Delusional

“The mark of an educated mind is to be able to entertain a belief without accepting it” - Aristotle

My earliest memories were always about pitting my thoughts against someone else. It doesn't matter who it was, I was like Sam-I-Am: I was persistent and loved doing it. I could speak to a Mormon out in the cold or an Atheist in the warmth of my house. My audacity even ran afoul with my parents too. But I kept at it because I enjoyed ever bit of it. I enjoyed the chess-like imagination of two ideas engaging and re-engaging. A fight to mental death or immaterial mercy. It was a realm like that of the Roman Colosseum, with two warriors and the silent clashing of thoughts, of shields and swords. When I wasn't debating, I was preparing. And as I went on, I felt the need to peer over that forbidden curtain and see what my opponents were doing. What consumed all his time? Where did his training come about? Since the publication of The God Delusion, I wanted to read its contents and see for myself what books my opponents were reading, what training manuals filled their libraries and, if I were wrong, what books I would follow myself.

Two days ago, after coming home from work, I sat down, read the preface, and thumbed through the contents: A Deeply Religious Non-Believer; The God Hypothesis; Arguments for Gods Existence – this caught my attention; Why there almost certainly is no God; The Roots of Religion; What's wrong with Religion? Why be so Hostile?; Childhood, Abuse, and the escape from Religion. So far? My first impression hopefully will not be my last. I expect to see a book of words without thoughts. Chapters filled with rhetoric used to call out the atheists from the shadows of society and proclaim the superficial doubt of religious intellectualism. As Dr. Plantinga has previous stated, I would thus far agree, “I am not afraid of the New Atheists. The only thing I can say is that the older Atheists had better arguments.” But my purpose isn't to weigh value, it is to find answers.

As I read through The God Delusion, I will be discoursing on each chapter. My contending points, fallacious quotations, or any imperative information will be complied after finishing each chapter. The final compilation should resemble something of a personal nature – a war of ideas.

So, what do I expect out of this book? I expect to find answers: I expect to see the God argument from the other side; To read, research, counter, or believe whatever may be found. If this book fulfills my first impression, then let the goal of this book be to become a compilation of resources to counter those who find the necessity of reverberating Dr. Dawkin's claims. Until then, we must wait and hope.