The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins - Key points

A key point summary of issues in this book

• Pub. Bantam Press 2006 - numbers at end of line refer to page number in book
• Be a Humanist (1)
• Be happy, balanced, moral, intellectually fulfilled 1
• a brave & splendid aspiration 1
• dont be reluctant to 'come out' as a humanist (as with gays - more people that come out the easier for others to join them) 4
• humanists who are not organised display zero political clout 4
• like trying to herd cats 4
• Imagine (john Lennon)
• no 9.11/7.7 / no NI troubles etc if the world was without religion (1)
• No childhood indoctrination (3)
• No catholic child or muslim child 3
• Delusion - a false belief or impression - held even with contradictory evidence 5
• Undeserved Respect
• faith should be open to debate & justification just like political views (Douglas Adams quote) 20
• danish cartoons 24
• God Hypothesis
• defined 31 + 38
• Humanists stand up and be counted
• numerically strong - lets start punching our weight 44
• dont be harrassed , shunned by family, loss of job, murder 45
• poverty of Agnosticism
• Permanent Agnosticism on Principle PAP -some questions can never be answered no matter how much evidence 47
• Levels 1-7 of theist to atheist 50
• russels teapot 51
• belief in zeus, apollo thor, FSM 53
• is gods existence probable 54
• how = science, why = religion 56. No!
• Prayer proof efficacy 61
• Obnoxious morals of Ten Commandments and God as role model 237
• Humanist Ten Commandments 263/4
• modern morality does not come from the bible 246
• death penalty 248
• curse parents
• homosexuality
• bestiality
• working on sabbath
• religion is an insult to human dignity (weinburg) 249
• we dont get morals from scripture 249
• Islam
• idolatory - punished by beheading 249
• Child labelling
• catholic children or protestant children 260
• segregated faith schools 261
• taboo against marrying out 261
• non miltant humanism 282
• fundamentalism - subversion of science / evidence 282/3
• unquestioning faith is a virture - should not be 286
• blasphemy law / Jerry Springer opera 288
• homosexuality 289
• Armaggeden 302
• july 2005 london bombings 302
• Faith is an evil because it requires no justification and brooks no arguement 308
• no suicide bombers with out faith 308
• why is faith of their birth the only truth 314
• Child indoctrination
• parents no right 326
• we should protect children from parents 326
• grate like fingernails on a blackboard - muslim child or christian child 338
• replace religion with science or Humanism or Art or Friendship 347
• fear of death - Mark Twain - dead for billions years before being born 354