Well That About Wraps It Up For God

I just finished reading The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. I must say, it was really good, and I now agree with nearly everything he had to say.

In the past, I've been turned off by Dawkins' appearances in videos I've seen, because of his sometimes self-righteous condescension and hyperbole. In those videos and interviews, he's made sweeping (and seemingly insulting) statements that came off as if he was claiming every person of faith is crazy, and I've often felt like he's presenting a strawman version of mainstream faith, with no data to back it up.

In the book, however, not only does his smugness seem toned down, but he actually presents the factual case that mainstream faith includes a great deal of craziness - and, more dangerously, aids and abets the more radical craziness that technically isn't part of mainstream religion, but hides amongst it's ranks. He also took the time to lay out what he really means by the "imaginary friend" line that is so often thrown around - which I'd previously assumed to be just a joke or insult - and makes an interesting case for it. Being not so pressed for time, he's able in print to elaborate on this positions, and present a lot more evidence for them. I was impressed, and swayed, as I've never been by those videos.

Perhaps it's just his accent. Here in the former colonies, we generally assume that any man with that accent is either a snobby upper-class elitist, or about to be strangled by Darth Vader. I think this works against Dawkins.