Critiquing - The God Delusion - : An Apologetic Paradigm against the New Atheism of the 21st Century (original) (raw)

The God Delusion - Fallacies in the Thought of Richard Dawkins

Tradition and Discovery: The Polanyi Society Periodical, 2006

In this review I will discuss what I take to be four of the most prominent problematic claims (which I’ll call fallacies) made in this new book. While, in my opinion, Dawkins performs a needed service for atheism by calling attention to the oppressive and discriminatory milieu in which American atheists now live (esp. pp. 43-45), as one of atheism’s current elites, his intellectual contribution offers little for atheists to be proud of.

‘The God Delusion: Dawkins on Religion’

2007

hopes that religious readers who open his book The God Delusion 1 'will be atheists when they put it down' (5). The book appears to have made a significant impact; at the time of writing it is positioned at numbers three and eight respectively in the bestseller lists of amazon.com and the New York Times. 2 The book has already been reviewed and discussed in many places. The purpose of this further contribution to the debate is partly to offer a systematic summary of the arguments of this substantial book, partly to assess those arguments with the help of some of his most incisive critics, and partly to suggest that, while at least some of Dawkins' arguments are weak, there may be some aspects of his critique of religious belief which believers need to take seriously. Dawkins rejects the view that 'there exists a superhuman , supernatural intelligence who deliberately designed and created the universe and everything in it, including us' (31). He thinks that religion is a delusion, at least in the sense that it is 'a persistent false belief held in the face of contradictory evidence' (5). He is agnostic about God 'only to the extent that [he] is agnostic about fairies' (51). To illustrate his point, Dawkins cites Bertrand Russell's parable of the celestial teapot. Russell suggested that, although no one can disprove the claim that there is a teapot orbiting the sun, this is no reason to believe it. Similarly, although we cannot disprove God's existence, his existence is so improbable that we can reasonably assume that he does not exist. In response to the suggestion that science and religion are 'nonoverlapping magisteria'i.e. that they are concerned with different realms, science with what the universe is made of and why it works this way, religion with questions of ultimate meaning and moral value (55)-Dawkins claims that questions about the existence or otherwise of a creative super-intelligence are, in fact, scientific questions about which theologians have nothing worthwhile to say (56-59). 1. The failure of philosophical arguments for God's existence (chapter 3) Dawkins considers a range of arguments, including Aquinas' Five Ways, the ontological argument, arguments from beauty, personal 'experience', scripture, and admired religious scientists, Pascal's Wager, and Bayesian arguments. In most cases, Dawkins cites standard objections which will come as no surprise to the thinking, reading theist.

AN EXTENSIVE REVIEW OF RICHARD DAWKINS' "THE GOD DELUSION"

Southern Cross Review No. 68, Jan. , 2010

This is an extensive and detailed review of the book. It covers every section of every chapter of the book. The arguments are spiritualist, but not stemming from any religion. They are based upon working hypothesis and a large, coherent theory, directed to the comprehension and not to feelings.

Dawkins’ Unrebuttable Refutation

Wisdom, 2018

In the whole fourth chapter of The God Delusion Richard Dawkins in a long and complicated argumentation attempts to prove that God’s existence is improbable and we have no reason to believe in Him. In my paper I am going to examine the basic structure of his train of thought first so that I present the detailed reconstruction of the single steps later on. Having scrutinized the reconstructed reasoning in the last section I am going to show that his main argument for atheism is unsuccessful.

The Emperor's Incoherent New Clothes – Pointing the Finger at Dawkins' Atheism

Think, 2010

With the publication ofThe God Delusion(Bantam, 2006) Richard Dawkins became enthroned as the unofficial ‘Emperor’ for a cadre of writers advancing a rhetorically robust form of anti-theism dubbed ‘The New Atheism’ byWired Magazinecontributing editor Gary Wolf. Many have cheered Dawkins and his court, seeing in their writings just what they long to see. For, after the fashion of the fairy-tale Emperor's fabled new clothes, the ‘new atheism’ has seen naturalism wrapping itself in a fake finery of counterfeit meaning and purpose.