Dawkins sure doesn't mince his words. He made several people squirm without even breaking a sweat.

Around 54:00 he visits a christian school and discusses indoctrination. Because I'm a newer atheist, that was painful to watch. When your "in it", you cannot see the damage that is being done. But to watch those kids sitting in tiny little cubicles - cut off from everything but what's in front of them, you see what brainwashing looks like.

@StuW - I'm not saying it's the best book out there. Just that I really loved it, and learned a lot.

(July 20, 2014 at 1:27 pm)StuW Wrote: IMHO, the book isn't that good, sure it brought atheism more into the limelight but there are much much better ones out there.

Sure I'm just looking for something simple, I wasn't saying it is superb in terms of quality. I don't know much about exact sciences so I thought something with fewer complexity would be better for me

Thankyou, i'll watch this later. Great book btw. Thought the bit about the burka spectrum was a bit weird.

haha just a note of healthy dissension here: I read this book a few years ago. Although I love Dawkin's books on evolution I really didn't like the God Delusion. His main argument seemed to be " Well, I am a really intelligent person, and I don't believe in God; therefore, anybody who believes in God must be less intelligent than me."
It just came across as arrogant to me.
I liked Cristopher Hitchen's book better .

I actually quite liked Penn Jillette's books. Not really much science or heavy philosophy or theology, just goofy stories about how easy it is to live a fulfilling, loving, fun life without God.

Thanks for the link! - I read the book as well, and didnt know about the documentary.

(July 20, 2014 at 1:27 pm)StuW Wrote: IMHO, the book isn't that good, sure it brought atheism more into the limelight but there are much much better ones out there.

I think there's value to it, even if it might not be the best book on atheism ever written. For instance, I much prefer Dawkins' writing style to Hitchens'; Hitchens' comes across as pompous and overly flowery to me, while Dawkins' feels much more accessible and written for the everyman (everyperson? what's the gender-neutral way to say that?). I much prefer Hitchens' debates than his books.

Totally a person opinion, but, for me, I could read the God Delusion over and over, while I dread the day I pick up another book by Hitchens.

I'll have to give the documentary a watch; I may have seen it before, but maybe not...

(July 20, 2014 at 9:43 am)Blackout Wrote: Is the book 'The God Delusion' worth reading?

I thought it was very enlightening.

(July 22, 2014 at 9:35 am)vodkafan Wrote: His main argument seemed to be " Well, I am a really intelligent person, and I don't believe in God; therefore, anybody who believes in God must be less intelligent than me."

I don't think we read the same book.

In just one chapter alone he discusses;

Thomas Aquinas's 'Proofs'
The Ontological Argument and other a priori arguments
The Argument from Beauty
The Argument from Personal 'Experience'
The Argument from Scripture
The Argument from Admired Role Models
Bayesian arguments
Irreducible Complexity
The worship of gaps
The Anthropic Principle: Planetary Version
The Anthropic Principle: Cosmological Version

Not once does he claim that these are bad arguments because he's "really intelligent and I don't believe in god". He dismantles them using superior logic.

While I agree, there are better books on atheism than this one, Dawkins makes many great points based on logic, biology, problems with the Bible, and others.

(July 22, 2014 at 10:38 am)Clueless Morgan Wrote: I'll have to give the documentary a watch; I may have seen it before, but maybe not...

Yup, I had already seen it. But worth watching again.