(May 11, 2025 at 7:10 am)Alan V Wrote:(May 11, 2025 at 7:00 am)Belacqua Wrote: I have no problem with the idea that the majority of believers have a simplistic view of things. I have no problem with Dawkins arguing against that view. But it means he still has all the hard work left to do.
Yes, and other atheists addressed more difficult questions -- Victor Stenger for instance. No one is good at everything, so we don't usually judge people by what they are not trying to do.
What bothered a lot of people is that Dawkins pointed out how laughable many common ideas of God are. The problem we are trying to address in this discussion is what, exactly, is left of the God-concept after you eliminate the worst ideas? Is there anything useful at all?
Well, OK. If we accept that Dawkins' isn't trying to argue that God is a delusion, but only certain popular ideas of it, then that lets him off the hook.
https://www.amazon.com/Reason-Faith-Revo...21&sr=8-20
https://www.amazon.com/I-Dont-Believe-in...45&sr=8-15
Quote:There are two radical and dangerous sides to the debate on faith and religion in America: Christian fundamentalists, who see religious faith as their exclusive prerogative, and New Atheists, who brand all religious belief as irrational. Too often, the religious majority - those committed to tolerance and compassion as well as their faith - are caught in the middle.
Chris Hedges critiques the mindset that rages against religion and faith. He accuses the New Atheists - led by Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Christopher Hitchens - of promoting a belief system that is not, as they claim, based on reason and science, but on a simplified worldview of us vs. them, intolerance toward behaviors that are not understood, and the false myths of human progress and moral superiority.
