Dawkins’ ‘Delusion’

So why is Richard Dawkins so hostile toward religion?

In his own words, he is hostile to fundamentalist religion: “because it actively debauches the scientific enterprise. It teaches us not to change our minds, and not to want to know exciting things that are available to be known. It subverts science and saps the intellect” (p. 284). It is “hell bent on ruining the scientific education of countless thousands of innocent, well-meaning, eager young minds” (p.286).

And “non-fundamentalist, ‘sensible’ religion” is to be pilloried in just the same way because “it is making the world safe for fundamentalism by teaching children, from their earliest years, that unquestioning faith is a virtue” (p.286).

When I consider that almost all of the evidence Dawkins cites to support this conclusion concerns Suicide Bombers and American Creationists, I am almost inclined to agree with him! In fact, as I have read The God Delusion, I have found myself agreeing with much of what Richard Dawkins has to say about religion. I’ve not got much time for religion myself.

But, in a phrase borrowed from one of the characters in Brian McLaren’s A New Kind of Christian: religion isn’t the saviour; church is not the saviour; Christianity is not the saviour. Jesus is.