Helping hand needed
Offline hey guys and girls this is my first actual post on this network so i want to aplogise now for spelling/grammer mistakes.
point them out if you must but please dont use them as an argument , i cant help it , so nothing is gainded but proving how childish you are.
Chances are i ahve posted this in the wrong palce os if i have please tell me where it should go i had a look and this looked like the right palce.
Ok on to the subject
I was raised as a christain but ever since i can remember i used to question the bible and its teaching becuse i couldnt understand how any of it was possible but becuse i was young i was jsut told to stop asking question and be a good boy and belive. but now i older and no longer happy with the answer just belive and i hate someone saying dont ask question , becuse i dont understand how with out asking question how can we learn anything. anyway point being , i have been questioning my faith and i no longer belive in it. today i brought richard dawkins "the god delsiuon" and ahve started reading it and that has started to fill me with confidence along, i ahve also spent the last few days reading these pages and filling at peace by finding people who also dont belive their arent many people like that in my area and i was starting to feel very alone in the world.
what i need is a helping hand with is book names that would be good for me to start getting a better grip on things i am really intrested in evloution , and other books simalir to richard dawkins
any help would be much appircated thank you
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Dan Barker "Losing Faith in Faith"
David Mills "Atheist Universe" (David Mills is on this site now by the way)
Sam Harris "The End of Faith" and "Letter to a Christian Nation."
Matt Shizzle has been banned from the Rational Response Squad website. This event shall provide an atmosphere more conducive to social growth. - Majority of the mod team
If you're into evolution almost anything by Richard Dawkins will do.
"The Selfish Gene"
"The Blind Watchmaker"
"Climbing Mount Imporbable"
are the three that I read and all have a great deal of information on evolution and it's mechanisms.
Also, let me welcome you to the world of logic and reason. Never stop asking questions.
"It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan
Let's not forget Why I am not a Christian by Bertrand Russell.
Shaun
I'll fight for a person's right to speak so long as that person will, in return, fight to allow me to challenge their opinions and ridicule them as the content of their ideas merit.
"Some Mistakes of Moses" by Robert Ingersoll (or almost anything by Robert Ingersoll - can find a lot of his writings online by doing a google search on his name.
Matt Shizzle has been banned from the Rational Response Squad website. This event shall provide an atmosphere more conducive to social growth. - Majority of the mod team
For learning about evolution, The Blind Watchmaker and The Selfish Gene, both by Dawkins, are what I would start with.
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!
Thanks heaps
lol looks like i got a fair bit of reading a head of me
cheers
malice
"Demon Haunted World" - Carl Sagan
"Dragons Of Eden" - Carl Sagan
Also you might just want to listen to every science, atheism and critical thinking podcast you can. THAT has helped me extremely!
Letting go of faith when it's ingrained into who you are is difficult mostly because we were conditioned to fear the consequences of leaving it behind. Many people cling to faith merely out of the hope that there's something "more" after we die, to make excuses and make themselves feel better and while I can't speak for most people, learning the truth really helped me a lot more than religion ever did.
The moment I realized how false religion is (Christianity, at least) is when I read Bart Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus: Who Changed the Bible and Why. After reading that book I became quite angry because even though many theologians know the facts, they still preach it as fact when the facts actually tell them otherwise.
The God Delusion will keep you shaking your head either in disgust or agreement, either way, it's a fabulous read.
There's a new book out called God: The Failed Hypothesis. How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist that I have yet to read but I have heard nothing but good things about. Dawkins himself said he learned a great deal from this book. It's next on my "must read" list.
There's a movie out that I think might help tie up some loose ends, too. It's about an hour and a half but you can watch the whole thing online and it taught me some new things, too. While we're all questioning at the end what he means about "being spiritual" (some say it means being a deist (believing in a god without using religion), others think it's about 'being spiritual' without believing in a 'god.'
the rest of it is pretty informative. It's called The Naked Truth.
Once you're done with those books/movie, just come back here for more food for thought...we're all book/fact junkies so we can definately recommend more!
Flemming Rose: “When [christians] say you are not showing respect, I would say: you are not asking for my respect, you are asking for my submission….”
excellent well i better start saving up some moeny cause something tells me these books arent going to be cheap
cheers
Malice
www.myspace.com/sugerfilledteen
My 2 cents: I think a great first buy is "Letter to a Christian Nation" by Sam Harris
It's less than 100 pages I believe, and is one of the most concise critiques on Christianity out there. Not to mention it is pretty easy to read
Thanks for stopping by!
The Enlightenment wounded the beast, but the killing blow has yet to land...
Hard to believe nobody has mentioned this one yet, but if you're interested in evolution then the absolute best book you could possibly get on it would be Darwin's Origin of Species. It's pretty thick but definitely worth the time to read. I also received my copy of Letter to a Christian Nation today and it's an absolute page turner! From the time I started reading I couldn't put it down until I was finished.
Congrats on thinking for yourself and not being content with blind faith.
thanks guys:P
a quick question , do the books mentioned above thier are on religions takcle other relgions aswell or are the more focused on christanity.
cheers
Malice
www.myspace.com/sugerfilledteen
No one's mentioned Atheism: A Case Against God. I thought it was pretty good. A bit dry at times, admittedly. I believe there is a thread going around here about a free evolution DVD which might be helpful as well.
If god takes life he's an indian giver
Most only focus on Christianity, but The End of Faith definitely also focuses on Islam at least.
Darwin's book is really great and concise, but it's a tough read... I suggest you leave it for later on. But do read it eventually ;P
http://youtube.com/phillipetrindade - Reasonable dialogue about atheism. Please visit, rate it and comment. Thanks!
For a concise overview of cosmic and biological evolution, check out "Our Cosmic Origins: From the Big Bang to the Emergence of Life and Intelligence", by Armand Delsemme.
"You are 'atheist' simply you are PSYCHO or IGNORANCE. That's why even youself feel like not EXIST on this world."
~Yahoo message board poster