The God Delusion

This was the book that impelled me to write my own account of superstition. I could have also recommended his masterpiece, The Selfish Gene, which I read as a teenager and got me into science in the first place but this unforgiving attack on religion spurred me to write a more balanced view that considered religion as a naturally emerging consequence of cognitive development. In fairness, The God Delusion does briefly mention evidence in support of a natural inclination, but this is outweighed by an agenda (that I do not share) to eradicate religion as pernicious indoctrination. Whatever your… show more.

This nonfiction book by Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist who has become one of the most fervent advocates of atheism, provides a good summary of all the arguments for nonbelief. It’s easy to agree with Dawkins when he argues that natural selection is far stronger than creationism or intelligent design as an explanation for how humans came to be, but his claims seem shakier when he delves into philosophical realms that are beyond his area of expertise.   

I remain to this day fascinated by religion and the mechanisms on which it flourishes. While I have never been religious and wasted quite a few years entrenched in the atheist camp, these days I’m far more interested in how religion and the god story makes itself attractive, and why such ideas have propagated successfully again and again throughout human history. 

I believe by understanding how this mechanism works, we can solve many of the challenges that arise from dogmatic and polarizing belief systems today. It was also this book that Dawkins first challenged my belief of a map's North… show more.