Best of
Atheism

2010

Nailed: Ten Christian Myths That Show Jesus Never Existed at All


David Fitzgerald - 2010
    NAILED sheds light on ten beloved Christian myths, and, with evidence gathered from historians across the theological spectrum, shows how they point to a Jesus Christ created solely through allegorical alchemy of hope and imagination; a messiah transformed from a purely literary, theological construct into the familiar figure of Jesus - in short, a purely mythic Christ.

The Religion Virus: Why We Believe in God: An Evolutionist Explains Religion's Incredible Hold on Humanity


Craig A. James - 2010
    By applying 'survival of the fittest' principles to religion, we can understand how religion became incredibly infectious to the average human, perfectly adapted to its 'environment' - your mind.

The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails


John W. LoftusValerie Tarico - 2010
    Central is a defense of his "outsider test of faith," arguing that believers should test their faith with the same skeptical standards they use to evaluate the other faiths they reject, as if they were outsiders. Experts in medicine, psychology, and anthropology join Loftus to show why, when this test is applied to Christianity, it becomes very difficult to rationally defend. Collectively, these articles reveal that popular Christian beliefs tend to rely on ignorance of the facts. Drawing together experts in diverse fields, including Hector Avalos, Richard Carrier, David Eller, and Robert Price, this book deals a powerful blow against Christian faith.

Man Made God: A Collection of Essays


Barbara G. Walker - 2010
    Walker takes us through a journey back in time to when the Goddess and her consort/son ruled supreme, into the era when the patriarchy usurped Her worship, right up to Barbara's own personal experience being raised a Christian. In this remarkable collection, Walker turns a critical eye towards: -Religion as big business -Religion's effects on children -The Bible as a "moral guide" and "history" -Biblical infallibility -The doctrine of "original sin" -The biblical attitude towards sexuality -God as "Father" -Church doctrine regarding women -Church history vis-a-vis the Dark Ages, Inquisition, and book- and witch-burning -Christian afterlife traditions -Traditional Christian origins -And much more... A brilliant expose of the long lost history of religious ideology, including goddess worship, and a scathing indictment of the male-dominated cultus. No beating around the bush, no nitpicking details, no confused questioning of what was-Walker cuts straight to the heart with her profound understanding and matter-of-fact conclusions. A frank and exceptional analysis, this powerful book "Man Made God" unveils mysteries that have perplexed mankind for millennia, and unravels detrimental religious ideologies that have been plaguing humanity for equally long.

Anarchy Evolution: Faith, Science, and Bad Religion in a World Without God


Greg Graffin - 2010
    and a Professor of Life Sciences at UCLA who is immersed in the debate on religion. In Anarchy Evolution, Graffin puts forth his bold ideas about “naturalism” and the connection between science religion and art. In this provocative and timely book, Graffin tackles head on the “intellectual dishonestly” of creationism; he also shares compelling stories about his childhood and how science saved him when he ran into trouble as a teenager. Anarchy Evolution will appeal to the fans of Bad Religion (which as sold over 2.8 million albums) as well as readers of Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. The book coincides with a major national Bad Religion reunion tour that will start in October of 2010.

Drunk with Blood: God's Killings in the Bible


Steve Wells - 2010
    Noah's Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, David and Goliath, maybe. But there are more than 100 others that are unknown to pretty much everyone. Did you know, for example, that God: *Forced friends and family to kill each other for dancing naked around Aaron's golden calf? *Burned complainers to death, forced the survivors to eat quail until it literally came out their noses, sent "fiery serpents" to bite people for complaining about the lack of food and water, and killed 14,700 for complaining about his killings? *Helped Samson murder thirty men for their clothes, slaughter 1000 with the jawbone of an ass, and kill 3000 civilians in a a suicide terrorist attack? *Smote Philistines with hemorrhoids in their secret parts? *Slowly killed a baby to punish David for committing adultery? *Killed 70,000 because David had a census that he (or Satan) told him to do? *Sent a lion to kill a prophet for believing another prophet's lie, another lion to kill a man for not smiting a prophet, and more lions to kill people that didn't fear him enough? *Killed 450 religious leaders in a prayer contest and burned 102 men to death for asking Elijah to come down from his hill? *Sent two bears to rip apart 42 boys for making fun of Elisha's bald head? *Killed Ahab for not killing a captured king, and then sent Jehu to kill all of Ahab's family and friends who had ever "pissed against a wall?" All of these killings, and more, are found in the Bible, and the God of the Bible is proud of each one. Here's what he said about them: "I kill ... I wound ... I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh." -- Deuteronomy 32:39-42 These stories fill the pages of the Bible, yet they are seldom read in church and are ignored by most Bible believers. Drunk with Blood brings them out into the open. It's time for us all to take a look.

Baptized Atheist


David Smalley - 2010
    You've always had thoughts in the back of your mind that you would never actually say because it's taboo to question your religion. I understand because I've been there. This book is for you. I asked the questions you were never supposed to. What I found changed my life forever.

The Case Against The Case for Christ


Robert M. Price - 2010
    Price has taken umbrage at the cavalier manner in which Rev. Lee Strobel has misrepresented the field of Bible scholarship in his book The Case for Christ. Price exposes and refutes Strobel's arguments chapter-by-chapter. In doing so he has occasion to wipe out the entire field of Christian apologetics as summarized by Strobel. This book is a must-read for anyone bewildered by the various books published by Rev. Strobel.

