Sunday, February 26, 2012

Dawkins Delusion

This week I quickly read "The Dawkins Delusion. Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine" by Alister McGrath and Joanna Collicutt McGrath.

It's a short and powerful critique of Dawkins' "The God Delusion".   Loved it.  Mrs. McGrath's special interest is in neuropsychology.

I think I'll post several quotes.  This is one I need today:

Dawkins also offers a naturalist explanation of religion--in this case, one that is highly contrived and unpersuasive.  Belief in God might be a byproduct of some other evolutionary mechanism.  Here he moves into territory explored by fellow atheist Daniel Dennett in his recent book  Breaking the Spell.  Yet both Dawkins and Dennett adopt a very cognitive view of religion, defining it virtually exclusively in terms of "belief in God."  Yet this is certainly not the sole aspect of religion;  not is it even necessarily the most fundamental.  A more reliable description of religion would make reference to its many aspects, including knowledge, beliefs, experience, ritual practices, social affiliation, motivation and behavioral consequences. 






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