The God Delusion (Paperback)

Preface to the Paperback Edition
Preface

Chapter 1 A Deeply Religious Non-Believer
Deserved Respect
Undeserved Respect

Chapter 2 The God Hypothesis
Polytheism
Monotheism
Secularism, the Founding Fathers and the Religion of America
The Poverty of Agnosticism
NOMA
The Great Prayer Experiment
The Neville Chamberlain School of Evolutionists
Little Green Men

Chapter 3 Arguments for God's Existence
Thomas Aquinas' 'Proofs'
The Ontological Argument and Other A Priori Arguments
The Argument from Beauty
The Argument from Personal 'Experience'
The Argument from Scripture
The Argument from Admired Religious Scientists
Pascal's Wager
Bayesian Arguments

Chapter 4 Why There Almost Certainly Is No God
The Ultimate Boeing 747
Natural Selection as a Consciousness-Raiser
Irreducible Complexity
The Worship of Gaps
The Anthropic Principle: Planetary Version
The Anthropic Principle: Cosmological Version
An Interlude at Cambridge

Chapter 5 The Roots of Religion
The Darwinian Imperative
Direct Advantages of Religion
Group Selection
Religion as a By-Product of Something else
Psychologically Primed for Religion
Tread Softly, Because You Tread on My Memes
Cargo Cults

Chapter 6 The Roots of Morality: Why Are We Good?
Does Our Moral Sense Have a Darwinian Origin?
A Case Study in the Roots of Morality
If There is No God, Why Be Good?

Chapter 7 The 'Good' Book and the Changing Moral Zeitgeist
The Old Testament
Is The New Testament Any Better?
Love Thy Neighbour
The Moral Zeitgeist
What About Hitler and Stalin? Weren't They Atheists?

Chapter 8 What's Wrong with Religion? Why Be So Hostile?
Fundamentalism and the Subversion of Science
The Dark Side of Absolutism
Faith and Homosexuality
Faith and the Sanctity of Human Life
The Great Beethoven Fallacy
How 'Moderation' in Faith Fosters Fanaticism

Chapter 9 Childhood, Abuse and the Escape from Religion
Physical and Mental Abuse
In Defence of Children
An Educational Scandal
Consciousness-Raising Again
Religious Education as a Part of Literary Culture

Chapter 10 A Much Needed Gap?
Binker
Consolation
Inspiration
The Mother of All Burkas

Appendix: A Partial List of Friendly Addresses, for Indivisuals Needing Support in Escaping from Religion
Books Cited or Recommended
Notes
Index