Evolutionary Utility
In his discussion of religion, Dawkins is primarily concerned about the evolutionary utility of professing belief in God. He briefly explores any potential psychology or social benefits of this belief. Although many claim that religion helps reduce stress, Dawkins argues that these results are more likely due to a placebo effect. As for the human brain's potential for religious profession, he concludes that childhood development accounts for the "god centre." People raise their children in a way that encourages blind faith, which will help the parent exercise dominance over the child. This sort of manipulation, however, places the child at a disadvantage when they grow older and cannot exercise judgement or question information presented to them. In fact this process serves to harm the potential for genetic propagation. In response to the social benefits of moral conduct as taught by religion, Dawkins argues that several benefits for moral behavior exist apart from religion. He believes society could still function without any religious people, although individuals may choose poorly. Thus Dawkins concludes that religion serves no real evolutionary utility.
Opinion
With such personal concepts as religion, the topic almost demands personal engagement. Dawkins writes this book based around his personal opinions about religion and its function in society. He airs personal grievances against Christianity as part of his arguments, even crediting terrorism to religion. Although he presents arguments, Dawkins demonstrates a certain colloquial knowledge of Christianity without a clear academic understanding of the religion from its origin. He relies upon what he has observed in how contemporary Christians practice their religion, forming an opinion based upon secondhand information. Additionally, in his view, religious extremism is solely responsible for the "war on terror," evidence against the utility of religion itself. Throughout the book, Dawkins reminds the audience that he is expressing his own opinions about these subjects, but he grounds these opinions in scientific data frequently in order to serve his professional interests.
The "Friendly Universe"
Dawkins devotes some time to his discussion of the "friendly universe," a common theme throughout the text. In response to fundamentalists' arguments for the existence of God, he describes the improbability of evolution in terms of coincidence and fortunate. Since the Earth clearly demonstrates improbably ideal factors which have allowed the propagation of evolution, the human situation is one of good fortune. Other planets do possess similar characteristics which could sustain life, but the number of variables involved makes them rare. Dawkins attributes this fortune to probability, making Earth a lucky survivor and humans the product of extraordinary coincidence.
