Charles Darwin

Is Religion part of the Solution or part of the Problem?...

Finished this book quickly thanks to Timotchka-induced middle-of-the-night imsomnia. Someone already inclined to scepticism will found in it arguments for "coming out" and be vocal about his/her atheism . An honest believer will feel attacked and might wish something could be done about it. A waverer, hesitating between belief and scepticism, would probably enjoy the argumentation put in such an highly readable and entertaining fashion.

Two or three key points I particularly retain. One about Einstein's sense of God, which is more the experience of awe at the contemplation of the Universe than a belief on a personal deity. Another about how strong is our "belief in believing".

But surely the most radical proposal of Professor Dawkins is that it's not the fundamentalist version of a given religion that is responsible for all sorts of problems but the a-rational core of (any) religion itself. Saying in fact that the idea that one can work with the religious "moderates" at the same time that one excludes firmly the rotten fruit of fundamentalist is a naive one.

The Right Honourable Reader should get acquainted to a book like this once in a while.. Its subject and theses might sound sulphurous but a degree of controversy in one's intellectual life is always to be welcomed...