Non-Fiction Book Reviews

Book Review: Darwin's Angel

By Sandy Amazeen Feb 4, 2009, 1:24 GMT

"The God Delusion" is a clarion call to the faithless, the waverers, and even firm religious believers, to follow the author into radical atheism not merely as a private conviction but as a public profession. Wouldn\'t humankind be better off without religion, he asks. John Cornwell\'s "Darwin\'s Angel" is not so much a combative repudiation of Dawkins\' arguments as a playful conversation with them, posing alternative viewpoints, exposing lapses in ...more

Few topics are more controversial then religion and Cornwell’s bombastic rebuttal to Richard Dawkin’s The God Delusion is a classic illustration of circular arguments replacing critical thought. One of Cornwell’s biggest complaints against Dawkin’s work is his siting of numerous writers yet this book is largely an exercise in pointless namedropping, apparently in the vain hope that the sheer volume will overwhelm readers. Cornwell trotted out Hitler, Mao and other notable dictators as examples of atheism gone wrong, apparently ignoring the fact that although they were responsible for heinous acts, they were not atheists as they supported state sanctioned religion.

Readers looking for a balanced, well-reasoned refutation to Dawkin’s work would be better served looking elsewhere as this fluctuates between saccharine proselytizing and pseudo science while ignoring many of the key arguments in favor of blowing smoke. Sadly, this is a disappointing book for those interested in an intelligent examination.