Customer Reviews
Not much of an answer - By: Timothy J. Haigh, 10 Jul 2008 
A very thin reply to Dawkins. Robertson manages a bit of sniping at odd bits of Dawkins book, which are valid, but not important, & alll that is left are two tactics: One - to present atheism as a kind of fundamentalism & therefore one of many Faith approaches, of which others are Christianity, Judaism, Islam etc. This nonsense has been comprehensively dealt with elsewhere, but let it be reiterated that atheism is not a faith, but a position reasonably arrived at. Two - to reposition Christianity as a sort of brave, beleaguered beacon of light in the darkness of the secular world, which is exactly a parody of the current situation where it is undeservedly privileged. Alice is through the looking-glass again.
Challenging Atheists - By: G. Slocombe, 15 Jun 2008 
I enjoyed reading this book very much & found it made some excellent points. After reading the God Delusion which I found to be quite interesting I was keen to read a good reply to Dawkins angry aggressive attack on christianity. Unfortunately I guess that most reviewers will slate this book as its seems to be very differcult for many Atheists to truly consider that Christianty may have something to offer. My experiance of Atheists is that many are as fundamental & closed minded as the most extreme religous fundamentlist whom they use to decry the possibilty of God. Im sure reading this will make many angry as well.
Unexpectedly good - By: Pillowtail, 13 Jun 2008 Usuallly I am suspicious of much hyped books as this one is, however, this one does live up to its promise. Clear, concise & generous to his opponent, the author has delivered what he intended to. I must admit bias in reading it, as I am a theist - but I did once pride myself on my atheism, & although this book will not convert one atheist to belief, it does expose the fundamental flaws of fundamentalist atheism.
Disappointing and dismal - By: Broga, 25 May 2008 
This is such a sad & disappointing book. Is this reallly the best Dawkins' opponents are able to offer. Closed minds, bigotry rife, & a determination to land a fatal blow on Dawkins. Dream on. This is poor stuff.
A riposte to Dawkins? No, not really - By: Peter Burgess, 02 May 2008 Having read The God Delusion I was curious to know what the best theist ripostes might be & this book was recommended by other Amazon reviewers as (one of?) the best.
After reading it, I think that it is fair to say that as a riposte it is disappointing. Many of the counter arguments offered are clearly flawed, even to somebody like me who has no formal philosophical training. Many of them amount to "well if only you were religious you would understand this" & in places Robertson appears quite ignorant of basic philosophical & scientific ideas, despite his rather un-Christian boasts about having read more than 100 books & articles in preparation for writing his letters. For example, I was surprised at his apparent lack of awareness of the Anthropic Principle, which rather effectively counters his assertion that God must exist because how else could we explain the improbable coincidence of physical constants being "just right" for the evolution of intelligent life. Or perhaps Mr Robertson is aware of the idea, but ignores it because it is inconvenient to his arguments?
I was particularly disappointed that the book did not reallly address the issue of morality independent of religion, & particularly independent of the Bible. Dawkins makes the interesting point that if morality derives only from the word of God, how can we dismiss some parts of the bible as out-of-date nonsense while accepting that other parts suggest rather good ideas for moral behaviour? This does seem to indicate a certain innate human moral judgement, & indeed evolution of that judgement, independent of religious writings. Robertson says he thinks the evidence for this evolution is scant, but does not reallly address the central point of independent morality, so far as I can see. He says that "real Christians believe that the Bible's teaching is that there is an absolute morality..." but offers no reasoning or defence of this point in light of what Dawkins has said.
In summary, I would say if you want some religious comfort food, go ahead & read this book. If you want a serious challlenge to what you have read in The God Delusion, I do not think this book delivers. Hopefully someone will write something better soon.
