Comments on: The Dawkins Delusion http://christianbookshopsblog.org.uk/2008/05/27/the-dawkins-delusion/ An Independent Voice in the UK Christian Book Trade Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:56:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Party on the Blog: One Year Old Today! « UKCBD: The Christian Bookshops Blog http://christianbookshopsblog.org.uk/2008/05/27/the-dawkins-delusion/#comment-1963 Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:01:36 +0000 http://ukcbd.wordpress.com/?p=59#comment-1963 [...] post that attracted the most comments was my review of the McGraths’ The Dawkins Delusion: that conversation eventually petered out after 46 responses, but the issues surrounding it have [...]

]]> By: Beyond The God Delusion « UKCBD: The Christian Bookshops Blog http://christianbookshopsblog.org.uk/2008/05/27/the-dawkins-delusion/#comment-703 Thu, 25 Sep 2008 04:33:18 +0000 http://ukcbd.wordpress.com/?p=59#comment-703 [...] God Delusion |   It seems a long time since I posted my review of Alister McGrath’s The Dawkins Delusion but the issues raised by Dawkins still seem to be something of a hot potato. Unfortunately [...]

]]> By: Phil Groom http://christianbookshopsblog.org.uk/2008/05/27/the-dawkins-delusion/#comment-349 Mon, 23 Jun 2008 07:12:49 +0000 http://ukcbd.wordpress.com/?p=59#comment-349 For anyone else reading, the reference is to this conversation. Blogger’s page layout there isn’t very helpful, is it? I live in hope that one day someone will combine the best of Blogger and WordPress to give us the perfect all-singing, all-dancing blog platform. I fear it’s not going to evolve by itself, though! ;)

(Don’t worry, I’m not attempting to bring in the argument from design by the backdoor: just a paltry attempt at humour… )

]]> By: Isaac Gouy http://christianbookshopsblog.org.uk/2008/05/27/the-dawkins-delusion/#comment-347 Mon, 23 Jun 2008 03:23:18 +0000 http://ukcbd.wordpress.com/?p=59#comment-347 > it wasn’t until

Mea culpa, I noted “February 19, 2008 1:07 PM” directly by “Pilgrim”, rather than “June 1, 2008 11:02 AM” below.

]]> By: Phil Groom http://christianbookshopsblog.org.uk/2008/05/27/the-dawkins-delusion/#comment-346 Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:58:59 +0000 http://ukcbd.wordpress.com/?p=59#comment-346 For the record, Isaac, it wasn’t until after your comment #5 above — when you said you’d been in touch with a score of other Dawkins Delusion bloggers — that I decided to search around to see what responses had been offered. Another bit of a priori / a posteriori confusion, methinks ;)

The delay in posting your opening comment was due to the legacy system under which my original review was posted, which didn’t allow comments to be posted. Maybe one day I’ll move all the old reviews over to WordPress, but it all takes time…

]]> By: Isaac Gouy http://christianbookshopsblog.org.uk/2008/05/27/the-dawkins-delusion/#comment-344 Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:39:04 +0000 http://ukcbd.wordpress.com/?p=59#comment-344 I was more interested in your reasoning than your possible bias.

Previously you were interested enough to compare some unspecified “Dawkins’ misrepresentations” against those McGrath examples, and pass judgement.

It seems that Phil searched around the web, looking for a helpful response, back in February, before he decided to post my comment – it doesn’t seem like he found one.

]]> By: Cliff Martin http://christianbookshopsblog.org.uk/2008/05/27/the-dawkins-delusion/#comment-338 Sun, 22 Jun 2008 04:45:47 +0000 http://ukcbd.wordpress.com/?p=59#comment-338 Isaac,

My admission of bias, then, is your open door to assign weightlessness to my judgment if you so choose.

I was not (and am not) interested in a tit-for-tat comparison of misquotations. Dawkin’s are well documented elsewhere. And as for “engagement with the provided examples”, I was satisfied with Phil’s responses above … though apparently you were not.

]]> By: Isaac Gouy http://christianbookshopsblog.org.uk/2008/05/27/the-dawkins-delusion/#comment-336 Sun, 22 Jun 2008 02:17:33 +0000 http://ukcbd.wordpress.com/?p=59#comment-336 Cliff Martin@June 21
> My point was that some of Dawkin’s misrepresentations appear to me to be more deceptive than those McGrath examples you cite. This judgment, of course, may just reveal my bias.

Left at that level of generality, without any apparent engagement with the provided examples, why should we give any weight to such a “judgement”?

]]> By: Cliff Martin http://christianbookshopsblog.org.uk/2008/05/27/the-dawkins-delusion/#comment-335 Sat, 21 Jun 2008 11:55:29 +0000 http://ukcbd.wordpress.com/?p=59#comment-335 No, I was not trying to justify literary abuses. My point was that both authors (and most writers in general) tend to pull up quotations that fit their purposes, sometimes without supplying the reader with a full explanation of the context, etc. The “misrepresentation” in such cases is often debatable, and seldom is the case black and white. That is, there are degrees of apparent misrepresentation, some which border upon outright deception, others that do not rise to that level. My point was that some of Dawkin’s misrepresentations appear to me to be more deceptive than those McGrath examples you cite. This judgment, of course, may just reveal my bias.

]]> By: Isaac Gouy http://christianbookshopsblog.org.uk/2008/05/27/the-dawkins-delusion/#comment-334 Sat, 21 Jun 2008 05:58:23 +0000 http://ukcbd.wordpress.com/?p=59#comment-334 Cliff Martin@June 19
> … makes those McGrath excerptions which annoy Isaac seem quite benign.

Misrepresentation is okay as long as it supports the cause?

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