Atheism: A Very Short Introduction

Atheism: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Julian Baggini
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780192804242
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 137

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Book Description
Do you think of atheists as immoral pessimists who live their lives without meaning, purpose, or values? Think again! Atheism: A Very Short Introduction sets out to dispel the myths that surround atheism and show how a life without religious belief can be positive, meaningful, and moral.

Atheism: A Very Short Introduction

Atheism: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Julian Baggini
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780192804242
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 137

Get Book

Book Description
Do you think of atheists as immoral pessimists who live their lives without meaning, purpose, or values? Think again! Atheism: A Very Short Introduction sets out to dispel the myths that surround atheism and show how a life without religious belief can be positive, meaningful, and moral.

Atheism Explained

Atheism Explained PDF Author: David Ramsay Steele
Publisher: Open Court
ISBN: 0812697030
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Atheism Explained explores the claims made both for and against the existence of God. On the pro side: that the wonders of the world can only be explained by an intelligent creator; that the universe had to start somewhere; telepathy, out-of-body experiences, and other paranormal phenomena demonstrate the existence of a spirit world; and that those who experience God directly provide evidence as real as any physical finding. After disputing these arguments through calm, careful criticism, author David Ramsay Steele presents the reasons why God cannot exist: monstrous, appalling evils; the impossibility of omniscience; and the senseless concept that God is a thinking mind without a brain. He also explores controversial topics such as Intelligent Design, the power of prayer, religion without God, and whether a belief in God makes people happier and healthier. Steele’s rational, easy-to-understand prose helps readers form their own conclusions about this eternally thorny topic.

Systematic Atheology

Systematic Atheology PDF Author: John R. Shook
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 135162637X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
Atheology is the intellectual effort to understand atheism, defend the reasonableness of unbelief, and support nonbelievers in their encounters with religion. This book presents a historical overview of the development of atheology from ancient thought to the present day. It offers in-depth examinations of four distinctive schools of atheological thought: rationalist atheology, scientific atheology, moral atheology, and civic atheology. John R. Shook shows how a familiarity with atheology’s complex histories, forms, and strategies illuminates the contentious features of today’s atheist and secularist movements, which are just as capable of contesting each other as opposing religion. The result is a book that provides a disciplined and philosophically rigorous examination of atheism’s intellectual strategies for reasoning with theology. Systematic Atheology is an important contribution to the philosophy of religion, religious studies, secular studies, and the sociology and psychology of nonreligion.

Atheism: Why God Does Not Exist

Atheism: Why God Does Not Exist PDF Author: Dan Steel
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781516823970
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 38

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Book Description
Atheism is a subject that draws a lot of controversy into today's society. People are now starting to doubt the existence of God because of all the advancements in modern science and technology that explain many of life's questions. With that being said, there is still a lot of confusion out there about atheism and what its belief system actually is. The only thing that people seem to know is that it is the disbelief in God, but it actually goes much deeper than that. In fact, there are different types of atheists who don't all act the same way about their disbelief. Some of them are open to new scientific evidence that proves them wrong while others are simply determined to not believe in God no matter what. In this book you will not only learn about the general concept of atheism and its effect on the world, but you will also learn about the different types of atheists as well. Religious followers tend to think of atheists as "devil worshippers" and other nonsensical things. The reality is atheists are just people who believe is something that is not supernatural or superhuman. The religious community only holds their "devil" belief about atheists because it contradicts their own religion. But what the religious community fails to realize is that there are many different religions and faiths in the world that all have their own belief system. The actions a person commits in one religion will be offensive to some other religion in the world. Therefore, there is no way to make people of all faiths happy and satisfied. There will always be some group of people out there who gets offended by what you belief and what you do. So if you want to be an atheist then no one should feel afraid to be open about it. Atheism won't even take much time out of your day because there are no churches or group organizations to go to worship atheist beliefs. Another reason this book was written was because atheists travel a very lonely road. Sure there are some forums on the internet where you can chat with other atheists, but in your regular life there is nowhere you can go to meet up with other atheists. After all, how many atheists do you know in your regular life? You could probably count the number on one hand. Fortunately, anyone can celebrate being an atheist by simply waking up in the morning and asking themselves what is real to them and what is not. If they are still convinced that God is not real then they will be satisfied with that belief and go about their day. This book on Atheism is not meant to ridicule or put down anyone else's faith. Instead, it was written to actually help people of all faiths to better understand atheism and the viewpoints of atheists around the world. The world is very diverse as it pertains to people's religious beliefs. Many of the wars taking place around the world are formed from the basis of these beliefs. Hopefully, this book will show people of all religions that there is another belief system out there that does not indoctrinate or persecute anyone. Contents: -Preface -My experience with god -What is atheism -Types of atheism -Atheist philosophies -Why god is evil -Morality vs. religion -Do you need religion to be nice -Atheist criticisms of religion -Proof that there is no god -Religious people are less intelligent than atheists -Nonsense from the bible -Reasons for being an atheist! Why choose atheism -Atheism in the USA -Conclusion

