New Atheist needs your Help!
Offline An old friend of mine(former christian) saw me on facebook. He told me he admitted to himself about a year ago that he was an atheist. He wants some
suggestions on who and what to read or watch. I, of course, have a few suggestions of my own but would like your input. He's a pretty
smart guy but doesn't have any college and is not very well read from what I gather. He is divorced and shares custody of 2 kids(6 and 18).
The mother is christian but doesn't push it on the kids, so he says. He wanted suggestions for them too. I don't have any kids so I'm in the
dark on that one, as far as giving a 6 yr old a book anyway. He said history, cosmology, and philosophy interest him as well. I know there are
too damn many to list but If you have some suggestions he and myself would appreciate your input. I directed him here as well but he doesn't
want to sound like an idiot without doing some reading first. Thank you!
"...but truth is a point of view, and so it is changeable. And to rule by fettering the mind through fear of punishment in another world is just as base as to use force." -Hypatia
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Have you tried looking on Amazon?
The following are free if you have a Kindle or the Kindle app for a smart phone.
My Path to Atheism
An Atheist Manifesto
Atheism 101: Answers, Explanations and Rebuttals
The last book is more of a reference book than actual reading. It's one of those things you have in the bathroom for short reads.
Here's a few good ones, and these aren't in order of importance: Religion Explained, by Pascal Boyer; The Science of Good and Evil, by Michael Shermer; Breaking the Spell, by Dan Dennett; The God Debates, by John Shook; The Blank Slate, by Steven Pinker.
I'm going to start a new line so your eyes don't get bored. why we believe in god(s), by Dr. Andy Thomson; Deconstructing Jesus, by Robert M. Price; Forbidden Fruit, by Paul Kurtz.
I haven't read The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins yet, but it seems like a good place to start for evolution. And I've heard good things about The Demon-Haunted World, by Carl Sagan. I hope this helps.
someone. If you like George Carlin his "orgy of george 3x" book is a great one for the throne.
"...but truth is a point of view, and so it is changeable. And to rule by fettering the mind through fear of punishment in another world is just as base as to use force." -Hypatia
Here's a book on the separation of church and state: The Godless Constitution: A Moral Defense of the Secular State, by Isaac Kramnick and R. Laurence Moore. Kramnick is a professor of government at Cornell and Moore is a professor of american studies and history, also from Cornell. Use it on the rabid theocrats.
tonyjeffers, if you want a short read book, read why we believe in god(s). It's 144 pages, but it's got a small shape, so you can read it faster. I'm just guessing here, but it would probably come out to 50-75 pages if it was expanded to a normal sized book. It's about the psychology of religion. Or, for an hour long treat, go here for a lecture by Andy Thomson on the same topic. (He based the book off of this lecture.)
Why We Believe in Gods -- Andy Thomson -- American Atheists 2009:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iMmvu9eMrg
Thanks digitalbeachbum and philosophicus! I"ll be seeing him this coming weekend and I will give him your suggestions. A few of
your suggestions I haven't read myself, but I'll check them out. Does anyone know of any good broad-range history books that just explain the
history of man and the different ages that doesn't dwell on extreme details. All I could find on-line were big detailed books exclusively on certain ages.
Also I was wrong about the youngest kids age. She is 9 not 6. Haven't seen
her since she was a baby, so if anyone knows of any kids books that won't totally freak out the Mom. I'm leery about giving a kid a book I
haven't read myself, but I guess that's the Dad's responsibility.
Thanks guys!
"...but truth is a point of view, and so it is changeable. And to rule by fettering the mind through fear of punishment in another world is just as base as to use force." -Hypatia
I like these Dan Barker books for the kids:
Maybe Yes, Maybe No: A Guide for Young Skeptics
Maybe Right, Maybe Wrong: A Guide for Young Thinkers
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I personally enjoy Ramshackle Glory, Johnny Hobo, Wingnut Dishwasher Uniion. They all have the same message: "GOD isn't DEAD, but I'll get that bastard some day". I'd take the beauty of chaos over ugly perfection. I enjoy the song "Church Hymn for the Condemned"
Sapient,
Dan Barker. You're such a hypocrite. Dan Barker does the exact 100% exact thing that those teleevangelist do. He preaches atheist from a pulpit and passes a plate for the offering. He's doing the exact thing you hate about tele=evangelists (which I find to be phony). But nevertheless, your hypocrisy is thicker then my mother in law.
I've met Dan, talked to him on many occasions and did a debate with him over the radio. I also did one years ago with some hag i can't recall her name Shirley i think. lol. This was many years ago.
Anyway, Dan isn't trained in logic. He admitted that even if he was convinced of God's Being as real, he would rather go to hell then to submit to such a God. That's typically the matra of all atheists.
This kind of atheist matra plays tricks with your head. Even if He was real, you'd still go to hell, but then again you have a conscious and because of that He just can't be real. It's a kind of unspoken circular reasoing.
No wonder your friend was committed.
Respectfully,
Jean Chauvin (Jude 3).
A Rational Christian of Intelligence (rare)with a valid and sound justification for my epistemology and a logical refutation for those with logical fallacies and false worldviews upon their normative of thinking in retrospect to objective normative(s). This is only understood via the imago dei in which we all are.
Respectfully,
Jean Chauvin (Jude 3).
I don't hate that televangelists preach from a pulpit and pass a plate for the offering. My problems lie in the content of what they preach. I am not a fan of anyone who lies or cons others into believing things that aren't true. Religious preachers are teaching a lie, or are too ignorant to know they are. Dan Barker is putting them in their place. And he's in a unique position to since he was once an ignorant preacher.
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Sapient,
The fact that tele-evangelists are stealing via manipulation innocent money is an ethical problem which is what Dan is doing. He married a girl who was like an atheist PK lol and Dan then started making money like everyone else.
Respectfully,
Jean Chauvin (Jude 3).
A Rational Christian of Intelligence (rare)with a valid and sound justification for my epistemology and a logical refutation for those with logical fallacies and false worldviews upon their normative of thinking in retrospect to objective normative(s). This is only understood via the imago dei in which we all are.
Respectfully,
Jean Chauvin (Jude 3).
You called me a communist in another thread, now you are the one condemning someone for making money? So the only way people prove themselves as being moral is to remain poor? Whose the communist now jackass?
You are insecure and a troll and afraid that people are different than you.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
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Communism, fundamentaly is not about the amount of wealth, it is about the way wealth is distributed. I have lived half my life under a communist state, and half in Canada. I can honestly say that life was a lot easier in a communist society. The difference in income between doctors and stree cleaners was minimal. Of course the system became so corrupt as to be non mentainable, but the idea was grand. There was no "keeping up with the joneses" menatlity that drives our whole economy and is responsible for the mess we're in.
Too bad it doesn't work in reality.
"Don't seek these laws to understand. Only the mad can comprehend..." -- George Cosbuc
Look life is never a script and the extreme utopia of no gap in pay vs an extreme gap are to me both the extremes that kill the fish in the fish tank. People get stuck on political labels. No one should want to take away the free market, but the pay gap we have is the same to me as having no pay gap. I understand the concept of inequity and in an open market that is going to happen. But just like you said, the corruption in the communist state you lived under is no different than the corruption in the open market that has created the mess we are in.
The problem isn't all equal or all rich, but MONOPOLIES of power. The pay gap IS going to have to be reduced unless we want to end up with the sweat shops India and China have. That is what big business is frothing at the mouth over.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog