(September 5, 2008 at 1:51 pm)josef rosenkranz Wrote: With all due respect to Dawkins ,the latest Guru of atheism ,from a humble electrical engineer ,not a professional writer,nor a philosopher,nor a university lecturer,there is,to my opinion a basic flaw in the atheist convincing of readers ,which is the ultimate target of his famous book.
Dawkins shoots with heavy artillery ,with guns and rockets of all kind in the direction of God ,using quotations fom the wisest men of the world ,
but fails to understand or at least to present the fact that there are actually two targets:two different Gods.
One of them I would call the Universe God (shortcut UG) ,he who has created the universe ,He who is identified with Nature,He who enchants us with the beauty of Nature, He who conceived the physical laws of Nature ,He who protects our earth from deadly cosmical rays,He who cares for the fragile equilibrum of elements and forces without which life on earth would'nt be possible.
This is the God of Theists ,Deists and alike -ists ,accepted even by Einstein who thought of Him that He does not like to roll dices
The UG is a highly impersonal God ,he does not demand to be worshiped,he does not punish anybody ,he dwells in the highest spheres of the Heaven withot bothering to mingle with mortal beings.
UG is a creation of modern times, not being known before science stepped forwards as a major element of human society.
Therefore he was not used by religions in their interest ,on the contrary if he peeked his head from under the shoulder of a scientist ,the person would be reprimanded -see Galileo Galilei,see Spinoza ,etc,,
The second God I would call the Humanly God (shortcut HG).
This is the God of Genesis who only two days after creating Adam and Eve edits in the Bible his first edict interdicting the guys from eating fruits from the three of wisdom and when they fail to do so throws them out from the gardes of Eden like a S..t.
The HG dies to be worshiped ,to be feared ,to be loved ,to be obeyed
to get sacrifices (no matter wether public or individual),to decide about the fate of each individual whether live or dead,to dwell in splendour buildings,,the list could continue with no end.
What Dawkins failed to perceive (or to present) is that religions love to present UG as an indiscutable fact ,which one must be blind as not to see,or not to believe in Him,proved by the religious faith of a lot of scientists of high reputation ( Darwin ,Newton ,Faraday,Maxwell, etc,,)even Noble Prize awardened scientists and after being sure that UG is accepted, to jump directly to HG presenting him as the one and unique God ,hidding the fact that the matter of convincing was laid on the shoulders of UG.
Atheism ,I believe, has to underline the identification of the two Gods by religions and come up with convincing arguments against the belief in one as well in the other.
Perhaps Mr Dawkins has decided to concentrate on the most dangerous and intrusive religions, Christianity and Islam. Maybe he will start on deism, wicca and other 'UG' type religions when their followers start flying planes into buildings, promote homophobia, prevent sex education, stone people to death and attempt to replace scientific knowledge with medieval superstition.
"May God bless her, and all who sail in her" - Florence Ismay, at the launching of the Titanic
