins states that small incremental improvements over millennia are the true designer of nature. Darwinian evolution is about survival of the fittest and the most successful in procreation.

This book is quite complex and is not an easy read. The arguments are quite simple, but are put in convoluted phrases, via such obscure words as prestidigitation and tergiversation, that may not be found in the regular dictionary. Still, I could glean their meanings in context of the sentence.

Making the God Delusion more Readable

As the argument for and against God concerns us all, I felt that Dawkins’ book could have been made more inclusive for various reading abilities. I also thought that each chapter could have been summarized via bullet points to make the reading easier to digest.

In the end, I felt the book was more about the logic of kindness and humaneness against blind faith. After all, tribes of peace-loving gods often out-survive tribes of warring gods. Kindness can be differentiated from religion.

Clerics may dislike this book, but anyone willing to argue against Dawkins’ theory would do best to read and understand the book fully first.