Atheism and the Case Against Christ


Matthew S. McCormick - 2010
    This cogent, forcefully argued book presents a decidedly unpopular view —namely, that the central tenet of Christianity, the resurrection of Jesus, is false. The author asks a number of probing questions: Is the evidence about Jesus as it has been relayed to us over the centuries of sufficient quantity and quality to justify belief in the resurrection? How can we accept the resurrection but reject magic at the Salem witch trials? What light does contemporary research about human rationality from the fields of behavioral economics, empirical psychology, cognitive science, and philosophy shed on the resurrection and religious belief? Can we use contemporary research about the reliability of people’s beliefs in the supernatural, miracles, and the paranormal to shed light on the origins of Christianity and other religions? Does it make sense that the all-powerful creator of the universe would employ miracles to achieve his ends? Can a Christian believe by faith alone and yet reasonably deny the supernatural claims of other religions? Do the arguments against Christianity support atheism? By carefully answering each of these questions, this book undermines Christianity and theism at their foundations; it gives us a powerful model for better critical reasoning; and it builds a compelling case for atheism. Without stooping to condescension or arrogance, the author offers persuasive arguments that are accessible, thoughtful, and new.

The Australian Book of Atheism


Warren Bonett - 2010
    With a historical overview of Australian atheism, this compilation canvasses a range of opinions on religion and secularism in tones variably comedic, sincere, enlightened, and journalistic. Discussing topics ranging from politics and fundamentalism to euthanasia and abortion, this book is a diverse and entertaining collection of thoughts on a world without God.

Against Religion: The Atheist Writings of H.P. Lovecraft


H.P. Lovecraft - 2010
    Lovecraft. Including an introduction and notes by celebrated Lovecraft scholar S.T. Joshi and a foreword by noted atheist and writer Christopher Hitchens, this essential editions brings a new voice to the religious debate, and Lovecraft's clairvoyant writing on the topic is as prescient today as it was during his lifetime. H.P. Lovecraft is the author of numerous weird tales, among them The Call of Cthulhu. His recent inclusion in the Library of America marks his unique contribution to the horror genre, and his continuing influence on writers in all genres today. S.T. Joshi is the author of H.P. Lovecrtaft: A Life, and the leading scholar and editor of Lovecraft's work. Christopher Hitchens is the New York Times bestselling author of God Is Not Great, and editor of The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever.

The Atheist's Primer


Malcolm Murray - 2010
    

Godless and Free


Pat Condell - 2010
    With the rise of Islam and political correctness, the threat it now poses to our basic freedoms is beyond a joke. Award-winning comedian Pat Condell gets serious and gives religion the kicking it deserves in his popular and controversial video monologues, sixty of which are collected here for the first time, including Welcome to Saudi Britain, Free Speech Is Sacred and Wake Up, America.

Trust in an Age of Arrogance


C. FitzSimons Allison - 2010
    Shall we convict him or forgive him? Shall we replace the God of Scripture with another of our choosing, mock and deride him, or ignore him? Shall we replace revelation with the chaos of speculation? We perceive ourselves, rather than God, as the center of the world and this universal condition leads to conflict with others and with God. Maintaining our center causes cheating, lying, litigation, divorce, wars, genocide, and human misery. Western civilization is giving up trust in the promise of God's mercy, justice, and forgiveness and replacing it with trust in the goodness of man.Jesus warned us to beware the teaching of the Sadducees and Pharisees. The Sadducees, who denied hope of eternal life, are a rough equivalent of our modern day secularists with their religious trust that this world is all there is. Replacing God with trust in flawed human nature is a mark of arrogance that even pagans would have characterized as hubris evoking divine wrath.The Pharisee's yeast of self-righteousness is a natural condition of us all. Even when cleansed it reappears in every tradition rendering forgiveness and transformation a promise only for those who think they have earned and deserve it. Such a distortion of God's word is congenial to our self-as-center, but it robs us sinners of the justice and mercy of a loving God. Following Jesus's warning we have the opportunity to wipe away the Sadducee arrogance and the Pharisee self-righteousness and discover anew the supreme power and joy of the Christian faith.

Cosmos, Creator and Human Destiny: Answering Darwin, Dawkins, and the New Atheists


Dave Hunt - 2010
    Quite simply, then, one of these belief systems is nothing more than a cruel side show perpetrated upon unsuspecting children and adults of all ageswhile the other alone is meritorious of praise. Darwin and Dawkins both credit natural selection for the incredible diversity and complexity of life on earth. Can random chance processes explain the masterfully orchestrated performance of earths breathtaking complexity and unparalelled majesty? Due to the influence of biblical Christianity, evolution was once almost unanimously rejected by the entire Western world, especially by leading scientists, a fact easily documented by citing Christians who are still looked to as the founders of modern science. Isaac Newton gave us the most important scientific book ever written: Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica. Yet he wrote more about the Bible than about science. Robert Boyle is known as the first modern chemist and is credited with laying the foundation of modern chemistry. His book, The Skeptical Chymist was a cornerstone work of modern chemistry. He endowed a lecture series, The Boyle Lectures ironically still carried on at Oxford University, where Dawkins held forth as professor, for proving the Christian religion against notorious infidels. In his latest impeccably-researched volume, Dave Hunt skillfully dethrones the Darwinian imagination that has exalted itself against the knowledge of Godand in the process, reveals fatal flaws in the logic of both cosmic and secular humanism. But this myth-busting volume is not typical of Creationist literature in recent decades. It reaches far deeper than science can look, probing the heart and mind to provide soul-shaking answers to the questions of human destiny that have not only plagued atheists and skeptics, but even most Bible-believing Christians.