The God Delusion (2006) – Richard Dawkins - Book Review

    We have been endlessly cooking up stories and have been passing them on to each other since the beginning of civilization. It seems this is something that we cannot help (Our own group being the best example for it.J) But somewhere around our framing up of stories, we have also invented ‘gods’ to help us feel better and also found that they could be aptly used to control ourselves. Such is the power of narratives that we forgot that they were ultimately delusional. Dawkins, in his book tries to approach religion and god from various perspectives by shucking the hard shells of both that have been developed through centuries of narrative formation. I must admit that this is not an easy-read, for he unnecessarily makes things complicated when he should have actually done without it. However, not every book can be approached in the same light and there are benefits to it. Anyway, I felt that he could have simplified the whole thing so as to increase its reachability to the common public.

    Darwinian Consciousness Rising is the main project of his book. Besides, as I said earlier there are honest attempts and deep study at removing the veneer of religious dogmatism. But one thing I felt not so convincing is his way of approaching social memes in the same light of Darwininan evolution. Yet, my overall experience of the book is transformative. The concept of God being the ultimate Boeing 747, intelligent design not being the proper alternative to chance, and childhood indoctrination are a few concepts that stroke me as novel and innovative. If approached seriously, the book would turn out to be a strong tool we could use to fix the weak spots for beliefs and help build a clear mind free of unquestioned religious narrative and beliefs.

-Anjoe-