The comprehensive appendix in Richard Dawkins latest book The Greatest Show on Earth chronicles the re-emergence of pre-enlightenment religious fundamentalism. Not just in traditionally theocratic provinces like Mesopotamia, but our very own western world. The oppositionists are vociferous and many, and include such intellectual giants as Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris. But undoubtedly, their leader is Professor Richard Dawkins.
In The God Delusion, Dawkins attacked the logical and moral fallacies of religion. Not one to needlessly re-tread old ground, his The Greatest Show on Earth isn’t an anti-religious tome. Rather, Dawkins’s brief but succinct elocutions on geological time, molecular biology, natural selection and the fossil record, collect and consolidate the arguments against ‘intelligent design’ – the idea that all life on earth was designed by a creator being.
The style is characteristic of Dawkins. Nothing that is claimed is not proven. Scientific jargon is avoided and complex subjects are pulled apart. Truly, Dawkins provides the best argument for (and a shining example of) the ability of humanity to reject – to quote Darwin – "the mark of our lowly origins".
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