The Devil's Delusion
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The Devil’s Delusion
A Discussion Guide
This discussion guide is designed to facilitate the use of David Berlinski’s book The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions in small groups, adult Sunday School classes, adult education seminars, and book discussion clubs. The guide contains brief summaries of each chapter followed by discussion questions for that chapter.
Permission is hereby granted to distribute and reproduce this guide in whole or in part for non-commercial educational use, provided that: (1) the original source is credited, and any copies display the web address for Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture (www.discovery.org/csc) or FaithandEvolution.Org (www.faithandevolution.org); and (2) the copies are distributed free of charge.
John and Sonja West, October 2009
The Devil’s
Delusion
A Discussion Guide
by
John and Sonja West
Seattle Discovery Institute Press 2009
Description
This is a group discussion guide for David Berlinski’s book The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions.
Copyright Notice
Copyright © 2009 by John and Sonja West. All Rights Reserved. Permission is hereby granted to distribute and reproduce this guide in whole or in part for non-commercial educational use, provided that: (1) the original source is credited, and any copies display the web address for Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture (www.discovery.org/csc) or FaithandEvolution.Org (www.faithandevolution.org); and (2) the copies are distributed free of charge.
Library Cataloging Data
The Devil’s Delusion, A Discussion Guide by John and Sonja West
47 pages, 6 x 9 inches, 229 x 152 mm.
BISAC Subject: REL067030 RELIGION/Christian Theology/Apologetics
BISAC Subject: REL004000 RELIGION/Atheism
BISAC Subject: SCI080000 SCIENCE/Essays
ISBN-13: 978-0-9790141-5-4 ISBN-10: 0-9790141-5-8 (paperback)
Publisher Information
Discovery Institute Press, Discovery Institute, 208 Columbia St., Seattle, WA 98104. Internet: http://www. discovery.org/
Published in the United States of America on acid-free paper.
First Edition, First Printing. October 2009.
Contents
Preface 7
Chapter 1
No Gods Before Me 9
Chapter 2
Nights of Doubt 11
Chapter 3
Horses Do Not Fly 17
Chapter 4
The Cause 21
Chapter 5
The Reason 25
Chapter 6
A Put-Up Job 27
Chapter 7
A Curious Proof that God Does Not Exist 31
Chapter 8
Our Inner Ape, a Darling, and the Human Mind 33
Chapter 9
Miracles in our Time 37
Chapter 10
The Cardinal and His Cathedral 43
Preface
1. Atheist writer Sam Harris says that his strongest critics are Christians “who are intolerant of criticism.” How does Berlinski respond to this claim?
2. Why did Berlinski write his book?
3. For whom did Berlinski write his book?
Personal Notes on the Preface
8 / The Devil’s Delusion, A Discussion Guide
Chapter 1
No Gods Before Me
Chapter Summary: In the past, most scientists described religion as a separate realm from science that science could neither endorse nor disprove. The contemporary rise of militant atheism is an attempt by atheists to claim that science and religion are in conflict, and that science proves that religion is false. They demand that science be recognized as the one system of belief that explains everything and therefore demands unqualified allegiance.
1. How has the stance of scientists toward religion changed in recent years according to Berlinski?
2. Berlinski quotes evolutionary biologist Massimo Pigliucci stating that science is “a much more humble enterprise than any religion or other ideology.”
(a) Does Berlinski agree? Why or why not?
(b) Who do you think is right? Why?
10 / The Devil’s Delusion, A Discussion Guide
Personal Notes on Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Nights of Doubt
Chapter Summary: Religious conviction plays an important role in human life. Atheists claim that religion produces evil and that secularism is making society better and better. The evidence doesn’t support that. The twentieth century has an extensive record of brutal secular regimes. Even atheists don’t try to claim that Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao or Pol Pot were religious leaders. Without God everything is permitted. And no one is willing to live with that.
1. Berlinski notes that ancient Arabs made major advances in our understanding of astronomy.
(a)What motivated these advances in astronomy?
(b) How does this example help answer the claim that if scientists have religious motives for their work, then their scientific discoveries and ideas are unscientific or illegitimate?
2. Abu Hamid Muhammad Al-Ghazâli (1058-1111) is one of Islam’s most influential philosophers.
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