A Few Good Men
Either I just received a stern divine warning, or I just sampled a new flavour of irony.
Word about town had it that Richard Dawkins - famed author of The Selfish Gene, renowned biologist, and outspoken atheist - had written a new book: "The God Delusion". Brazen stuff. Never one to fear controversy, he's taking on belief in God, which just so happens to be the cornerstone of three world religions, and the central tenet upon which a couple of billion base their lives. So he's bound to offend, and it's bound to make great reading and divisive dinner-party conversation.
And so off I swung to the Waterfront. Items on shopping list:
1. Dress Shirt (current one has indelible lip-stick stain on collar)
2. The God Delusion
Items actually purchased:
1. Three pairs of black shoes
2. A pair of socks
3. A large milktart
How did this plan go so badly awry? Well, when I arrived at Exclusive Books and inspected the new non-fiction area, I discovered that instead of a provocative display of Dawkins' hardbacks, the place was covered with about twenty thousand copies of the new biography of perhaps Cape Town's greatest exponent, the former Anglican Archbishop, anti-Apartheid struggle luminary and Nobel Peace Laureate, Desmond Tutu.
Then it occurred to me that there were an awful lot of people shopping for books after eight on a Thursday evening. Investigating, I spotted a rather nondescript looking man signing copies of something for a line of about 100 star-struck looking people snaking off in a long line into the depths of the shop. Then, as I peered through the throng, I saw the Archbishop himself, merrily signing his biography.
Such is the magnetism of real heroes like this, that regular people like you and me go all reverent in their presence. I recall a similar feeling early one morning twelve years ago when I encountered the great Madiba himself on his pre-dusk walk through the university.
Desmond Tutu was and is one of the great leaders of our time. I may lack faith in religion, but I have unlimited faith in the character of men and women like him. They make all the difference in this world. To this day he champions all that is good in our country and ceaselessly attacks the rot. A hundred years from now, people strolling through Nobel Square will see his statue next to those of Nelson Mandela, F.W. De Klerk and Albert Luthuli, and wonder at the nature of their enigmatic smiles.
Word about town had it that Richard Dawkins - famed author of The Selfish Gene, renowned biologist, and outspoken atheist - had written a new book: "The God Delusion". Brazen stuff. Never one to fear controversy, he's taking on belief in God, which just so happens to be the cornerstone of three world religions, and the central tenet upon which a couple of billion base their lives. So he's bound to offend, and it's bound to make great reading and divisive dinner-party conversation.
And so off I swung to the Waterfront. Items on shopping list:
1. Dress Shirt (current one has indelible lip-stick stain on collar)
2. The God Delusion
Items actually purchased:
1. Three pairs of black shoes
2. A pair of socks
3. A large milktart
How did this plan go so badly awry? Well, when I arrived at Exclusive Books and inspected the new non-fiction area, I discovered that instead of a provocative display of Dawkins' hardbacks, the place was covered with about twenty thousand copies of the new biography of perhaps Cape Town's greatest exponent, the former Anglican Archbishop, anti-Apartheid struggle luminary and Nobel Peace Laureate, Desmond Tutu.
Then it occurred to me that there were an awful lot of people shopping for books after eight on a Thursday evening. Investigating, I spotted a rather nondescript looking man signing copies of something for a line of about 100 star-struck looking people snaking off in a long line into the depths of the shop. Then, as I peered through the throng, I saw the Archbishop himself, merrily signing his biography.
Such is the magnetism of real heroes like this, that regular people like you and me go all reverent in their presence. I recall a similar feeling early one morning twelve years ago when I encountered the great Madiba himself on his pre-dusk walk through the university.
Desmond Tutu was and is one of the great leaders of our time. I may lack faith in religion, but I have unlimited faith in the character of men and women like him. They make all the difference in this world. To this day he champions all that is good in our country and ceaselessly attacks the rot. A hundred years from now, people strolling through Nobel Square will see his statue next to those of Nelson Mandela, F.W. De Klerk and Albert Luthuli, and wonder at the nature of their enigmatic smiles.
posted by Thor Harley at 11:17 pm
2 Comments:
Hmm... I now have red wine on my new dress shirt. Perhaps I should stick solely to Champagne and white spirits when sashaying about in black tie.
If you're still planning on reading Dawkin's book, you should balance it by reading Alister McGrath's book: "The Dawkins Delusion" which will be published in Feb.
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