I bought Richard Dawkins book "The God Delusion" at MPH Funan Centre on 19 May 2007 (price: S$18.90). This is the new UK paperback edition with a new preface (book details at
Amazon.co.uk):
"The God Delusion" is an excellent book that uses science, philosophy, history, logic and reason to explain why the gods promulgated by Christianity, Islam, Judaism are extremely improbable, and debunks the idea that we need to believe in such gods to be good humans to lead meaningful and moral lives.
In fact, when I was young, I had already pondered on the following conundrum:
Christianity says it is the one true religion. Islam says it is the one true religion. But logic dictates that if Christianity is the one true religion, then Islam must be wrong. Or if Islam is the one true religion, then Christians must be worshipping the wrong god.
How can both religions be right? The only logical conclusion that can be drawn is that they could both be wrong!
As I learnt more about science and history, I gradually came to the realisation that it is not god who created humans, but it is humans who had created god.
Being educated in an English speaking environment, I was exposed to a lot of Christian evangelists who were extremely enthusiastic in their trying to proselytise me to their faith. I am very glad that my school education required me to study all the major religions of Singapore: Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Confucianism. When you study comparative religions, and have a good grounding in science and history, you will be armed with enough defences to protect yourself against the shrill being blasted at you by the Christian evangelicals that "you must believe in Jesus Christ or you will be condemned to burn in Hell for eternity!" Talk about a loving god :-)
Despite my constant debates and arguments with these Christian evangelists, I knew these debates were always lost causes. I cannot possibly sway others who are set in their beliefs to my way of thinking, as they cannot possibly convince me about changing my stance without conclusive evidence that their god is a real entity.
However, I do not go about preaching to others about my atheism. The irritating thing about Christian evangelicals is that they do. And every Saturday, you will see them waylaying passerbys (especially people going to the library) to tell them about the "
4 Spiritual Laws".
However, as the Christian evangelists are well funded and are always proactively promoting their religion, so it is inevitable they will gain new converts. Indeed, the dawn of the 21st century has not seen humankind stepping into a new age of science and reason. Indeed, in the sole hyper-power of the world, the United States of America, fundamentalist Christianity has greatly expanded its influence, and have gained significant power in the political arena.
The problem with fundamentalist Christians is that their stance is as rigid and as scary as the Islamic Taleban , as they both base morality on ancient scriptures instead of rationality and reason.
"The God Delusion" is a much needed book to educate the public on why the existence of the Christian god is highly improbable, and that morality should be based on rationality and reason, and not on ancient texts espousing values that have no relevance to modern living. The book is well thought out, well argued, well organised, well written, and well worth reading.
Richard Dawkins actually made a 2-part documentary for UK's Channel 4 station on a related theme prior to the publication of "The God Delusion". You can watch the documentary on Google Video:
Root of All Evil - Part 1 : The God Delusion
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9002284641446868316
Root of All Evil - Part 2 : The Virus of Faith
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7619161192220036050
"The God Delusion" is an excellent book that uses science, philosophy, history, logic and reason to explain why the gods promulgated by Christianity, Islam, Judaism are extremely improbable, and debunks the idea that we need to believe in such gods to be good humans to lead meaningful and moral lives.
In fact, when I was young, I had already pondered on the following conundrum:
2 comments:
When a Nazi's supporter was asked why he killed so many disabled people and people that could not fulfill "super race" criteria, he answered: "You always throw your trash into trash can. So did we."
It is always logical to throw the useless things into the garbage. But is it justified to throw useless people out of our society ?
Our logic is not always aligned with our moral.
Yes, a logical person may not be a moral person. But that doesn't mean that a religious person will be a moral person either.
Secondly, there is rational logic, and skewed logic. With rational logic, the same conclusions will be reached by people from different backgrounds - regardless of whether the people come from an atheistic or religious background.
Rational logic is always grounded by science and reason.
Skewed logic is however based on feelings and emotions. And emotion is a powerful aphrodisiac, powerfully employed by the religious.
For example, Muslims in Iran and Saudi Arabia believe that for a defendant accused of a crime, the defendant only needs to have 2 male witnesses to defend him. However, if the witnesses are female, then 4 female witnesses are required. Why? Because a female is only worth HALF a male. Do you support this logic? I don't, because I believe that men and women are equal. If two witnesses are required to corroborate your innocence, it should not matter whether the witnesses are male or female! But because the Islamic religion supports this skewed logic that a female is only worth half a male, women are basically treated as inferior to men in these Islamic countries. Is this treatment of women as moral?
It has also been reported that many Muslims believe that female virgins cannot enter paradise. Thus, females that have been sentenced to death by the Islamic courts have been reported to be raped by their jail wardens prior to their execution. The jail wardens believe they are doing the females a favour because once the virgin has been "de-flowered", she will be able to enter paradise upon her execution. Do you think this is logical? Or moral?
This type of skewed logic may be shared only by Muslims who subscribe to the same belief. However, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, and atheists, will not subscribe to this kind of logic. This is not universal logic. It is irrational logic.
People who are immoral are usually irrational and only think with skewed logic. We should not conflate people who are for logic based on rationality and reason with people who are for logic based on emotions and religion.
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