Have you read Richards Dawkins' 'The God Delusion', and yet are religious?

Question

I have read 2 books now that say the same thing - although i have always considered this as well - 'True Believers (the very religious etc) refuse to debate whether there is a god or not, and in-fact probably refuse to, and/or have been told not to by their church, read Dawkins' book'.

Are you religious and read the book leading to you having different point of view? Do you refuse to read it and therefore prove him right? Are you Neutral and still don't like it? Or do you think it is great and proves what you already thought?

What i'm getting at is, i'm asking opinions of true/semi/non-believers to see if it had any impact on you.

The 2 books were The Dawkins one and Derren Browns 'Trick of the mind'

Cheers!

Answer 1

Good question. They can't read it properly.



I feel sorry for their situation. Petrified of death and too frightened to come to terms with it. They can't see that an atheist can see beauty in the universe and nature - the sheer joy of existence is an alien thought.



They have the right to believe it as long as it doesn't hinder others development but it should be banned from being taught to children because it is child abuse. ("Organised Psychosis")



Darwin and Dawkins needed a tremendous amount of courage to publish what they have.



Life is NOW -- enjoy it in peace and awe.

Answer 2

Jesus was a great philosopher. He taught people a new way to think. He was the Son of God as we are all the children of God. You needn't lose faith because it's dawned on you that both his parents were human animals brought about by evolution.



Do you think that God is a magician and can pull living creatures out of a magic box?



He told us to help and care for each other. How to forgive without waiting for the other person to make a humbling appearance at a death bed to say sorry. Hell could freeze over sometimes.



If all he did was to teach the Sermon on the Mount he did more than anybody that ever lived.



I have read some of Richard Dawkins. He's good but he takes everything for granted: there is a lot that HAS TO BE ABLE TO HAPPEN. Just imagine if there wasn't any gravity for instance. Or...

Answer 3

I'm "religious" and have read it. It didn't change my mind one bit, but I did walk away with a greater understanding of what he calls "atheist sprituality." I was also impressed by the fact that Dawkins was willing to admit that no atheist can prove God doesn't exist.



I will also say that, at times, Dawkins' writing style was quite poetic and deep.



However, I found the book to contain a myriad of blatent errors regarding Christian belief (which a decent editor should have picked up) and waaaaaay too much snootyness for my taste.

Answer 4

No, I haven't read Dawkins book but have seen a DVD called Deconstructing Dawkins. It is a talk given by Paul Taylor from Answers in Genesis and is really worth watching.



If anyone thinks that Dawkins has been very clever in refuting the bible they should watch this to see how he has misused scripture to try to prove his points. For a 'clever' man he isn't that clever really.



As for Christians refusing to debate whether or not there is a god, there would be no point because we KNOW that there is A God, just the one, and it is He that we worship.



We witness to individuals as to why we know that God and Jesus exist, and what they have done for us. Preachers preach from their pulpits and sometimes in other places and if people want to hear and learn the knowledge is there for the taking.

Answer 5

I have never read the book and have no fear to do so given the time and opportunity. Theology teaches that mankind can determine the existence of God by NATURAL REASON. Original sin clouds that reason. This means that some men are either incapable or unwilling to use reason in that manner. So how am I being tricked into thinking it is just as natural to pursue God as it is to pursue oxygen, food and water? Why fight either?

Answer 6

i've got perused "The God fantasy" while replaced into searching for something solid to ensure. as a rely of certainty, I sat down and consider a pair of chapters by way of fact i could no longer determine no rely if or no longer i had to purchase it. It struck me as Dawkins' version of "Why i'm no longer a Christian." i will settle for "The God fantasy" as Dawkins' explanation for why he's an atheist. as far as the rest, that's purely yet another variety of religion bashing e book, and that i don't have the time for it. I surely have my own motives for rejecting Christianity, and that i'm no longer particularly thinking approximately somebody else's motives. i'm fascinated in his therapy of evolution, yet no longer of religion. i locate Daniel Dennett's therapy of religion to be plenty, plenty greater exciting.

Answer 7

To be fair, Mr. Dawkins is not exactly breaking new ground here.



I have remain unconvinced after reading the likes of Marx, Kant, Nietzsche, Hume, Russell, etc., so Mr. Dawkins can take comfort in that as far as I am concerned, he finds himself in this company.



Just as these other men, there is much that Mr. Dawkins says that convinces me even more that I am indeed correct in my religious beliefs.



Some of my brief criticisms of Mr. Dawkins would be that:



Complexity and probabilty are not at all mutually exclusive.



Religion is not evil. Evil is in the depraved hearts of men. Would Mr. Dawkins remove everything that man uses for evil? Money, science, swords, rocks, etc.



Hope that helps.

Answer 8

Great book...The End of Faith by Sam Harris is also good. Gotta love the people that KNOW God exists. No you don't. What are you so scared of? That is what turns us agnostics off so much. I have no problem with anyone who believes in God, but admits that they could be wrong. I could be wrong too. One thing that is for sure though is that the Bible wasn't inspired by God and neither was the Koran or any other supposedly divinely inspired religious text. God? Perhaps. The Bible? Nonsense.

Answer 9

evoultion is not a problem for me...even Pope John Paul II declared that "fresh knowledge leads to recognition of the theory of evolution as more than just a hypothesis".



your the fool for buying a celebrities book.

Answer 10

No I do not read the book of a skeptic who refuses to believe in God or that God is not even possible. His unbelief does not make it so. Even if the whole World refuses to believe that does not make God real.



Just because some will not read the book does not make him right.

I know God exist i have his Holy Spirit living in me.

Answer 11

"Only those who realize the immense efforts and, above all, the devotion without which pioneer work in theoretical science cannot be achieved are able to grasp the strength of the emotion out of which alone such work, remote as it is from the immediate realities of life, can issue. What a deep conviction of the rationality of the universe and what a yearning to understand, were it but a feeble reflection of the mind revealed in this world, Kepler and Newton must have had to enable them to spend years of solitary labor in disentangling the principles of celestial mechanics. Those whose acquaintance with scientific research is derived chiefly from its practical results easily develop a completely false notion of the mentality of the men who, surrounded by a skeptical world, have shown the way to kindred spirits scattered wide through the world and through the centuries. Only one who has devoted his life to similar ends can have a vivid realization of what has inspired these men and given them the strength to remain true to their purpose in spite of countless failures. It is cosmic religious feeling that gives a man such strength. A contemporary has said, not unjustly, that in this materialistic age of ours the serious scientific workers are the only profoundly religious people."



Albert Einstein.

Answer 12

I have yet to believe any theists have actually read it. Not because it's an amazing book, but I guess I have too much faith in humanity that people could read it and be so breathtakingly arrogant enough to think that not for a second some of the points raised in the book might apply to them and their beliefs.

Answer 13

Read "A Case for A Creator," by Lee Strobel and get BOTH sides of the arguments.

Answer 14

Nope. I'm not into the trashy fiction stuff. I would sooner read Cosmo than that.

Answer 15

I'll never read that book. :)

Answer 16

professing themselves to be wise they become fools!