Isn’t this a nice quote I’ve found here?
“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea.
Other versions insert “sin” for “stumble” but I suppose that’s neither here nor there. Why am I quoting it? A blogger at WORLDMag.com used it as part of a heads-up over Dawkins’ upcoming book aimed at teenagers, called What Is a Rainbow Really? The author of the piece includes a link to a National Post article about it.
The author of The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins, is penning a new book which will target his most impressionable audience: teens. The controversial atheist, scientist and avid Darwin supporter, is planning to write, What is a Rainbow, Really?, an illustrated book which will take a myth-busting approach to questions about the natural world. The scientific reasoning behind topics such as: who the first man and woman were, why there are seasons, what the sun is and how old the world is, will be presented with perspectives from opposing camps- myth and legend, and “lucid scientific explanation.”
Dawkins’ most popular novel, The God Delusion, described the god of the Old Testament as “a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” Perhaps the language will be toned down in this next book which is aimed for an audience of young adults 12 and up. But on second thought, maybe not.
Notice how Elyse Goody refers to Dawkins’ book? Novels are fiction books, sweetheart. The God Delusion is not a novel.
The fear here seems to be that teenagers might actually learn something about the world if the temptation to open the book is too strong. It’s innocent Adam and Eve and the fruit all over again, with Dawkins cast as the snake. Better the publisher kill the tree of knowledge now so it doesn’t all happen again?
Sheesh.
I’ve started plugging my way through Greatest Show on Earth and I’m thinking I probably should buy it. I’ll never wade through it all before its due date. And, if I have my own copy, I’ll be able to scribble in the margins when I find something worth remembering.