Battling the Gods

Battling the Gods PDF Author: Tim Whitmarsh
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307958337
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
How new is atheism? Although adherents and opponents alike today present it as an invention of the European Enlightenment, when the forces of science and secularism broadly challenged those of faith, disbelief in the gods, in fact, originated in a far more remote past. In Battling the Gods, Tim Whitmarsh journeys into the ancient Mediterranean, a world almost unimaginably different from our own, to recover the stories and voices of those who first refused the divinities. Homer’s epic poems of human striving, journeying, and passion were ancient Greece’s only “sacred texts,” but no ancient Greek thought twice about questioning or mocking his stories of the gods. Priests were functionaries rather than sources of moral or cosmological wisdom. The absence of centralized religious authority made for an extraordinary variety of perspectives on sacred matters, from the devotional to the atheos, or “godless.” Whitmarsh explores this kaleidoscopic range of ideas about the gods, focusing on the colorful individuals who challenged their existence. Among these were some of the greatest ancient poets and philosophers and writers, as well as the less well known: Diagoras of Melos, perhaps the first self-professed atheist; Democritus, the first materialist; Socrates, executed for rejecting the gods of the Athenian state; Epicurus and his followers, who thought gods could not intervene in human affairs; the brilliantly mischievous satirist Lucian of Samosata. Before the revolutions of late antiquity, which saw the scriptural religions of Christianity and Islam enforced by imperial might, there were few constraints on belief. Everything changed, however, in the millennium between the appearance of the Homeric poems and Christianity’s establishment as Rome’s state religion in the fourth century AD. As successive Greco-Roman empires grew in size and complexity, and power was increasingly concentrated in central capitals, states sought to impose collective religious adherence, first to cults devoted to individual rulers, and ultimately to monotheism. In this new world, there was no room for outright disbelief: the label “atheist” was used now to demonize anyone who merely disagreed with the orthodoxy—and so it would remain for centuries. As the twenty-first century shapes up into a time of mass information, but also, paradoxically, of collective amnesia concerning the tangled histories of religions, Whitmarsh provides a bracing antidote to our assumptions about the roots of freethinking. By shining a light on atheism’s first thousand years, Battling the Gods offers a timely reminder that nonbelief has a wealth of tradition of its own, and, indeed, its own heroes.

Making Sense of God

Making Sense of God PDF Author: Timothy Keller
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0525954155
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
We live in an age of skepticism. Our society places such faith in empirical reason, historical progress, and heartfelt emotion that it’s easy to wonder: Why should anyone believe in Christianity? What role can faith and religion play in our modern lives? In this thoughtful and inspiring new book, pastor and New York Times bestselling author Timothy Keller invites skeptics to consider that Christianity is more relevant now than ever. As human beings, we cannot live without meaning, satisfaction, freedom, identity, justice, and hope. Christianity provides us with unsurpassed resources to meet these needs. Written for both the ardent believer and the skeptic, Making Sense of God shines a light on the profound value and importance of Christianity in our lives.

