He is, it would seem, a bit pissed off about that. So pissed off that he's written a big old book to illustrate - just in case anyone was in any doubt - that he is an atheist, and that atheism is the only position on the subject worth having.
For regular posters on this message board, most of what follows will be pretty familiar - I remember someone brought up the example of Einstein as being religious on here, and my rebuttal at the time is so similar to Dawkins's in the book that I encountered profound deja vu - in fact when this book was first mooted, someone (I think Karl) suggested he might be using Transfans as reference, and it certainly seems that way here. At some point I may write to him, linking some of our archived religious discussions and accuse him of plagiarising my style
Anyway, clicheed as it sounds, everyone should buy this book. I'm halfway through and (although he is admittedly preaching to the converted in my case) there are one or two things that have really stood out as interesting and even funny - a link to this page, for example, http://www.godlessgeeks.com/LINKS/GodProof.htm - which contains over 300 proofs of God's existence that demonstate the full range of sloppy logic that religious apologists employ in their reasoning.*
Also hilarious is his tale of a university friend who went into the church and offered as part of his reasons the fact that he and his girlfriend had heard the voice of the devil outside their tent in the middle of the night on a camping trip to Scotland, and it had terrified them both so much that he resolved to give his life to the service of God. When Dawkins recounted the story to friends, two of them who were keen ornithologists burst out laughing, shouting in unison: "Manx Shearwater!" This bird is known around the world in many languages as the "devil bird", because of its unusual cry which many claim sounds exactly like the voice of the devil.
Those of a religious disposition may find some scenes disturbing, but if they can grit their teeth and get around Dawkins's (at times extremely condescending) manner, it's possible that they might be persuaded to re-evaluate their own belief system. Me, I was sold on the fact that it is dedicated to Douglas Adams and carries one of his quotes on the same page: "Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it, too?"
*It's been about an hour since I started typing this post, and I'm still reading these. They are sublime, and I think I have one that they missed, I wonder if I could send it in...[edit] they also list this page right below, which is even funnier: http://www.tektonics.org/guest/300proof.html
