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'God Delusion' Is Must-Read

If you haven't heard of "The God Delusion," you haven't been paying attention. Presented by the publishers of "The Da Vinci Code," this book has climbed its way to No. 4 on The New York Times bestselling hardcover nonfiction list and has held Amazon.com's No. 2 spot for months. Most noteworthy to Portlanders, "The God Delusion" hit the No. 1 bestselling spot at Powell's Books in November.

So why should you care?

Richard Dawkins' book is not a popular novel; it is 416 pages of science and philosophy intended to disprove God's existence and tear apart any concept of spirituality.

In his second chapter, Dawkins describes Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament, as "arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction. Jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak; a vindictive bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully."

Hundreds of thousands of your neighbors are reading this book. Are you alarmed?

Sam Harris's "Letter to a Christian Nation," also a New York Times bestseller, makes similar claims. However, he zeroes in on Americans: "The president of the United States has claimed, on more than one occasion, to be in dialogue with God.

"If he said that he was talking to God through his hairdryer, this would precipitate a national emergency. I fail to see how the addition of a hairdryer makes the claim more ridiculous or offensive."

The issues these authors raise will impact your friends, family and ministry -- and maybe even your own faith. The popularity of these books alone is bound to strike up conversations around you.

You're at Multnomah to develop an answer for those who ask. Educating yourself about the theological questions that Portlanders are wrestling with is primary to demystifying the truth. However, that kind of education is found in the world around you.

Take your nose out of your theology book for a moment and see what else is out there.

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