books for new atheists
Posted on: December 12, 2010 - 10:40am
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books for new atheists
My 16 year old son has been an atheist for 4 to 6 months. People that he use to go to church with still contact him and try to convert him back to christianity. Some of these people are his family on his mother's side. He wants to be able to intelligently defend himself against whatever argument they use against him. I am going to buy him 3 or 4 atheism books. Does anyone have any suggestions on what books would be good for him to start out with?
You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep-seated need to believe. - Carl Sagan
Prayer has no place in the public schools, just like facts have no place in organized religion. - School Superintendent on "The Simpsons" episode #1
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Yah, there are lots of books out there. Some of them (such as Christopher Hitchens stuff) can be fairly advanced and, while powerful, may not be the stuff that he needs.
I would start with stuff by Michael Shermer and possibly P. Z. Meyers. Neither of them are a soft sale but they are more easily read than the more advanced stuff.
Let me give you some video samples:
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I will note that in both videos, you will see that god seems to have a thing for bananas. You are going to see that around as you explore our world. It is a reference to one of the fundie preachers who made the claim that the banana somehow proves the existence of god.
If you are morbidly interested, search youtube for “kirk cameron” or “ray comfort”. I will tell you that the video is quite stupid. Yet it can be entertaining in a way.
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50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God by Guy P Harrison.
http://www.amazon.com/Reasons-People-Give-Believing-God/dp/1591025672/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292174176&sr=8-1
And then he refutes every one. Seemed to me his list was pretty comprehensive and I found myself saying, yep, that's right to many of his refutations. I checked it out of the library, but I really would like to own it.
Tower of Babel: The Evidence against the New Creationism by Robert T Pennock
http://www.amazon.com/Reasons-People-Give-Believing-God/dp/1591025672/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292174176&sr=8-1
A more sophisticated refutation, but still easy to read.
If some of the theists are going on about creationism or intelligent design, try this book.
Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why it Matters by Donald R Prothero and Carl Buell
http://www.amazon.com/Evolution-What-Fossils-Say-Matters/dp/0231139624/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292174615&sr=1-1
Transitional fossils by the boatload. Very easy to follow but by the time he - finally - addresses human evolution, I was feeling a little over whelmed.
There are tons of books on evolution, so if he wants more references, I can cite a few more. I'm not a professional, but I enjoy the subject and so I have read a lot.
-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.
"We are entitled to our own opinions. We're not entitled to our own facts"- Al Franken
"If death isn't sweet oblivion, I will be severely disappointed" - Ruth M.
I would reccomend Christopher Hitchen's God is not Great. I thought it was a pretty easy read and hits to the points real well.
I think one of my favorites is Godless by Dan Barker. The reason that I would reccomend this one is because Barker used to be a young evangelical Christian preacher that experienced a change in his thinking that lead him to Atheism. He presents a good picture from both sides of the argument and gives some excellent debating points. Some of it is a little advanced but nothing too difficult or major.
If I had to venture a guess, he's probably going to hear the typical Christian arguments which follows :
Without God there are no morals.
Without God, there is no meaning to your life.
He'll probably get accused of being bitter, angry and resistant to authority.
How can you look around you at all of creation and say that there is no God is one that I get alot from the Christians.
What if you are wrong and there is a God, then what will you do, is also another common scare tactic that I hear alot.
These are probably the easiest ones to refute. These become the type of statements that he'll probably learn to refute in his sleep because he'll hear them so much. He'll be happy to know that there are literally hundreds of answers to most of the common statements that will undoubtedly be thrown at him by the Christians.
The trick to alot of the debates, is that a majority of Christian people have not really tried too hard to understand what Atheism is. To most Christians, Atheists are just devil worshipping hate filled people that wish to destroy the happiness of all believers. Therefore, most Christians immediately jump to all sorts of conclusions and rhetoric when they hear the word Atheist and throw alot of nonsense that is easy to shred.
There are those annoying Christians that have read alot of philosophical and theology books that will use all sorts of sly tactics to try and trap Atheists, but those are fairly few and far between and they are also easy to refute. Trick there is just to remember that alot of tricky terms does not make them right, they are not infallible and ultimately not too difficult to debunk.
If he does have a chance to check out RRS, I would definitely suggest reading and posting on here. There is enough information on here that no Atheist has to worry about being trapped or stumped by Christians again.
Good luck.
“It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority. Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people.”
― Giordano Bruno
on the site a bunch of times before but here it is again. Give your son Victor Stenger's God: The Failed Hypothesis.
Some of the other books mentioned here get a bit tangled up in arguments against religions themselves, I think to their detriment.
Stenger's book is first and foremost about the claimed proofs of a supernatural god and he demolishes them one by one.
He doesn't waste time refuting dogma. He's not angry. He does not get sidetracked. He can't be accused of being an angry ex-preacher. His chapter references are vast.
Stenger can be a wee bit dry at times but in a topic like this, I don't believe that's a flaw. Nor is the book enormously long and ponderous with reams of agonising biblical references.
The focus is those things that can be known in this reality.
Of all the books I've read on the topic - and that's a lot - I have not run into anything as clean and comprehensible and practical as Failed Hypothesis.
"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck
Ideally (in my view) he should concentrate on what really matters: education, work, relations with people (and with girls) etc. All other things like religion, drugs, etc. can be put aside. My advise - don't ask don't tell - just don't argue. At 16 it should not be hard to find a verrrry important thing to do instead of going to a church on Sunday.
"Mom, uncle, ... I love your church as strong as I can, but this Sunday again I have to read a few very important books because education is so important for me, I think that if I were you I could say that god commanded me to study (go for a picnic, go on a date, etc.) this Sunday. Have a good day and let the force be with you" something like this....
I would recommend "There Are Two Errors in the the Title of This Book" by Robert Martin, which was my first introduction to logic and philosophy, and a very interesting book in its own right.
Also, The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan. Classic book for budding skeptics.
As far as Gnu Atheism goes, I recommend The End of Faith by Sam Harris, which was the one that started the ball rolling, and remains one of the most highly-charged and motivational books for budding Gnus.
Wonderist on Facebook — Support the idea of wonderism by 'liking' the Wonderism page — or join the open Wonderism group to take part in the discussion!
Gnu Atheism Facebook group — All gnu-friendly RRS members welcome (including Luminon!) — Try something gnu!
I appreciate the input from everyone. I will get him some books soon. Also, I told him about RRS and he loves it.
Thanks for your advice 100Percent. I told him that he might be better off living life and focusing on things that kids his age are doing. He said that he is getting tired of being bothered by his family and former church friends over his disbelief and wants to be able to shake their faith when they try to convert him. I have lived in this area for most of my life and I realize how relentless the Christians can be so I understand why he wants to defend himself. That is why I am going to go ahead and get some books for him.
You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep-seated need to believe. - Carl Sagan
Prayer has no place in the public schools, just like facts have no place in organized religion. - School Superintendent on "The Simpsons" episode #1
I appreciate the input from everyone. I will get him some books soon. Also, I told him about RRS and he loves it.
Thanks for your advice 100Percent. I told him that he might be better off living life and focusing on things that kids his age are doing. He said that he is getting tired of being bothered by his family and former church friends over his disbelief and wants to be able to shake their faith when they try to convert him. I have lived in this area for most of my life and I realize how relentless the Christians can be so I understand why he wants to defend himself. That is why I am going to go ahead and get some books for him.
You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep-seated need to believe. - Carl Sagan
Prayer has no place in the public schools, just like facts have no place in organized religion. - School Superintendent on "The Simpsons" episode #1