The God Delusion

The God Delusion is a 2006 nonfiction book by British biologist and author Richard Dawkins. A New York Times best seller that’s sold over 3 million copies, the book aims to successfully argue that God does not exist and that the belief in such a God is in fact the clinical definition of a “delusion.”

Dawkins begins the book with a quote from Douglas Adams, the famed science-fiction author who wrote The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: “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?” Later, Dawkins revisits this motif when he labels himself an atheist rather than an agnostic, writing that he is agnostic “only to the extent that I am agnostic about fairies at the bottom of the garden.”

The author sets forth four “consciousness-raising” ideas that act as guiding principles for the book. The first is that atheists, contrary to pro-religion propaganda, are perfectly capable of leading happy and moral existences. The second is that natural selection is a theory with a great deal of scientific evidence supporting it, while the existence of God is a mere hypothesis at best. Therefore, natural selection is superior to the belief in God. The third idea is that children should never be described by the religion followed by their parents. On the contrary, children must grow into adults and make up their own minds about such a momentous topic as religion and whether to follow it. And finally, atheists should not be ashamed of their identity, nor scared to reveal this identity. Instead they should be proud because their philosophy is superior to that of religious peoples.



In describing the differences between scientific theories and the “God hypothesis,” the author coins a phrase he calls “Einsteinian religion.” Einstein was known to cite God when discussing various natural phenomena. But instead of considering this a fusion between science and religion, Dawkins calls it a form of “sexed up atheism.” Einstein observed natural phenomena that seemed to defy preconceived notions of the natural world. In that sense, these phenomena were “supernatural.” But instead of simply chalking these phenomena up to the workings of an interventionist God, Einstein continued to think about these events in a scientific framework. That makes all the difference, Dawkins writes.

The author goes on to discuss two competing views of the natural universe. The first is that there was some sort of designer or God who designed the universe in all its endless complexity. The second view—which Dawkins unsurprisingly finds far more compelling—is that the universe’s endless complexity grew naturally over billions of years from a few simple properties and conditions that we might one day hope to understand.

Dawkins also spends a great deal of time on what’s known as the “Boeing 747 gambit.” This is a thought experiment used by believers in God to describe the implausibility of a world without a God. Theists say that for this endlessly complex universe of ours to have developed naturally, we must also accept the possibility that a tornado could fly through a junkyard and assemble a Boeing 747 in the air. Dawkins dismisses this argument on the basis that this scenario is equally implausible, if not more so, in a world where God exists. That’s because God himself would be “the ultimate junkyard Boeing 747” because he’s the one creating these implausible planes out of thin air.



After putting forth his argument against the existence of God, Dawkins launches into a lengthy discussion on how God is a byproduct of our natural sense of morality. Morality does not require the existence of a supernatural creator or judge. Rather, morality can be explained by Darwinism. Dawkins argues that “altruistic genes” exist and are selected for in many natural environments. Furthermore, there are altruistic “memes” that exist. Here, Dawkins uses his own earlier definition of “meme” as a social or cultural idea that spreads, not unlike genes, through generations.

While many religious people will take issue with The God Delusion, Dawkins’s arguments are undeniably fascinating jumping-off points for any number of discussions on biology, philosophy, history, and ethics.