Definition
Consolation is the comfort offered to people facing loss, fear, suffering, or the prospect of death. It is one of the recognized roles of religion: to provide reassurance where ordinary explanation runs out.
Dawkins separates two questions that are easily run together. One is whether a belief is consoling; the other is whether it is true. A belief can offer real comfort, he notes, while still being a question of fact to be assessed on the evidence.
Why it matters
How it works
Dawkins's argument is careful here. He does not deny that religious belief consoles many people, nor that the need for consolation is real and deep. His point is logical: the comfort a belief provides is not a reason to think it true.
He then offers what he regards as naturalistic consolations — a sense of perspective, gratitude for the improbability of existing at all, and the wonder available in understanding the world.