The God Delusion

The first episode of Richard Dawkins' series on the danger of religion -- even when it seems nice, sweet and benign.


The God Delusion

(Quicktime file)

Once you have watched the file, you can read my comments below.


The conversation with the Jewish-turned-Muslim guy was quite enlightening. It shows the pure moral relativism that Muslims like him practice, even if they would be quite offended by that notion.

If you asked them, "are women human?" they would say certainly. (They might even claim that women are "treated better." Sure thing.) If you asked them "is it good to own human beings," they would either say "no," or "only women." Which is called moral relativism. If it is bad to own human beings, then it is bad to own any human being.

I'm not accusing this of all men--I love men--but I don't know if many of them understand the feeling that many women get when they hear people speak like this man did. When I hear this stuff, it's like a tightening in my throat.

When religion becomes law, the first thing to happen is guys like this sound reasonable. "You have to get your women off the street and into modest clothing." They relinquish all responsibility for their sexual morality and claim that "dressing like Brittney Spears" will cause them to rape. It has nothing at all to do with morality, and everything to do with what I've been calling "religious hedonism." What a delicious, prurient thought, that one could lose all sexual control because of someone else, someone "wicked." It's right out of fifties erotica.

The good news is that the "American bitches" I hear some men talk about would never allow this sort of crap to happen to them. They would be able to take a moral stand on this. And if it's moral for us, it is moral for the women there, too. It doesn't matter what "people think." This truth, that humans are not to be owned, comes from reality, from nature, not from a cultural cowpath. The religious always claim there is one law: God's law. So why is it so full of exceptions? (Because many worship a God that is not subject to its own laws.)