The God Truthiness I

While waiting to read the book that everyone else is reading, I read a book everyone else has already read.

The God Delusion is Richard Dawkins' arguement against religion. A little while ago Dr. Clam in a series of blogs had not much good to say about it. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Dr. Clam I read the paperback edition, and in the new Preface to it Mr Dawkins answers some of your complaints. I'm not saying you'll find them satisfying. It's not worth buying the book for them, but if you're interested then spend a few minutes reading it in the bookstore.

I did like his answer to "You can't criticize religion without a detailed analysis of learned books of theology." Mr Dawkins' doesn't believe one iota in religon. Not a one. And his book is written from that perspective. He doesn't want to engage in debate that assumes God is real, for he believes the onus of proof first comes from those who believe in God. Once the mere existence of God is proven, then the debate about angels on pin heads can begin.

And this "Prove it" stance challenges believers. It's very in your face. Personally I don't have a problem with it, but that's because I'm not a believer. And it's one of the reasons I'm not a believer. I just don't see anything there that makes me believe it to be true. At step one Dawkins' isn't concerned with questions about why God exists, where He exists, when He exists, etc. Just, "Does He exist?" God can't be seen, felt, tasted, measured, or weighed so this puts God into Dawkins' "extremely doubtful" basket.

I think it's a pretty important first step. If you can't find it, why do you think it exists?