Review of "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins-Part 4

In Chapter 8 Dawkins discusses the negative and evil actions done by people who profess to be of a particular faith. While I agree that there have been many actions and deeds that are immoral and evil committed by religious people, I would have to disagree with Dawkins with the idea that religion as a whole is to blame for the atrocities committed in its name. It is my firm belief that to understand any religion one must look at the theology and teachings of that faith as derived from its scripture or oral traditions. By simply shoving all religions under one umbrella in my opinion shows a real lack of understanding of each individual religion, which should be looked at in each of their own merits. It is obvious to theologians that the violent acts done by extremist do not represent the religion they claim to be a member of, nor do the religion's scriptures actually teach, nor advocate such evil actions. Once that has become apparent then one cannot blame the world religions for these deeds. If we look at the psychological theories of Eric Fromm we find that his analysis of human society shows the power of manipulation done by individuals on others and even large groups. However Fromm does not advocate an idea that religion is actually to blame for the product of evil in human society. In fact in his famous book "The Art of Loving" he even shows the overall positive nature of religion and the positive effect it has on human society. We find that in many of the Social Psychological testing and research done, it is never the conclusion that religion spreads evil amongst human society, but rather persons who, by using manipulative tactics, spread their personal power-hungry and insidious ideologies. 

It is in this spirit that I wish to draw a metaphor to help further explain the way religion can be abused and misused by humans. Let us look at dynamite, an tool which was created to aid humans in act of manipulating the earth of building, as well as mining operations. That is the general and basic purpose of dynamite. However if someone were to suddenly grab a stick of dynamite and teach others that instead of using it for its actual intended purpose, it should be used to kill others, more specifically innocent civilians, would be then blame not only the dynamite in question, but also the person who manufactured the said object? I think most would come to the conclusion that it would be absurd to blame the dynamite and the maker, and this I feel is the conclusion for those who see it as absurd to blame religion for the evils done by people who claim to be members of those said religions. 

It was at this point in reading "The God Delusion" that I began to wonder if Dawkins real issue with religion is not for those who follow it on a personal level, but rather the number of people that adhere to a religion that is organized and even to some extent have power in human society. This is just a guess on my part, but it was a thought that sprouted when reading this portion of the book. He seems to have an issue mainly with the Abrahamic faiths, and this also begs the question of why did he not go after the Eastern Religions/Philosophies? He states earlier in his book that he had no intent of going in that direction, yet it does beg the question of why the silence on that particular topic?

Near the end of the chapter Dawkins, in my opinion, almost concedes to the ideas I have pot forward, and maybe he did this subconsciously or even with out awareness. He talks about Madrases that have radical teachers that are teaching young Muslims in Pakistan a radical version of Islam. Interesting enough he focuses on the aspect of TEACHING people extreme or radical ideology, which again I would not disagree with him on, however this again leads us back to the earlier points above. Is it indeed religion, and scripture which advocates such evil deeds, or is it the minority of extremist that are in the position to influence others and teach them things that the religion itself does not advocate. This is a topic which can be analyzed by different disciplines from theology to psychology, and when that will continue an ongoing debate and discussion. However I feel that overgeneralzing and concluding that religion as a concept is the actual reason why there are so many evil actions committed by certain religious people. 

END OF PART 4