On religion and strife written 5 years ago

I’ve been reading a couple of Dawkins books over the past year, and I’ve grown to enjoy his writings. He seems to convey some complicated ideas in a very succinct and clear manner. Some of which has changed my own outlook on life.

But there’s no denying that Dawkins has a very atheist viewpoint, his science almost demands it. In his writings it’s a constant overtone in every word, his almost mocking of those that have faith. This seemed in context with his writings on evolutionary theory, but the more I read, the more I see it as a direct attack on those with religious beliefs.

There is something quite menacing that I feel is coming out of this, in that Dawkins has stopped teaching about evolution, and has started preaching about it. His latest book (which I haven’t read), The God Delusion, hides nothing of it’s intent. The latest article from his website, entitled Atheists challenge the religious right describes how atheists are “fighting back” against religious leaders. This frightens me.

There’s no questioning that religion has caused a significant amount of strife for the human race (some might say it is the sole cause of all strife). But this conflict has generally been because people have “risen up” and told other people You are Wrong. Here we have exactly the same thing happening, only now it’s the atheists vs. everyone else.

So in that case, is it religion that causes all this strife, or just the fact that humans can’t stand people that believe different things? Will we always cause trouble with each other, regardless of the reason?

I believe religion has little to do with all the trouble in the world, as fundamentally people will always form groups and shout at each other You are Wrong.

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