Be Good or Else

Some of you might be thinking that all this God Delusion stuff is a little bit over the top. There are plenty of people out there who view religion as harmless faith, and a source of hope that should not be taken away, irrespective of its validity. Unfortunately, as Dawkins argues, religion is increasingly a happy breeding ground for extremism, especially in the Middle East, and in North America. There is a pseudo-war being waged by hard core members of both Islam and Christianity in their respective regions, to have their views and beliefs imposed widely and lawfully.

The Dawkins documentary I have talked about (The Root of All Evil?) shows that this war is not necessarily being fought cleanly. A growing number of extremist preachers are intimidating a generation of people to believe – or else. Dawkins interview with Pastor Keenan Roberts (a North American fundamentalist Christian) is a fine example of the sort of behaviour that is now apparently acceptable in parts of the US. The clip, which runs about 5 minutes, is below and showcases Roberts' Hell House production. You can judge for yourself whether you think this sort of production is something young people (or old people for that matter) should be subjected to. I’ll warn you, it’s graphic.