30th October:

The latest book by Professor Richard Dawkins is called “The God Delusion” and is a fascinating read. His argument that a world without religion would be a significantly nicer place to live is an intriguing one.

Personal experience suggests that those with very strong religious beliefs seem happy to thrust them upon you and yet rarely seem open to having these same beliefs debated and challenged. People who subscribe to a religion talk about their 'faith' which, by the very nature of the word, requires an acceptance of a lack of certainty and absolute empirical evidence. Whilst these people should be free to hold their beliefs, those who wish to publicly examine and intellectually challenge the principles upon which these beliefs are based should be allowed to do so free from castigation, intimidation or censure.

One of the fundamental yet oft ignored principles upon which most of the world’s popular religions are based is the notion of respect for the beliefs of others, even if these beliefs differ from our own. Smugness is an optional extra. Arguably, the idea of “doing no harm” (primum non nocere) falls naturally out of this principle. And yet, how often are arms raised, lives taken and dissenting voices silenced in the name of God?

Socrates famously noted that “the unexamined life is not worth living”. Without wishing to sound glib, surely this extends to all aspects of one’s life, faith included?