The Atheism Delusion

One word to describe The Atheism Delusion would be “challenges”. Let me explain. A reader might expect this book to be the counterpoint to Richard Dawkins’ best-seller The God Delusion, a sort of tit-for-tat. Dawkins argued that belief in God is a delusion, and he justified the use of the word saying, “The Penguin English Dictionary defines a delusion as ‘a false belief or impression’  the dictionary supplied with Microsoft Word defines a delusion as ‘a persistent false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence, especially as a symptom of psychiatric disorder”. The first part captures religious faith perfectly. As to whether it is a symptom of a psychiatric disorder, I am inclined to follow Robert M. Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, when he said, ‘When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Religion.’ If this book works as I intend, religious readers who open it will be atheists when they put it down.”

    So we come to our first challenge: how to prove which is truly delusional, belief in God or disbelief in God? Dawkins brings a lifetime’s worth of scientific evidence and reason to make his case. We have come to expect the counter-argument, the God argument, to be framed with Biblical passages and imagery lacking in any coherent proof, Ken Hamm-style. We also expect this type of book to be “preaching to the choir”, written to bolster our already preconceived beliefs, comforting for the coreligionists but completely irrelevant to critical scientific minds. Is it possible to make a scientific case for God? And if so, could the case for God be so scientifically provably strong that it is actually disbelief or atheism that is the delusion, the “a persistent false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence”. If that question fascinates you, this book is for you.

    Which brings us to challenge number two. If the religious reader is expecting a free pass in this book, the opening chapter quickly dispels that. It doesn’t coddle the religious crowd, it shines the light on them first. Like an opening salvo, a shot across the bow, a caution to all those who dare to enter. The title might seem like the target is atheism, but the real target is actually all things delusional and irrational, whether dressed in “belief” or “disbelief”. And the arbiter in this contest, science and the God-given “mechanism of intelligence” (as the author calls it) that each reader possesses. The book is in part a response to Dawkins’ God Delusion, but it is much more than just that, it is a response to all delusional beliefs.

    The Atheism Delusion is about the epic journey of mankind. Surprising the reader and keeping them off balance. Things are not as you expect and not as you thought. This is a book giving the case for God that isn’t based on books that depend on a belief in their divine origin, or in men who readers may even doubt ever existed. This book is based on the scientific method, provable science, and unbiased analysis.

    The author takes the reader back in time through this epic journey using all available evidence, from the recent discovery of a universe expanding at an accelerating rate, to string theory and multiple universes, dark matter and energy, quantum mechanics and Einstein’s “spooky action at a distance” criticism of it, Galileo and Copernicus, and back and back and back further. He takes us through Biblical, Quranic and Sumerian texts and combines them with anthropology to identify the historical Adam. And he doesn’t stop there. He takes us back through evolution to the first replicator. He takes us back to the very beginning of the universe and makes the case that all of these texts and all of these sciences tell one undeniable story, that it began with a purpose and continues to have a purpose. And he uses scientific evidence at every stop to prove it.

    In a recent discussion between Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss on “Something from Nothing”, Dr. Dawkins said, “I quite like the idea that people are being taught in their churches that evolution is incompatible with God, because we absolutely can demonstrate that evolution is a fact.” So this brings us to the final challenge. We’ve seen Bill Nye debate Ken Hamm, but is there any challenge in arguing scientifically against someone who believes the Earth is 6,000 years old? After reading The Atheism Delusion, the question won’t be “Is there scientific proof for God?”, but rather, “Why has no one written a book like this before?” and “Will the atheists, or even the religious crowd, accept the challenge and respond to the evidence presented?

Review by Dr. Darin Smith
(MD – Neurosurgery, Cedar Rapids)