h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Not all Christians are willing to do that!

Oh. and I'm willing to engage with religious people.

I've noticed!

Edward, I've sent you a private e-mail - nothing sinister!

I can´t say I have read it. The had the documentary scheduled on TV once, but it never showed up. I´m an atheist, and I feel I know enough about religion and that Dawkins seem like a rather unpleasant person regardless of his science.

I think that's a little unfair. He actually comes over as a bit of a sweetie. Of course, he *is* vehement on the subject of religion. Some religious people don't like this. For an Atheist, it's hard to imagine why anyone might get hot and bothered.

Got it for Christmas, it's fantastic! I have also read "unweaving the rainbow" which was good too, but not as gripping.

You got 'The God delusion' for Christmas?

<> That's very, very funny!!!!!

<> Let us know what you get for Easter!

http://richarddawkins.net/article,393,The-God-Delusion-in-Private-Eye,Private-Eye-21-Dec-2006

That's good, thank you.

The Root of All Evil & Virus of Faith Documentaries (split into several 10-minute or-so- chunks) I linked to them all in this post on the youtube referral forum.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/FFM19585?thread=3875581&skip=0&show=20#p45523669

That's very helpful to this discussion, thanks. Random Mood

Dawkins named winner of something-or-other: http://www.booktribes.com/blog/

(and on today's home page @ http://www.booktribes.com - yours truly.)

Finished it last night! Just in time for Good Friday & Easter!

So have you stopped believing yet?

I have posted the following in another thread, but it seemed relevent here as well:

Unfortunately, because he hates religion so much (and his stated intention is to convert people to atheism), his reasoning is often suspect, his knowledge of theology is lacking, and he wilfully misrepresents faith. It is a shame that a leading Oxford professor is biased in his arguments, I was able to reject some of his arguments as ridiculous rather than really challenging.

Having said that, there is much in the book to make theists think. I just think he is a bad ambassador for atheism, as Michael Ruse says (on the front of 'The Dawkins Delusion?') 'The God Delusion makes me embarrassed to be an atheist, and the McGraths show why.'

Interestingly, Dawkins (by presenting evolution as inevitably atheistic) is partly responsible for the rise of Creationism, as fundamentalist Christians react against a perceived threat.

Random Mood

Possibly...However, I'd like to see someone develop more fully the argument for why evolution *is* inherently atheistic. Because it is, really.

Let's turn it on its head. Onceuponatime, the religious regarded god(s) as the creator of species. Then along came Darwin. The religious had to modify what they meant by god. Fair enough. Arguably, this puts relion on a par with science in its flexibility and its willingness to change in the light of new discoveries.

But there's a difference, isn't there? Religion allows itself a presupposition of the sort that science doesn't.

Questions: Is there anything that a religiously-minded person couldn't fit into a god-based schema? Isn't religion a vacuous tautology? Aren't they simply determined to believe, 'despite'?