Village Atheists

Village Atheists PDF Author: Leigh Eric Schmidt
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691183112
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
A compelling history of atheism in American public life A much-maligned minority throughout American history, atheists have been cast as a threat to the nation’s moral fabric, barred from holding public office, and branded as irreligious misfits in a nation chosen by God. Yet village atheists—as these godless freethinkers came to be known by the close of the nineteenth century—were also hailed for their gutsy dissent from stultifying pieties and for posing a necessary secularist challenge to the entanglements of church and state. In Village Atheists, Leigh Eric Schmidt explores the complex cultural terrain that unbelievers have long had to navigate in their fight to secure equal rights and liberties in American public life. He rebuilds the history of American secularism from the ground up, giving flesh and blood to these outspoken infidels. Village Atheists demonstrates that the secularist vision for the United States proved to be anything but triumphant in a country where faith and citizenship were—and still are—closely interwoven.

Village Atheists

Village Atheists PDF Author: Leigh Eric Schmidt
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691183112
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 360

Get Book

Book Description
A compelling history of atheism in American public life A much-maligned minority throughout American history, atheists have been cast as a threat to the nation’s moral fabric, barred from holding public office, and branded as irreligious misfits in a nation chosen by God. Yet village atheists—as these godless freethinkers came to be known by the close of the nineteenth century—were also hailed for their gutsy dissent from stultifying pieties and for posing a necessary secularist challenge to the entanglements of church and state. In Village Atheists, Leigh Eric Schmidt explores the complex cultural terrain that unbelievers have long had to navigate in their fight to secure equal rights and liberties in American public life. He rebuilds the history of American secularism from the ground up, giving flesh and blood to these outspoken infidels. Village Atheists demonstrates that the secularist vision for the United States proved to be anything but triumphant in a country where faith and citizenship were—and still are—closely interwoven.

The Return of the Village Atheist

The Return of the Village Atheist PDF Author: Joel McDurmon
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780915815685
Category : Apologetics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book is a response to Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris. Joel McDurmon tackles popular atheism in a popular but cogent way. - Publisher.

Letter to an Atheist Village

Letter to an Atheist Village PDF Author: Paul Derengowski
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781541223745
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 120

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Book Description
Letter to an Atheist Village is a personal rebuttal to all those who are without God in the world and yet believe it is perfectly reasonable to attack him and those who do believe through specious argumentation. Patterned after the book written by militant atheist Sam Harris, this Letter debunks many of his notions, along with several others experienced from those who have set themselves up on pinnacles as arbiters of the truth. Short and to the point, Letter to an Atheist Village demonstrates quite clearly that the atheist worldview is devoid of reason, illogical, and amounts to nothing when all the projecting, conjecturing, and arguing by the atheist is done. In fact, the atheist, if he really believed in what he claims, would do himself a favor by remaining quiet and never be heard from again.

Our Town Atheist

Our Town Atheist PDF Author: Victoria Buck
Publisher: Pelican Ventures Book Group
ISBN: 1522303154
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
Small-town banker Adam Bender tackles a robber and loses. But that's not what shakes the foundations of his well-managed life. He awakens in the hospital to the vision of an angel. But that's not what casts doubt on his reasonable judgment. Turns out the angel is only a beautiful doctor—someone Adam wants to get to know better. The bank robber is on the loose and out to get Adam. News spreads in the gossipy little town of Adam's misfortune, his love interest, and his...atheism? He'd thought he could keep that a secret. But Adam Bender can handle it. Or, can he? What happens one night on a mountain road leaves him questioning his worldview. And his sanity. And soon the whole town is waiting to find out if what Adam saw will alter his unbelief.

What Happens When We Practice Religion?

What Happens When We Practice Religion? PDF Author: Robert Wuthnow
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691198594
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
He favors the use of a broad range of analytic tools drawn from multiple disciplines and approaches to the study of religion.) The five chapters of this book describe the central concepts and arguments now advancing the study of religious practice. Chapter 1, entitled "Theories", discusses the theoretical contributions associated with the aforementioned shift in religious studies to the investigation of religious practice. Chapter 2, "Situations", discusses how religious activities and experiences are shaped by the physical and temporal spaces in which social action occurs. Chapter 3, "Intentions", takes on an important topic that has proven difficult to study from a social science perspective. "Feelings" are the focus of Chapter 4, and the role of "Bodies" is addressed in Chapter 5. .

