1. Richard Dawkins: Author of the Year!

Comment #36079 by Dust on April 30, 2007 at 6:22 am

Congrats. Take a break from touring and have a beer!

2. We'd be better off without Religion

Comment #35977 by Dust on April 29, 2007 at 4:46 pm

>> At first they tried to persuade me that I was wrong. But after a few weeks they just dropped it.

Bonzai, your experience is interesting. My parents were not especially religious but when I was young they wanted to make sure they were doing the right thing by me and my sibs. They started going to church and we went to Sunday school. Well after a year, my father had read the bible cover to cover and noticed the preacher kept saying the same thing about sin and forgiveness, etc. He gave up and we were all relieved. 8-)


>>In general parents share their values with their offspring, it is an integral part of parenting.

Agreed. The problem I think is determining where to draw the line as a parent. The parent can insist on a large set of strict rules and behaviors including church attendance and a system of belief based on faith and apply a great deal of pressure, including heavy guilt. Or they can see the child as essentially an independent person and allow growth in whatever direction he/she finds compatible. When mom home-schools the kids to make sure they think like mom on religious issues, I think that is going overboard. It shows a lack of respect for the child's independence as a person. In effect the parent is saying – child, we don't trust you to make reasonable, rational choices based on your parents behavior as a role model, so we are going to apply a layer of indoctrination to insulate you from rational arguments you might encounter in the real world. We think our form of religiosity stands on rather weak logical grounds so we want to inoculate your mind to protect you from contamination by contrary ideas.
I share your aversion to criticizing theists, but I think it's a job that has to be done.

>>Irrationality in itself may not be a bad thing,--for example, persistent optimism and courage in the face of defeat may not be very "rational".

You make a subtle point here. However, the argument against living a life of religious faith refers to a different kind of "irrationality". Religion goes out of its way to be irrational. It accepts mythology as the foundation of life. Persistent optimism is often a reasonable stance to assume, depending on the situation.

The problem that we are all forced to deal with is that religiosity, whether moderate or fanatical, depends on and fosters belief without evidence: Faith. It is irrational and dangerous. Think of the Islamists and their religious motivations.

>>>Some people here argue that "free will" does not exist. If they are right it would be an irrational delusion to live as though you actually control your destiny, it is an unjustified "faith"… hard nosed atheists would agree with my probably irrational take on free will. "

Not really. Determinism is indistinguishable from freewill at the level we operate. The level of cabbages and Kings. This is not an unjustifiable faith like believing that God wrote the bible, and that heaven and hell are real places we are all destined to reach.


>>>For some people, for better or for worse, they find their "truth" in their faiths.
I would say for much worse. Many of the great wars and genocides have been due to these faiths, and they cause a great deal of death and suffering in the present day.