The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality

The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality PDF Author: André Comte-Sponville
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780670018475
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
Poses an argument for living a spiritual life that is not dependent on religion, explaining that an acceptance of philosophical spiritual traditions and values does not require practitioners to embrace the existence of a higher order.

Atheism

Atheism PDF Author: Michael Martin
Publisher: Temple University Press
ISBN: 9780877229438
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 562

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Book Description
In this book Michael Martin provides logical reasons for being an atheist. Carefully examining the current debate in Anglo-American analytic philosophy regarding God's existence, Martin presents a comprehensive critique of the arguments for the existence of God and a defense of arguments against the existence of God, showing in detail their relevance to atheism. Claiming that atheism is a rational position while theistic beliefs are not, he relies both on logic and evidence and confines his efforts to showing the irrationality of belief in a personal supreme being who is omniscient, omnipotent, perfect, and the creator of heaven and earth. The author's approach is two-fold. By presenting and criticizing arguments that have been advanced in favor of belief, he makes a case for "negative atheism." By offering arguments against atheism and defending it from these attacks, he presents a case for "positive atheism." Along the way, he confronts the views of numerous philosophers—among them Anselm, Aquinas, Plantinga, Hick, and Swinburne—and refutes both classical and contemporary arguments that have been advanced through the history of this debate. In his conclusion, Martin considers what would and would not follow if his main arguments were widely accepted, and he defines and distinguishes atheism from other "isms" and movements. Building on the work of religious skeptics and atheists of the past and present, he justifies his reconstruction of this philosophical dispute by citing some of the most interesting and important arguments for atheism and criticisms of arguments for the existence of God that have appeared in recent journal articles and have yet to be systematically addressed. Author note: Michael Martin is Professor of Philosophy at Boston University and author of several books, including The Legal Philosophy of H.L.A. Hart: A Critical Appraisal and The Case Against Christianity (both from Temple).

Atheism?

Atheism? PDF Author: Stephen E. Parrish
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1532672667
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description
Does atheism have a monopoly on reason and science? Many think so—or simply assume so. Atheism? challenges the many hidden assumptions that have led to the popular belief that atheism is the “default” position for explaining reality. Delving into the most basic and fundamental questions of existence, this thought-provoking book explains that atheism does not and cannot provide a secure foundation for thought and life. Specifically, it demonstrates that atheistic theories cannot explain the existence of an ordered universe, the conundrums of consciousness and knowledge, or why there is morality or beauty. Rather than being the result of reason, atheism is shown to be, in effect, a revolt against reason. If you enjoy pondering the most basic issues that confront us in our world today, then Atheism? is the book for you.

Seven Types of Atheism

Seven Types of Atheism PDF Author: John Gray
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 0374714266
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
From the provocative author of Straw Dogs comes an incisive, surprising intervention in the political and scientific debate over religion and atheism When you explore older atheisms, you will find that some of your firmest convictions—secular or religious—are highly questionable. If this prospect disturbs you, what you are looking for may be freedom from thought. For a generation now, public debate has been corroded by a shrill, narrow derision of religion in the name of an often vaguely understood “science.” John Gray’s stimulating and enjoyable new book, Seven Types of Atheism, describes the complex, dynamic world of older atheisms, a tradition that is, he writes, in many ways intertwined with and as rich as religion itself. Along a spectrum that ranges from the convictions of “God-haters” like the Marquis de Sade to the mysticism of Arthur Schopenhauer, from Bertrand Russell’s search for truth in mathematics to secular political religions like Jacobinism and Nazism, Gray explores the various ways great minds have attempted to understand the questions of salvation, purpose, progress, and evil. The result is a book that sheds an extraordinary light on what it is to be human.