The Dawkins Letters: challenging atheist myths

This is an edited version of the first of ten letters dealing with the various atheist ‘myths’ which Richard Dawkins perpetuates in his book The God Delusion. This letter was published on the Dawkins website and got a substantial response. The Dawkins Letters: Challenging Atheist Myths is published by Christian Focus Publications at £4.99.

Dear Dr. Dawkins,

I hope you will forgive me writing to you, but I have just finished reading your book and it was very frustrating. There was so much in it that I could identify with and yet so much that was to my mind simply wrong.

You argue that those who share your views have been raised to a greater level of consciousness. You write to make atheists ‘loud and proud’ that they have had their consciousness raised, whilst also seeking to raise the consciousness of those of us who have been left behind. I think your notion that atheists are those who have had their consciousness raised and that they are de facto more intelligent, rational and honest than other human beings is a myth on a par with the Emperor’s New Clothes.