I had a really weird dream last night. This is what happens when you read “The God Delusion” before going to sleep.
The vague bits I do remember are that we were in a village on the coast somewhere, and I was visiting some kind of gathering of friends. They asked if I believed in God, and I very bravely put forward that although I thought the idea of any kind of god or gods was improbably, you couldn’t rule it out because there was no conclusive evidence either way.
The dream them fell into uproar. Everybody stood up and started shouting - doing what pious people do - presuming that their world view is much more important than yours (if it differs) because so many other people share it - therefore it must be right. I shouted at everybody to shut up, and eventually they all did, although I remember their faces being somewhat annoyed with me for even questioning what they believe in (how dare I have my own mind).
The next thing I came out with (remembering this was a dream) I thought quite clever. “How many of you believe in God?” (all hands went up). Okay. How many of you believe in Satan, Devils and Hell? Silence… “You can’t believe in one thing, and not all the rest of it”. “Also, if we were created in your God’s image, then your God isn’t a big friendly chap in white robes with a white beard - he’s almost certainly African, with a low forehead, and has a hunter-gatherer’s stoop”… absolute mayhem erupted.
In the middle of the ensuing carnage, I woke up.
I got up, came downstairs, and the cat had been sick in the kitchen. After cleaning it up, remarkably I remembered the dream for longer than 30 seconds - so you got to hear about it.