Mere Atheism

Mere Atheism PDF Author: George A Ricker
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 059547506X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 140

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Book Description
George Ricker's latest book, mere atheism, no gods no problem!, describes what he sees as the essence of atheism. In the title essay he writes, "Nothing about atheism prevents me from thinking about any idea. It is the very epitome of freethought. Atheism imposes no dogma and seeks no power over others." Written with the same candor and conversational style that characterized his earlier work, this selection of material from the Godless in America web site ranges from rebuttals of criticisms of atheism, "Answering atheism's critics," to essays on science, "Genes don't care," and some hot-button issues, "A death in the life of a controversy," to reflections on the joy of sailing and the impact of the world outside on the world within in "Mockingbird." The twenty-four essays cover a wide variety of subjects, and the collection concludes with the one-act play, "A last rite and some wrongs with apologetics." "Many people still cling to the notion of the village atheist, obsessed by gods and religions, bitter and lonely, living on the edge of town with no friends and no family willing to acknowledge the kinship," Ricker says. "I hope this book will help change that perception."

Godless Citizens in a Godly Republic: Atheists in American Public Life

Godless Citizens in a Godly Republic: Atheists in American Public Life PDF Author: Isaac Kramnick
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393254976
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
If the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects religious liberty, why doesn’t it protect atheists? God occupies our nation’s consciousness, even defining to many what it means to be American. Nonbelievers have often had second-class legal status and have had to fight for their rights as citizens. As R. Laurence Moore and Isaac Kramnick demonstrate in their sharp and convincing work, avowed atheists were derided since the founding of the nation. Even Thomas Paine fell into disfavor and his role as a patriot forgotten. Popular Republican Robert Ingersoll could not be elected in the nineteenth century due to his atheism, and the suffragette Elizabeth Cady Stanton was shunned when she questioned biblical precepts about women’s roles. Moore and Kramnick lay out this fascinating history and the legal cases that have questioned religious supremacy. It took until 1961 for the Supreme Court to ban religious tests for state officials, despite Article 6 of the Constitution. Still, every one of the fifty states continues to have God in its constitution. The authors discuss these cases and more current ones, such as Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., which address whether personal religious beliefs supersede secular ones. In Godless Citizens in a Godly Republic, the authors also explore the dramatic rise of an "atheist awakening" and the role of organizations intent on holding the country to the secular principles it was founded upon.

The Battle for Christian Britain

The Battle for Christian Britain PDF Author: Callum G. Brown
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108421229
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 339

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Book Description
Exposes the mechanisms by which conservative Christianity dominated British culture during 1945-65 and their subsequent collapse.

The Changing Terrain of Religious Freedom

The Changing Terrain of Religious Freedom PDF Author: Heather J. Sharkey
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 081225337X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
This volume offers theoretical, historical, and legal perspectives on religious freedom, as an experience, value, and right. Drawing on examples from around the world, its essays show how the terrain of religious freedom has never been smooth and how in recent years the landscape of religious freedom has shifted.

Atheist Exceptionalism

Atheist Exceptionalism PDF Author: Ethan G. Quillen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315278359
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
Due to its Constitution, and particularly to that Constitution’s First Amendment, the relationship between religion and politics in the United States is rather unusual. This is especially the case concerning the manner with which religious terminology is defined via the discourse adopted by the United States Supreme Court, and the larger American judicial system. Focusing on the religious term of Atheism, this book presents both the discourse itself, in the form of case decisions, as well as an analysis of that discourse. The work thus provides an essential introduction and discussion of both Atheism as a concept and the influence that judicial decisions have on the way we perceive the meaning of religious terminology in a national context. As a singular source on the Supreme, Circuit, and District Court cases concerning Atheism and its judicial definition, the book offers convenient access to this discourse for researchers and students. The discursive analysis further provides an original theoretical insight into how the term ‘Atheism’ has been judicially defined. As such, it will be a valuable resource for scholars of religion and law, as well as those interested in the definition and study of Atheism.