New Dawkins book: "The God Delusion"

[Chris OConnor]

Quote:I'd want a book with an unbiased overview of the whole debate so I can sort out my own beliefes as I gain an understanding of the situation.Unbiased? No such thing. Do you insist math books be unbiased? How about books explaining the geography of our planet? Anyone who understands evolution seems to support it. I don't know one credible scientist that doesn't support it. So you're not going to find authors that understand evolution to speak in an unbiased fashion about evolution vs. creationism any more than you can expect to find authors that understand geography to speak in an unbiased fashion about a spherical earth vs. a flat earth.

[Mr. P]

#1 on Amazon.uk#1 on Amazon.ca#3 on Amazon.comAt least it is sparking interest!Mr. P. Mr. P's place. I warned you!!!The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart...Scorsese's "Mean Streets"I came to kick ass and chew Bubble Gum...and I am all out of Bubble Gum - They Live, Roddy Piper

[AubreyAlexis]

I am willing to put up with Dawkins' dickedness if it can be so called simply because we all put up with that same arrogance from theists. Anyone who would tackle a subject like this with the conviction and eloquence that Dawkins has is going to be a little bit abrasive. I am willing to put up with that to hear what he has to say.I know I've put up with enough abrasive theists only to hear the same things over and over again.

[irishrosem]

I just got back from the Richard Dawkins reading hosted by the Free Public Library. First, I want to give a nod to the library's continued efforts to host many various authors, some of whom are controversial.I enjoyed the reading, I always like to hear authors read their own work. Dawkins is entertaining and well-spoken. There were two questions I'll tell you about, and of course I'm paraphrasing. One woman asked, since Dawkins admits that he cannot state for a certainty whether god exists, then wouldn't that make him an agnostic rather than an atheist. (I guess people are more comfortable with the former label.) To which Dawkins said he would give a response coined by a friend: That he is an agnostic in the same way he is a tooth fairy agnostic. The other question made me wonder. A man in the audience said that Dawkins challenges his readers to organize, to be outspoken about their atheism. The audience member said this is not possible among atheists, because there is no sense of community. He asserts that is what is missing from atheism and what attracts others to religions. I understand his point, as did Dawkins, even though no question was asked. Essentially, since there is no shared common experience among atheists, outside of their lack of belief in god, there is no set community. Dawkins himself prefaced his readings by asserting that though it seems like the U.S. is moving towards a theocracy, in his experience, there are more non-believers out there than is thought. Is the community that inspires the religious world

[Chris OConnor]

Some sort of organized atheist movement would be nice.

[Federika22]

I'm in!

[Saint Gasoline]

Atheism will only be organized in so far as religion is organized. In a culture without belief in God or wide-ranging theistic beliefs affecting politics and society, there would be little reason to bind together according to such a disbelief. This is why you don't find a-unicornists or a-leprechaunists anywhere.In our current culture, with theists organizing themselves and attempting to gain political power in America, this will no doubt spur atheists to organize themselves in reaction, because atheism has always been a reactionary outlook on life.So can atheists organize? Of course they can. But only at the expense of theists organizing themselves. So long as fundamentalists keep gaining power and putting pressure on non-believers, they will eventually force them to unite. But in the absence of such pressure, the guy who said atheists have no common bond is entirely correct--they would go the route of a-unicornists and a-leprechaunists. So, in a way, it is a scary thing to see atheists organized--because that just shows how much power the theists currently have.

[fleem]

I just ordered the new book. I'm really looking forward to it.

[Niall001]

Is this book going to be read in booktalk? I've recently bought a copy but not started reading it yet. I'd hold off until everybody else was reading it if it is going to be up for discussion any time soon.

[MadArchitect]

Incidentally, there's a review of the book in the latest issue of Harper's Magazine. I'd post a link, but it isn't available on their online version as of yet. I didn't get to read the whole thing but it looks pretty scathing. The author is terming Dawkins' point of view "hysterical scientism."