Skip to main content

The God Delusion - Religious Delusions and Violence -Book Review





















THE GOD DELUSION   

By Richard Dawkins

Reviewed by


Geoffrey W. Sutton

I heard cries and screams coming from a group of young women down the hall from my office. When I got up to take a look, a colleague explained they were praying for a woman possessed by a demon.

Over the years, I have consulted on cases of people who reported being Jesus Christ or having personal encounters with supernatural beings. Often individuals and their families were in deep despair. And we live in an age when religious people destroy in the name of their faith.

Supernatural experiences appear to impair rather than enhance well-being in some people. As a clinical psychologist, I approach reports of supernatural phenomena from a somewhat different perspective than does biologist, Richard Dawkins. I'm less concerned about a logical refutation than I am about the destructive power of faith-wielding combatants.

**********

In The God Delusion, Dawkins leads an attack on God or gods and those believers who wreak havoc when they feel led by their sincere beliefs or ordered by a supernatural being. The quintessential example is the 911 attacks on America. Not content to analyze and attack those who perpetuate violence in the name of religion, Dawkins seeks to show that religion itself is to blame.

My academic review was published in 2009. But as I write this post in 2016, Dawkins’ challenge remains alive. Those of us who identify as Christian won’t appreciate his abrasive manner of attack. Yet many of us have wondered about the strange beliefs and distorted logic guiding suicide bombers, genocidal violence, and unfounded religiously-motivated memes that dehumanize political candidates and those religious adherents who simply hold a different view of things.

Dawkins and his fellow atheists are unlikely to make much headway in eliminating religion. However, Dawkins’ missive remains a timely reminder that not all religious beliefs and practices are benevolent. And some are downright evil.

I find many of the points I made in my published review still relevant—likely because the evils of religion continually make headlines. Hate is alive. Media-savvy users spew invitations to violence with disregard for truth. The blood of innocents is mingled with that of religious and secular warriors.

One point I did not make before was the futility of relying on reasoning to disable destructive thoughts and concomitant behavior. I am amazed at the insidious power of destructive religious memes.

Dawkins focused on raising consciousness about the atheistic alternative to faith. He has at least succeeded in raising awareness of the destructive power of some religious beliefs–especially when belief catalyzes behavior.

Some religious leaders responded to Dawkins’ attacks with defensive maneuvers. In my view, we should be about the business of promoting peace, joy, love, forgiveness, reconciliation and other virtues. New narratives perpetuating life-affirming memes must combat destructive viruses in all media outlets and sacred places. Destructive religious memes invade vulnerable minds.

Religious leaders may be challenged to provide evidence that their faith transforms people in ways deemed virtuous in the canons of many faiths. Religious violence must be publicly condemned and disavowed. Religious leaders need to graduate from their seminaries ready to reveal God at work in the redemption of humanity rather than contributing to religious divides or worse.

Read more about the concept of delusion in psychology-including religious delusions.

Reference this post in APA style

Sutton, G. W. (2016, November 21). God and religious delusions [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://suttonreviews.suttong.com/2016/11/god-religious-delusions-and-violence.html 

FOR Related books on Atheism CLICK HERE

References (APA style)

Dawkins, R. (2006). The God delusion. New York: Houghton Mifflin. On Amazon

Sutton, G. W. (2016). A House Divided: Sexuality, Morality, and Christian Cultures. Eugene, OR: Pickwick.

Sutton, G. W. (2009). [Review of the book The god delusion by R. Dawkins]. Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health, 11, 235-239.   Academia Link    Researchgate


My book ad




BUY FROM THE PUBLISHER PICKWICK

     FREE review copies for instructors and book reviewers.




Connections

My webpage www.suttong.com

 On twitter  @GeoffWSutton

 My recent publications Geoffrey W. Sutton

 My YouTube Playlists Geoff W Sutton



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Denial of Death and the Meaningful Life- Book Review

  The Denial of Death   by Ernest Becker A Review by Geoffrey W. Sutton The prospect of death, Dr. Johnson said, wonderfully concentrates the mind. The main thesis of this book is that it does much more than that: the idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing else; it is a mainspring of human activity—activity designed largely to avoid the fatality of death, to overcome it by denying in some way that it is the final destiny for man.  — Ernest Becker, xvii I completed a recent reading of this old classic yesterday (13 December, 2015) because I was interested in Becker’s contribution to Terror Management Theory, which I find so helpful in understanding the ways U.S. leaders are publicly responding to terrorist activities. Becker’s ideas are more than forty years old and many have not withstood the test of time. However, his basic premise that we deny the reality of death in many ways remains valid
3 comments
Read more

A Christmas Carol offers lessons in Psychology and Faith A Book Review

A Christmas Carol By Charles Dickens A Review by Geoffrey W. Sutton My copy of A Christmas Carol was a gift on Christmas day, 1963. Two Christmases before I had walked the cold, fog-laden, smog drenched streets of Old London with my dad whilst my mother visited with her family. It was a grey day and a grey week. We took turns warming parts of our body by fireplaces here and there. After five years in the U.S. we had returned home to London on the occasion of my maternal grandmother’s death.  Dickens’ story paints a familiar tale textured by my early memories and enriched today by having watched my favourite rendition of A Christmas Carol ( 1984 ) with my wife on Christmas eve. My interest in reviewing the book is not just for a pleasant walk about the old streets of London but I'm motivated by a sense of appreciation for the poetic and colourful artistry with which Dickens plumbs the hopes and fears of humanity. So, follow
Post a Comment
Read more

WILLPOWER Setting & Reaching Goals- Book Review by Sutton

WILLPOWER Rediscovering the Greatest    Human Strength By Roy Baumeister & John Tierney Reviewed by Geoffrey W. Sutton I go to a gym, which is crowded in January. Regulars know the early Happy-New-Year commitments to fitness will weaken sometime in February. Roy Baumeister has spent a good part of his career studying self-control. His book, Willpower   written with Tierney,  entertains and informs us with an organized set of findings explaining factors that influence self-control. Two critical factors weaken our judgments: food and sleep. We need glucose and sleep to be at our best when it comes to making wise decisions and marking progress toward our goals. A pretty woman can loosen a man’s grip on his career--we hear these news stories from time to time as one political group takes aim at each other's leaders--men who failed at sexual self-control and sadly blame women for their lack of self-control. Fat shaming happens. T
Post a Comment
Read more