I finally got around to getting Dawkins' book and reading it, about one third into it and I have to control my impulse to keep posting quotes from the book. Dawkins not only has some good things to say but has many memorable qoutes from others.
I like what he says in his introduction, he talks about his wife hating her school as a kid, when she told her parents as an adult they were shocked and asked why she didn't tell them. She replied that she didn't know she could. And that is what this book is about, telling those who have major doubts about their religion, or just vague non-believers in general, that they can be atheists, it's perfectly acceptable. In some parts of this country someone might never have met anyone who isn't a Christian, and has only heard negative things about atheism, it can be hard to shake off what you've had drilled into you your entire life. These books give such people permission to be atheist. And the fact that Dawkins and Sam Harris have both made the best sellers list shows more than just the choir is buying these books.
But I have to do at least one quote, this one is from Douglas Adams and how he felt when he finally understood evolution:
"It was a concept of such stunning simplicity, but it gave rise, naturally, to all of the infinite and baffling complexity of life. The awe it inspired in me made the awe that people talk about in respect of religious experience seem, frankly, silly beside it. I'd take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day."
2 comments:
Dawkins book is very affirming. I'm into it about 3 chapters. Slow going only in that I have so little reading time at the moment.
Me too, I only get to read for about 10 minutes each night when I go to bed. About in the middle he gets into more technical evolution stuff that's definitely slow going.
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