Richard Dawkins Targets New Audience with Outgrowing God: The Beginner's Guide
- Robert Perrell
- Nov 9, 2019
- 3 min read
Updated: Nov 17, 2019
After writing the best-selling book, The God Delusion, author and evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins, is back with a new book in 2019 targeting the next generation of atheists.
His book, Outgrowing God: The Beginner's Guide, hit shelves in October of 2019 and has been marketed toward a younger audience than Dawkins’ previous works. A sort of, “Dawkins 101,” as described by Michael Shermer on his podcast, Science Salon, Dawkins set out to provide a resource for young people to turn to in a world that invariably attempts to push them toward religion.
“It’s for young people, I originally wanted to write a book for young children and publishers did not want to do that so they kept pushing the age range up and so it stabilized at about 15,” said Dawkins during the interview.
This is a large contrast to past books from Dawkins whose background in evolutionary biology always tends to find its way into his writings. This includes subject matter and concepts that are generally too difficult for younger readers to grasp. But Outgrowing God is designed especially for this audience and includes sections involving the Bible, religion, morality and, as always with Dawkins, science.
Dawkins' love of science is well documented, and he even founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation of Reason and Science, which focuses on eliminating elements of religion in “science education and public policy.” His other work at the University of Oxford in Great Britain has led to numerous awards and accomplishments including, the Nierenberg Prize, which is given for works of science in the public interest. His background in evolutionary biology often lends itself well in his attacks on the Christian principals of creationism and intelligent design, leading Dawkins to participate in numerous public debates with other members of the scientific and religious community.
His new book does include science and its impact on human civilization, but it begins by building some secular foundation for new and burgeoning atheists. Dawkins beings by attempting to “debunk” God, giving young people the tools and courage to let go of the things that have been taught all throughout their lives . He then focuses on the Bible as an unreliable source of information, laying out examples of how the Old Testament and the New Testament are flawed. Dawkins then finishes off the first half of the book as he moves into the idea of morality and how his young audience can develop a sense of humanistic values without religion, something that many in the religious community feel is impossible.
Ultimately, the book comes full circle for Dawkins, as the entire second half of the book is dedicated toward science and how it can be used to explain the world in which we live. He also mentioned in the interview on Science Salon, that science is one of the few resources we have today that has “built in fact-checking.” This comes in the form of peer reviewed articles that must be examined by fellow members of the scientific community in order to even be published.
In an interview on the Joe Rogan Experience, Dawkins makes the point that new atheists should be drawn to science and use it for advocacy, as well as creating a better world view for themselves. He also feels that many religious individuals move away from science because they feel that the world is too complex to be explained by it, which is precisely why he included these concepts as a large part of his book for the next generation.
“I’ve set out to disabuse them of that and show how even the most radically complicated and beautiful and elegant pieces of animal design can be an are explained by science,” said Dawkins in the interview.
Outgrowing God: The Beginners Guide is on sale now, to get your copy click here. And for more news and information on the Secular Community, follow on Twitter @SecularShepherd.
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