What the Bible left out..., originally uploaded by chunangadan.

.. . the full story of course! The church's lack of understanding of majestic sea creatures meant they decided to twist the tales to completely take them out!

Newly found ancient documents shows that the The three kings intially set off following the star, but soon, the sky went totally cloudy and they got lost in the vastness of the desert. Not like they had GPS sysems or anything, and the Camels where poorly trained as well! They then used their powers and sought the help of the supremely intelligent sharks to show them the way. This species of sharks could fly and they were later hunted down and exterminated by the armies supporting the Church as the Priory of Flying Sharks stood in the way of Church's version of the Bible stories.

Anyway, on a serious note, I am about two thirds into Richard Dawkin's The God Delusion, and I think he makes a lot of sense. Growing up in a relaxed yet Hindu family, I have to say, the Abrahamic religious ideas never appealed to me! I could never understand the idea of a 'God' person (Bruce Almighty-ish all knowing all seeing God guy). Over a period of time I was getting comfortable with the idea of God as 'collective goodness in the universe' (and evil the opposite), but Dawkins has thrown a spanner in that idea too. I think he calls my stand apologetic fence-sitters or something - grrr, well I have to agree, fence sitting is not same as opposing, and it probably is more close to supporting than opposing, blind religious rules by various interests, almost all of which is really are the reasons for most of the major conflicts in known human history, and present!

Coming back to 'The God Delusion', I find it a tough read. It started off with Mr. Dawkins making his position clear, and making sure that he sets your expectations straight - this is going to be a straight taking book with mild rhetoric tone. Read it if you like, or give it to someone else right now. I kept going of course, even if I don't agree with the rhetoric tone, I was curious about his side of the argument. So far, I agree with almost all of what he has to say! Not sure if I will be a 100% atheist by the time I put the book down, but I am sure I am more an atheist now than I was - was never a theist to start with, so it wasn't too difficult anyway!

A random point that I can recollect now (it sparked a 'Ahhaa' moment when I read it..)::

Human brain is programmed to survive - we more likely to mistake a shadow for a burglar, than a burglar for a shadow!

Verdict: Good read, if you have the time, interest and patience!

PS: A timely (almost) discussion on this topic over at Dilbert: The Atheist Who Thought He Was God.