Richard Dawkins says his anti-religious book is a 'one-off'

Popular evolutionary biologist and standard-bearer for many atheists, Professor Richard Dawkins has revealed his anti-religious book "The God Delusion" is a "one-off" and claimed that he's "stepping back."

"I've stepped back," Dawkins said in an interview with BBC News when he was asked about his controversial book.

"I haven't written any more books along those lines. 'The God Delusion' is a one-off. Not one that I'm ashamed of; I'm very proud of it. But it's a one-off," Dawkins said.

"The God Delusion" was a best-selling book in 2006 and has been downloaded by ten million times. According to BBC, the book has earned Dawson his devotees but also made him lose some of his admirers.

A Christian lead singer from the metalcore band The Order of Elijah, Shannon Low, wrote on Facebook on Saturday, May 21 that he's finally renouncing his Christian faith after reading "The God Delusion." Low said the book was able to answer many of the questions that most of his Christian friends didn't want to hear.

While he claimed to be taking a step back, the 75-year-old academic believes that it's important for scientists to participate in debates.

"It's a non-field," Dawkins said about the topic of religion. "And insofar as religion makes claims in the area of science — which it does, because it talks about creation, it talks about the nature of the universe, it talks about the nature of life — to that extent, all scientists should be involved in it."

However, Dawkins still maintains that religion is something that should be "offended." He also said that people are just not doing so out of fear that they may be accused of racism which he finds to be absurd, according to Independent. Dawkins himself has been accused of Islamaphobia.

"I'm all for offending people's religion. I think it should be offended at every opportunity," he told The Times.