THE GOD DELUSION: by Richard Dawkins

If you're not an atheist yet, then you SHOULD be. And there are countless reasons why. These 2 books that I'm read recently and am about to briefly review here have confirmed in my mind that without a doubt, there is no stinking GOD and that religion IS, as Christopher Hitchens puts it in the sub-title of his book, POISON that destroys EVERYTHING. Free yourself from the religion trap now, it's an unnecessary prison and these 2 essential books are the life raft to guide you OUT of that prison and help you realize what a crock of shit GOD is.

An amazon reviewer, Harvey Ardman, put it like this:

"It won't convert many believers, not because it is wrong--it isn't--and not because it isn't well-written--it is--but because whatever else you can say about faith, it isn't easily extinguished. For those who have it, it is the only life raft on a limitless ocean. Those who don't have learned how to swim, or plan to. "

But if you ARE on of these that HAVE THE FAITH, be goddamned sure that you are ready to have it tested. I'm sure that most of the religious readers of this book will be unswayed from their opinions. In my experience, trying to argue with a religious person, especially Christian, is like talking to a wall, they're the most stubborn and snobby people on the face of the earth. Belief unquestioned is worthless, but Dawkins makes such a powerful and compelling argument for the non-existence of God that it really seems, to me, to leave very little room for doubt.

As a kid, I was sent to church at least 2 or 3 Sundays a month from when I was 6 until I was 13 or 14. After that, I refused to go to church anymore, except for a few exceptions out of respect for my mother or grandparents, like Christmas or Easter, special holidays and that kind of shit. From then until I was about 24 or 25, I was one of those fence -sitters (agnostic) but after meeting some key people and reading and watching a lot on the subject, especially science books, science documentaries, etc, I knew that there had to be another answer. If you put the basic pieces together, it's not that hard to imagine.

Think about real hard for a few minutes, a divine GOD who precisely designed everything in the vast universe and multiverse? Right down to every detail, like the eyes on very tiny bugs that we can't even see without a microscope? In 7 days? The only alternative could only be, of course, natural selection, as originally hypothesized and explained very well and very logically by Charles Darwin. This "GOD" that is supposed to love us will stab us in the back and send us to the eternal fires of hell if we get slightly out of line and not worship him every Sunday. It's simple, science has given us answers and solutions to many things and religion has not explained a thing that's even remotely believable. Not ONE FUCKIN' Thing. You'd think someone as important as GOD would have made it into the history books. The only record we have of his existence is the HOLY BIBLE, and everything in the modern New Testament Bible has been plagiarized from other sources from older religions. If you want the full story on this, watch Part 1 of Zeitgeist, or better yet, read the transcript HERE:

Evolution is not so hard to understand really, the basic fundamental principles. I don't consider myself to be a genius in any way, I'm actually quite stupid when it comes to practical everyday things. Anyway, we're not talking general relativity with shitloads of equations. It’s pretty simple stuff, really. But there ARE a few myths that have to be debunked. The most common is that evolution is just an random accident. It's not. Dawkins’ definition of evolution is a useful one: random mutations plus nonrandom cumulative selection. The natural selection part occurs with that cumulative selection — that’s where direction comes in. If it was random, we wouldn’t be here.

The other common myth is that we came from monkeys or great apes. I don't think that's true. Apes, monkeys and humans all came from a common ancestor millions of years ago. Evolution and natural selection require very careful balancing, so I don't think the famous progress ladder theory is right anymore like I used to.

Finally, the big question:What meaning does the universe have? What is our purpose? NOTHING. A star is just a blob of plasma, just atoms doing what they do under heat and pressure, nothing more, nothing less. Faith never entered the picture. So the meaning that's really important is what we put into life and what we make our life. GOD has nothing to do with "purpose" or "meaning" other than waiting around for some afterlife that may or may not be there. All the more reason to make this life a meaningful and fulfilling one.

I've been a proud atheist for about 10 years, but until reading this book, I hadn't fully grasped all the issues. This book is just an extension of what I've always been thinking about for years, but couldn't express in words. Now someone has, and I'm mighty thankful to Richard Dawkins for that. I just hope more people read it. I fear for most readers of the other side, this is a waste of time.

It's impossible to get into every issue that the book covers, so if I've sparked your curiosity even a little, pick up the book and read it. Read it twice, three times, absorb it, then pass it on to someone who may be sitting on the fence. Because I sincerely believe that we will never progress until religion is crushed, along with the corrupt political systems that supports religion.

The following dialogue is from BAD BOY BUBBY, and Australian film by Rolf de Heer

The Scientist: [plays organ music in church]
Bubby: Jesus can see everything I do... and he's going to beat me brainless!
The Scientist: Come down.
[Scene change; they are in a factory]
The Scientist: You see, no one's going to help you Bubby, because there isn't anybody out there to do it. No one. We're all just complicated arrangements of atoms and subatomic particles - we don't live. But our atoms do move about in such a way as to give us identity and consciousness. We don't die; our atoms just rearrange themselves. There is no God. There can be no God; it's ridiculous to think in terms of a superior being. An inferior being, maybe, because we, we who don't even exist, we arrange our lives with more order and harmony than God ever arranged the earth. We measure; we plot; we create wonderful new things. We are the architects of our own existence. What a lunatic concept to bow down before a God who slaughters millions of innocent children, slowly and agonizingly starves them to death, beats them, tortures them, rejects them. What folly to even think that we should not insult such a God, damn him, think him out of existence. It is our duty to think God out of existence. It is our duty to insult him. Fuck you, God! Strike me down if you dare, you tyrant, you non-existent fraud! It is the duty of all human beings to think God out of existence. Then we have a future. Because then - and only then - do we take full responsibility for who we are. And that's what you must do, Bubby: think God out of existence; take responsibility for who you are.

Another atheist book which I will review on here is Christopher Hitchen's "GOD IS NOT GREAT: How Religion Poisons Everything", which is a much less scientific book than Dawkin's book. It deals more with the unnecessary wars and violence throughout history as a result of different religions and their ridiculous beliefs and customs. Very interesting read.