Richard Dawkins was recently voted one of the world s top three intellectuals (alongside Umberto Eco and Noam Chomsky) by Prospect magazine. As the author of many, now famous, classic works on science and philosophy, he has always asserted the irrationality of belief in God and the grievous harm it has inflicted on society. He now turns his fierce intellect exclusively on this subject, denouncing its faulty logic and the suffering it causes.
While Europe is becoming increasingly secularized, the rise of religious fundamentalism, whether in the Middle East or Middle America, is dramatically and dangerously dividing opinion around the world. In America, and elsewhere, a vigorous dispute between intelligent design and Darwinism is seriously undermining and restricting the teaching of science. In many countries religious dogma from medieval times still serves to abuse basic human rights such as women s and gay rights. And all from a belief in a God whose existence lacks evidence of any kind.
Dawkins attacks God in all his forms, from the sex-obsessed, cruel tyrant of the Old Testament to the more benign, but still illogical, Celestial Watchmaker favoured by some Enlightenment thinkers. He eviscerates the major arguments for religion and demonstrates the supreme improbability of a supreme being. He shows how religion fuels war, foments bigotry and abuses children.
In The God Delusion Dawkins presents a hard-hitting, impassioned rebuttal of religion of all types and does so in the lucid, witty and powerful language for which he is renowned. It is a brilliantly argued, fascinating polemic that will be required reading for anyone interested in this most emotional and important subject.


THE GOD DELUSION
-timely, impassioned and brilliantly argued.
'...entertaining, wildly informative, splendidly written...we are elegantly cajoled, cleverly harangued into shedding ourselves of this superstitious nonsense that has bedevilled us since our first visit to Sunday school' Rod Liddle, Sunday Times
'A spirited and exhilarating read... Dawkins comes roaring forth in the full vigour of his powerful arguments' Joan Bakewell, Guardian
'Passionate, clever, funny, uplifting and above all, desperately needed' Daily Express
'A wonderful book...Joyous, elegant, fair, engaging, and often very funny... informed throughout by an exhilarating breadth of reference and clarity of thought' Michael Frayn
'Richard Dawkins's The God Delusion should be ready by everyone from atheist to monk. If its merciless rationalism doesn't enrage you at some point' you probably aren't alive'Julian Barnes
There is not a dull page in Richard Dawkins's The God Delusion, a book that makes me want to cheer its clarity, intelligence and truth-telling' Claire Tomalin