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Intro to Atheism

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Post  Nicholas Mon Oct 19, 2009 1:33 am

Alright, long story short, I have a co-worker with whom I've had many a conversation with that always seems to lead to a religious debate. She's very Christian, and is quite simply unable to compute that I don't believe in a god and am not worried about going to some hell. I've made every argument I could think of for why I don't, and I feel like I'm trying to discuss quantum physics with my 4-year-old niece (which, actually, is a lot more fun); I'm going over the same stuff over and over again in as many ways as I can conceive of and yet it's just not clicking with her. But the other night she did something that took me by surprise, and is something I need to jump on post haste: she asked for a book, something 101-ish that isn't too heavy on the anti-religious tone but still makes the points clearly and concisely. My bookshelf is devoid of anything like that, and I don't want to give her my copies of Hitchens, Harris, or Stenger.

Any ideas? I was thinking of Dan Harris' Godless.
Nicholas
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Post  snafu Mon Oct 19, 2009 6:20 am

Hi

Atheism:The Case Against God
George H Smith
This one might be better. It presents arguments clearly and methodically, and without the vitriol.

My journey involved firstly acknowledging my own fundamentalism. If your friend is fundamentalist, then perhaps jumping to atheism is too big a leap, with fundamentalist attitudes being a blocker. To address the fundamentalism might be a good first step.
James Barr has an excellent book called "Fundamentalism", but it isn't an easy read. It is however, methodical, detailed, and clinical in it's addressing of the issue.
John Shelby Spong wrote "Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism" which is easier to read, covers many issues and problems with the bible, however he can be interpreted to be picking a fight in some of his phraseology.

Cheers
snafu
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Post  exxian Tue Oct 20, 2009 3:51 am

Nicholas wrote:Alright, long story short, I have a co-worker with whom I've had many a conversation with that always seems to lead to a religious debate. She's very Christian, and is quite simply unable to compute that I don't believe in a god and am not worried about going to some hell. I've made every argument I could think of for why I don't, and I feel like I'm trying to discuss quantum physics with my 4-year-old niece (which, actually, is a lot more fun); I'm going over the same stuff over and over again in as many ways as I can conceive of and yet it's just not clicking with her. But the other night she did something that took me by surprise, and is something I need to jump on post haste: she asked for a book, something 101-ish that isn't too heavy on the anti-religious tone but still makes the points clearly and concisely. My bookshelf is devoid of anything like that, and I don't want to give her my copies of Hitchens, Harris, or Stenger.

Any ideas? I was thinking of Dan Harris' Godless.


This really sweet guy I went to college with tried SO HARD to reason with me, but no matter what he said, I didn't listen. I would get him talking about his atheism so that I could convince him that he was wrong and save him from Hell...

Nothing he said could possibly have changed me, because I wasn't ready.

You probably won't see this woman change her mind... but you can plant little seeds of doubt in her head. Of course, judging from how she's pressing you for information and trying so hard she may already be swimming in doubt.
;-)

I don't have any recommendations for books...
"The God Who Wasn't There" documentary is pretty good for Bible literalists (many many of those here in OK) or send her a link to some youtube videos!
Nonstampcollector, ebolaworld, 43alley's "An atheist reads the Bible"
Um...
Could backfire, could be awesome.

Let me know which.
exxian
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Post  Nicholas Tue Oct 20, 2009 6:06 am

Thank you both. Smile

I don't see her until Wednesday, so I still have some time to browse about for something. But the video idea is a good one; I'll see how that one sails with her. Snafu: I'm gonna check out Smith's book, see if it's something I think she'll be able to digest.

She's not a Biblical fundamentalist, yet she refuses to see atheism/secular humanism/agnosticism/whatever as a legitimate view of the world. She's adamant that I won't change her mind (which only makes me want to try harder!), but at least is showing interest in exploring criticisms of the Bible and religion in general. I've managed to elicit the stumped, confused look from her face more than a few times, so I know at the very least that seed of doubt is rolling around in there somewhere.

I'm not giving up just yet, not when there is a brain to save from the dark. =P
Nicholas
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Post  mischief Tue Oct 20, 2009 7:01 am

I'd recommend this little book. It's a very non threatening, slim little book.

Atheism: A Very Short Introduction

Because it is so concise, it won't satisfy many people that have delved deeply, but it's tone and content are good, and because it's a pro-atheism, rather than anti-theism book, it's something I've had success with in explaining atheism as a whole to people.

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