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Welcome to the forums msmith. You must be thrilled with the reaction this topic has generated. :-)
I'm an athiest that is sympathetic to Dawkin's arguement, but I'm going to surprise you and say that I'm a bit surprised that Sony would include this title as an excerpt (although I'm glad they did).
Most businesses try not to offend their customers, and it shouldn't be a shock that religious believers might be offended by Dawkin's book. When selling a Sony reader in Dubai, I doubt Sony would preload it with an excerpt from Salman Rushdie's new book.
It is one thing to sell a book and quite another to actively promote a book. I personnally don't find the book offensive, but I can also put myself in your shoes and understand why you would find it objectionable.
However, ultimately, I am glad that Sony included the excerpt even if it did offend you. The reason for this is that "I" am the type of person who would purchase this kind of book, and I like to see that Sony is carrying books that appeal to "me" (selfish, I know). I don't want to silence viewpoints that differ from my own, and I don't want to prevent you from reading books that argue in favor of a religious viewpoint. Yet, I don't want you to prevent me from reading books, or having them advertised to me, which argue "religion is not only wrong but it is a harm to society." Tolerance cuts both ways.
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