Showing titles in Atheism

For thousands of years, religion has woven its way through societies and people as if it were part and parcel to that society or person. In large measure it was left unexplained and unchallenged, it simply existed. Those who attempted to challenge and expose religion were often persecuted, excommunicated, shunned, or even executed. It could be fatal to explain that which the church, priest or imam said was unexplainable. Before the germ, viral and parasite theory of disease, physicians had no tools to understand disease and its propagation.

In this first book of his Ten Tough Problems series, David Madison shares three critical problems in Christian belief. Problem One: God is invisible and silent. This fact forces humanity to rely on ineffective ways of knowing God — common knowledge, sacred books, visions, prayer, personal feelings, and theologians. But all these sources of God knowledge fall short as evidenced by a world of disagreement, not just between Christians and other religions, but within Christianity itself.

Richard Wurmbrand spent three years in solitary confinement during his 14-year imprisonment in Communist Romania. In The Answer to the Atheist's Handbook, conceived during his solitary confinement, Wurmbrand challenges the arguments for atheism as proposed by the Soviet Academy of Science's Atheist's Handbook. Throughout the Communist world, the teachings of the Atheist's Handbook held supreme authority. But Wurmbrand demonstrates that the atheistic worldview leaves more questions unanswered than it settles.

How to live in a supposedly faithless world threatened by religious fundamentalism? Terry Eagleton, formidable thinker and renowned cultural critic, investigates in this thought-provoking audiobook the contradictions, difficulties, and significance of the modern search for a replacement for God. Lucid, stylish, and entertaining in his usual manner, Eagleton presents a brilliant survey of modern thought that also serves as a timely, urgently needed intervention into our perilous political present.

Depending on how one defines religion, there are at least thousands of religions in the world. Given such religious diversity, how can any one religion claim to know the truth? Nothing proposed so far has helped us settle which of these religions, if any, are true - until now.

Atheism is characterized by rejection or lack of belief in the existence of a Supreme Being, commonly referred to as God. The people who practice this belief are referred to as atheists. There is a distinction however, to this belief. One form of atheism is a simple case of skepticism. There is a disbelief that God really exists. Simply put, it is refusal or inability to accept the concept that God is alive today, and that there is a God, as most people believe to be true. This is categorized as "weak atheism".

Unbelievers looks back to the middle ages when it seemed impossible not to subscribe to Christianity, through the crisis of the Reformation and to the powerful, challenging cultural currents of the centuries. The religious journey of the Western world was lived and steered not just by the celebrated thinkers of the day – the Machiavellis and Michel de Montaignes – but by men and women at every level of society, whose voices and feelings permeate this book in the form of diaries, letters and court records.

Incorporating his own thoughts along with those of noted academics, philosophers, and theologians, Loftus is able to properly define "miracle" and then show why there's no reason to believe such a thing even exists.

By daring to question "sacred" religion, challenging your childhood beliefs, and risking eternal damnation, you will discover an appreciation for religion on a new level, as well as a renewed appreciation for the human race. Through a unique blend of science, philosophy, theology, and a touch of humor, you will see how you can trust your logic and reason, be true to yourself, and embrace God - not as a being, but as a concept - "The Concept".

Do we have free will? And if we don’t, why do we feel as if we do? In a godless universe governed by impersonal laws of cause and effect, are you responsible for your actions? Former evangelical minister Dan Barker and author of God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction unveils a novel solution to the question that has baffled scientists and philosophers for millennia.

The Christian faith has been vigorously defended with a variety of philosophical, historical, and theological arguments, but many of the arguments that worked in an earlier age no longer resonate in today's educated West. Where has apologetics gone wrong? What is the best response to the growing challenge presented by scientific discovery and naturalistic thought?

In this honest appraisal of his journey from believer to atheist, the author carefully explains the experiences and the reasoning process that led him to reject religious belief. The original edition of this book was published in 2006 and reissued in 2008. Since that time, Loftus has received a good deal of critical feedback from Christians and skeptics alike. In this revised and expanded edition, the author addresses criticisms of the original, adds new argumentation and references, and refines his presentation.

What is it like to be a preacher or rabbi who no longer believes in God? In this expanded and updated edition of their groundbreaking study, Daniel C. Dennett and Linda LaScola comprehensively and sensitively expose an inconvenient truth that religious institutions face in the new transparency of the information age - the phenomenon of clergy who no longer believe what they publicly preach.

Goodbye Jesus is the step-by-step account of a former minister’s journey into and out of faith - the story of a long pendulum swing from the deep commitment of a devout believer to the firm conviction that no personal God exists and that all religions are man-made. This is a relatable and thoughtful listen for those seeking to better understand the evangelical mindset, for Christians who are questioning their faith, for ministers trying to decide whether to stay or go, and for those who have left their faith and are dealing with its loss.

What does an overweight, 69 year old man do, when confronted with a challenge to his comfortable, retired, gentle ‘sailing into the setting-sun’ lifestyle? He picks up his bag and goes for a walk. A 800 kilometre walk across the north of Spain, from St. Jean Pied de Port in the French Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. The Camino Frances. This isn’t a travelogue or a guide. It’s the story of a long forgotten youthful dream that refused to die. There’s no seeking of answers, no seeking of self or God.

¿Cómo darle sentido a nuestra existencia sin un ser superior o un Dios que nos ordene? Vivimos una crisis que va desde las Iglesias hasta el surgimiento de una "fe" distinta a la que conocíamos: el "nuevo ateísmo", con divulgadores connotados como el biólogo Richard Dawkins. Y mientras predomina en Occidente el racionalismo científico a ultranza, el espacio para la reflexión sobre lo transcendente y la duda sobre Dios ocupan un lugar marginal en nuestra cultura. Ante esto, Joseph Ramos plantea la necesidad de retomar ese diálogo perdido, pero no desde la fe, que solo sirve al que la tiene, sino desde la razón.

Just as intelligent design is not a legitimate branch of biology in public educational institutions, nor should the philosophy of religion be a legitimate branch of philosophy. So argues acclaimed author John W. Loftus in this forceful takedown of the very discipline in which he was trained. In his call for ending the philosophy of religion, he argues that, as it is presently being practiced, the main reason the discipline exists is to serve the faith claims of Christianity.

Atheism For Dummies offers a brief history of atheist philosophy and its evolution, explores it as a historical and cultural movement, covers important historical writings on the subject, and discusses the nature of ethics and morality in the absence of religion. A simple, yet intelligent exploration of an often misunderstood philosophy.

Christian Child, Atheist Adult is the autobiographical narrative of a Southern Baptist deacon's son who discovered just how misled he had been during his formative years; ultimately making a transformation into one of Christianity's most staunch critics. Gregory Blount provides accounts of the social and familial tactics often used by many faith-based religions to indoctrinate and entrap members. The book also provides a broad consideration of the scientific, historical, and philosophical answers that led the author to develop his perspective.

It has become the prevalent view among sociologists, historians, and some theistic scientists that religion and science have never been in serious conflict. Some even claim that Christianity was responsible for the development of science. In a sweeping historical survey that begins with ancient Greek science and proceeds through the Renaissance and Enlightenment to contemporary advances in physics and cosmology, Stenger makes a convincing case that not only is this conclusion false, but Christianity actually held back the progress of science for 1,000 years.