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timepiececlockI listened to Richard Dawkin's audiobook of The God Delusion the last few days. It's only 5 discs, so I breezed through it. I found that while I generally agreed with most of his opinions and refutations, he has a sanctimonious voice that turned me off. I also get that this was part of his point, but it still sometimes distanced me from his POV.
I don't have any hard hitting comments to make, and except for a few bits of trivia, nothing in it was particularly new. Since I've always been an atheist, I wasn't the target audience and didn't need to be converted. I took it more as a set of examples for how to counter pro-theistic arguments.
One thing that did hit me with a surprise left hook was the chapter about religion and the fear of Hell being imposed on children. In my personal case, I come from a non-church-going mildly Christian father and an agnostic mother. Together, they produced one non-church-going mildly Christian child, and me. I was listening to the book in the car, and when I got home I went into the garden and deliberately thanked my mother for never--in all of my remembered childhood--telling me that I was in danger of going to Hell. I never had the fear of Hell put into me by family, not even a little, and I've come out of that a morally grounded and conscientious person who regularly does community service. So that worked out just fine. Thanks Mom, Dad!
I don't have any hard hitting comments to make, and except for a few bits of trivia, nothing in it was particularly new. Since I've always been an atheist, I wasn't the target audience and didn't need to be converted. I took it more as a set of examples for how to counter pro-theistic arguments.
One thing that did hit me with a surprise left hook was the chapter about religion and the fear of Hell being imposed on children. In my personal case, I come from a non-church-going mildly Christian father and an agnostic mother. Together, they produced one non-church-going mildly Christian child, and me. I was listening to the book in the car, and when I got home I went into the garden and deliberately thanked my mother for never--in all of my remembered childhood--telling me that I was in danger of going to Hell. I never had the fear of Hell put into me by family, not even a little, and I've come out of that a morally grounded and conscientious person who regularly does community service. So that worked out just fine. Thanks Mom, Dad!
