Darwin's Angel: initial thoughts

Any concerns I had about this being "unbearably twee", as I mentioned initially, were most certainly unfounded. It is beautifully written, intelligent, witty and profound prose and I am very glad to have picked it up.

Inevitably there are those who slate it; when I said the online reviews I'd found had been pretty positive I hadn't yet seen those on RichardDawkins.net!

Finished at last

Has it really been nearly three months since I posted here? You must be wondering what on earth I've been up to. Well, you would be if you existed, but I don't suppose anyone actually reads this.

Anyway, I finally finished The God Delusion. Richard Dawkins’ avowed intention is that “religious people who read this book would finish it as atheists”. So, has it worked? Am I a convert?

Not entirely.

There’s no doubt, though, that his book has left me with big questions. I’m not going to lay the blame for my doubts on Dawkins, but I can’t get away from the fact that the part of me that was beginning to question my long-held beliefs has been given plenty of ammunition. If you want a text book of Bad Things That Have Been Done In The Name Of God, read the God Delusion. Actually, I’d recommend it to anyone as a fascinating and intensely thought-provoking read.

It is entirely one-sided, however, and it has had some criticism on the strength of its logic and the gaps in its arguments, so as I mentioned previously I’ve been on the look-out for something to read afterwards to re-balance things. I’ve had a few suggestions; the obvious ones are those that have been written in direct response: Alistair McGrath’s The Dawkins Delusion and Andrew Wilson’s Deluded by Dawkins? but when I’ve looked at reviews online both books have been pretty well slated. I may pick one up at some point, but want something different at the moment. And then, while searching online last week, a title appeared that I did like the look of.

Darwin’s Angel by John Cornwell appears to take a rather different approach, calling itself “An Angelic Riposte” to Dawkins’ book, and written as a series of letters to Dawkins from Charles Darwin’s "guardian angel". Now, I'm prepared for the fact that it could be unbearably twee, but the online reviews are much more promising. I particularly liked this extract from the reviewer in the Times:

This book is a piece of sheer heaven. It kicks Richard Dawkins' self-aggrandising polemic, The God Delusion, into touch with featherlight footwork and is deliciously wise, witty and intellectually sharp into the bargain.

I picked it up from the library today. I’ll let you know.

Still reading. But what next?

About a third of the way through The God Delusion now, and am still pretty much agreeing with most of what Dawkins is saying. But I'm also beginning to get a bit annoyed with him at times. I'd expected a slightly more academic approach, but to my mind he seems to be meandering somewhat. Also, he's beginning to get a bit insulting to those how have a faith. He doesn't say so in so many words, but he often seems to apply that you'd have to by pretty stupid to believe this sort of stuff. Now I know that that's, in one sense, the whole point of the book, but there are ways of saying things.

Andy commented that the God Dawkins is talking about is not the God of the Christian faith. I understand what he meant by that, and indeed it's a view that I've had mentioned in an entirely different context once before (ie, not about Dawkins). Trouble is, in this context - and up to this point in the book - I'd say that Dawkins doesn't claim to be talking about the Christian God specifically. It's the whole concept of God, and the existence of any kind of spiritual realm, that he's debating.

I'm enjoying reading it, anyway, and that's a good thing. It's got me thinking about God at the very least. I mentioned to one of my prayer partners (just about the only time I pray is when I meet up with two friends one morning a week before work) that I was wondering what to read next to get an opposite view. His suggestion?

"Well, there's the Bible."

Nice one Simon.

Am I deluded?

Wow. A month since my last post. So much for trying to keep a regular "spiritual journal".

I've started reading Richards Dawkins' "The God Delusion". So far, I have to admit, I'm agreeing with most of what he's saying. Which doesn't bode well for a Christian, considering his published hope is that "religious people who pick up this book will be atheists by the time they finish it." (Quoted from memory so may not be precise!) Of course it's raising lots of questions, but they are the sort of questions that I really ought to be asking myself anyway. The big one being, of course, whether I believe in the existence of a God. (The current answer being, "I don't know".)

It's an interesting read so far, and he makes lots of interesting comments about the apparent privileges afforded to those holding religious beliefs: which he quite rightly says are entirely inappropriate. That's about as far as I've got so far. It's clearly not going to be a very "balanced" book (he critises theological writings as starting with the assumption that there is a God, but is guilty of the same from the other end of the spectrum, it seems to me) so I'll aim to read something rsponding to Dawkins afterwards to see if I can get a balanced view. The obvious choice, a direct response called "The Dawkins Delusion", gets such bad reviews everywhere that I don't think I'll bother.

Reading progress

This evening I sat down and read the entire bible in one sitting. Impressive, hey?

How on earth am supposed to try to keep a record of what I’m thinking spiritually if I

(a) never keep a record, and
(b) never think spiritually?*

My spiritual life in the last few weeks. Let me think… I meet once a week with two friends from church to share and pray. I don’t know if prayer makes a difference, but at least it does give me an opportunity to pray. Let’s face it, it’s just about the only time I do, so thanks guys for giving me that space. And how often have I picked up the bible to read it since mentioning it here a couple of months ago. Ahem. I haven’t.

So, there’s a good positive update for you.

* After I wrote this I realised I'm not entirely sure what I mean by "thinking spiritually". Perhaps I'll work it out one day.

More time-soakers

My list of books to read continues to grow. I've now finished a couple from my earlier list, but more have appeared in the meantime. And right now they're all taking a back seat to the newest Harry Potter, which I'm about half way through.

I'd probably have found time to read a lot more (and, hey, maybe even pray once a while) if I hadn't discovered Flickr. And I thought facebook soaked up a lot of time! Last night I was browsing through people's photos before going to bed, occasionally commenting on them, and annotating some of my own and suddenly four hours had passed. FOUR HOURS.