Relections on The God Delusion - Preface

The God Delusion begins with Richard Dawkins explaining that this book is for people who didn't know they could. In specific, for people who have been brought up in religion and don't believe, who feel at odds with the some actions taken by their religion or feel that there is intense pressure by family and friends to stay in it.

On observations on readings and speaking with family and friends I must make this point clear. There are many different degrees to religion. Unfortunately, the fundementlistic areas of all religions give religion a bad name. Whether it is the extremeist Islamic sects or the strong fundementalal Christians in the south of the United States, all show strong views of hatred and strong intolerance towards individuals and groups which in todays society is unacceptable. Luckily, I live in Australia, which although would be described as predominantly Christian, religion just doesn't seem to effect things as much. Whether it is our political system and government or within our communities, religion is present in various forms and denominations but generally there is an 'easy come, easy go' attitude.

All Christians do not believe in the same thing. Speaking to a friend (non-believer) recently he mentioned that he did not like the hypocrasy of someone he knew who although was a 'Christian' he used contraception which the Roman Catholic Church is against. I had to point out that the Pope did not speak for many denominations of the Christian faith and in fact I was not a fan of how the Roman Catholic faith worked largely to strictness, guilt and commanding nature of it. There are more liberal faiths around.

And it would be these more liberal and relaxed faiths that although would want people to stay connected with their faith and spirituality, would respect people if they felt they needed to change their views or affliations. In a church where all are accepted regardless of sex, race, sexuality and past, all people are wished well if they choose to decide to continue their journey elsewhere. In a church that is strict and judgemental, people are often chased out for having different views or guilted back into the mainstream.

But back to The God Delusions... Dawkins then suggests that we should imagine a world with no religion and gives several examples of things that would not have happened if religion didn't exist such as 9/11, the crusades, Northern Ireland troubles, televangelists, Taliban and others. I'm not going to pretend that religious belief isn't a  major cause of angst in all of these situations and that without it, the majoirty of these problems would disappear all together. What I would suggest is that as a whole humanity has grown considerably in the past few centuries and that of all the institutions in our world, religion is the last to change, the most resistant.

As a 25 year old I can not imagine a world where women or people of other races could not vote and did not have a say. However for a large percentage of people alive today these changes occured in their lifetime. Humanity as a whole is rejecting oppression and discrimination. Are religions and some churches slow to accept this, Yes. Does it excuse them for the hatred and angst they foster, No. Should society continue to push the beliefs and actions of religious organisations and challenge them to reevaluate how they act? Absolutely!

I am not going to use the excuse that religion does a lot of good so it balances out the bad. Anything wrong within society's standards is clearly unacceptable. Although Roman Polanski maybe a brilliant director, it doesn't mean that he can raper and assualy young girls and then never be charged or punished. It doesn't matter if 10 million extra people have been fed in Africa if a 12 boy is being sexually abused in the middle of a populous town. I would say however for past wrongs in times where there have been similar problems that reflect on society rather than religion that these should be forgotten.

Dawkins then goes on to explain a little about each chapter and I will leave that for later posts! He then speaks about people should be able to be proud that they are atheists and comment how people particularly in America are anti-athiest. While I understand where he is coming from, that people should not have to hide their thoughts and life-values, neither do I think you need to rub them in everyone's faces. I do not walk down the street yelling at people to 'listen to God'. Neither do I sit in church and scream 'A God that gives free choice, but if you don't follow his way you die?'. While it is imporant to be able to share your values and opinions, it is more important that you can live your live free of people continually judging you, no matter what your spiritual beliefs. As for people being more likely to vote for anyone than an athiest, it shows that people are obviously care about others religious beliefs more than anything else. I don't believe that this actually makes people better letters or politians and is probably more of a sad reflection on the state of our corrent society than anything else.

In concluding before going on to thank all the people who helped him with the writing and publishing of the book, Richard Dawkins states that he hopes that religious readers will be athiests by the time they finish the book. I must admit that this is the part that made me put the book back on the shelf on my first read. How dare he write something that is specifically designed to make people lose faith! I guess this is hard for me to take as while the church I attend certainly wants to grow the faith, none of our material is designed to turn a persons spiritual beliefs in reading. Not even the Bible does that!

On reflection however I know that many religions do in fact have material specifically designed, debated, tested and trialled to target those in need, depression or trouble and offer them a way out and Dawkins is doing nothing more than that here. Perhaps I just feel that it should be handled a different way whether it be being wanting to learn more or learn less about a religion's views and beliefs. Don't target those who are weak but offer to all in a conversation and  discussion rather than these are the facts. Accept them and be rid of your situation or ignore them and stay miserable.

So that's the preface done and dusted. Sorry again for the spelling and grammer woes... Really need to sort that out!