Agnosticism and atheism Books

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Book SynopsisIs modern racism a product of secularisation and the decline of Christian universalism? The debate has raged for decades, but up to now, the actual racial views of historical atheists and freethinkers have never been subjected to a systematic analysis. Race in a Godless World sets out to correct the oversight. It centres on Britain and the United States in the second half of the nineteenth century, a time when popular atheist movements were emerging and scepticism about the truth of Christianity was becoming widespread. Covering racial and evolutionary science, imperialism, slavery and racial prejudice in theory and practice, it provides a much-needed account of the complex and sometimes contradictory ideas espoused by the transatlantic community of atheists and freethinkers. It also reflects on the social dimension of irreligiousness, exploring how working-class atheists’ experiences of exclusion could make them sympathetic to other marginalised groups.Trade Review'Presents not only a fascinating glimpse into complex racial discussions in the late 19th century but also a wonderful, updated overview of the movement and the intellectual history of free-thought in general.'Anton Jansson, History of Intellectual Culture 2/2023'Race in a Godless World is a great contribution to the study of historical atheism, but also intellectual and religious history. It is timely, balanced, well-researched, laying bare the wide range of racial views atheists held.'Global Intellectual History'The book will be of interest to both scholars and general readers, who are likely to find this alternative narrative of the origins of racism in Britain and the United States as compelling as it is convincing.'The Journal of American History'Race in a Godless World is a timely and important contribution to a growing field.'The American Historical Review‘Race in a Godless World is an excellent study. This is intellectual history at its best, demonstrating how the discriminated against minority of unbelievers, at the foot of the religious pecking order, challenged racial hierarchies and championed racial minorities. The book shows that a commitment to science and reason underpinned racial views amongst both atheist and religionist intellectuals of the nineteenth century. But scepticism and contrariness drew atheists to apply the same reason in shifting towards a more inclusive and progressive social agenda. With a strong structure and vivid clarity, this is the best contribution so far to scholarly study of how racist thinking came to be linked with, but also rejected by, atheists in the USA and Britain.’Callum G. Brown, University of Glasgow‘An exhaustively researched and gracefully written book that makes a signal contribution to our understanding of the intersection of atheism and racial thought. The first book to fully flesh out the ties between racial thought and atheism, it is a masterful achievement that will be required reading for students and scholars of race, freethought, and British and American history more broadly.’Christopher Cameron, University of North Carolina at Charlotte‘Situating the history of freethought in a fully transatlantic framework, Alexander carefully unpacks the ambivalences and contradictions of white atheist views on race and civilisation. Certain about the superiority of science over Christianity, freethinkers were far less clear about the racial and cross-cultural implications of their irreligion. Many embraced scientific racism and white supremacy, while others resisted xenophobia and race prejudice. Alexander captures these secularist complexities with admirable nuance and insight.’ Leigh E. Schmidt, Washington University in St. Louis -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction: the tangled histories of Christianity, secularization, and race1 Were Adam and Eve our first parents? Atheism and polygenesis2 Brute men: race and society in evolution3 A London Zulu: savagery and civilisation4 The wise men of the east: India, China, and Japan5 The best friends the negro ever had: African Americans and white atheists6 The curse of race prejudice: rethinking race at the turn of the centuryEpilogue: what next for racism in a godless world?NotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisSUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE CATHOLIC HERALD BOOK AWARD FOR RELIGION AND THEOLOGYA NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019''Wonderful ... one of the few books that I started to reread a couple of minutes after I''d finished it.'' - Melvyn Bragg A meditation on the importance of atheism in the modern world - and its inadequacies and contradictions - by one of Britain''s leading philosophers''When you explore older atheisms, you will find some of your firmest convictions - secular or religious - are highly questionable. If this prospect disturbs you, what you are looking for may be freedom from thought.''For a generation now, public debate has been corroded by a narrow derision of religion in the name of an often very vaguely understood ''science''. John Gray''s stimulating and extremely enjoyable new book describes the rich, complex world of the atheist tradition, a tradition which he sees as in many ways as rich as that of religion itself, as well as being deeply intertwined with what is so often crudely viewed as its ''opposite''. The result is a book that sheds an extraordinary and varied light on what it is to be human and on the thinkers who have, at different times and places, battled to understand this issue.Trade ReviewA highly readable, fascinating book that jerks the debate on religion versus atheism right out of its crusted rut into the light of serious intellectual scrutiny * Observer *Pithy and revelatory -- Christopher Bellaigue * Financial Times *Wonderful ... the range, thoughtfulness and trenchant sense of Gray's sweep across the centuries of thought is wholly exhilarating ... one of the few books that I started to reread a couple of minutes after I'd finished it. -- Melvyn Bragg * New Statesman *

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Book Synopsis''Passionate, challenging, tumultuously articulate . . . Fascinating.'' John Carey, Sunday Times''A wonderful, effortlessly brilliant book.'' Evening Standard''A rare gem, a book that carries conviction by being honest all the way through.'' John Gray, IndependentUnapologetic is a book for those curious about how faith can possibly work in the twenty-first century. But it isn''t an argument that Christianity is true - because how could anyone know that (or indeed its opposite)? It''s an argument that Christianity is recognisable, drawing on the deep and deeply ordinary vocabulary of human feeling, satisfying those who believe in it by offering a ruthlessly realistic account of the bits of our lives advertising agencies prefer to ignore.Trade ReviewA unique book, cutting its way ruthlessly through thickets of both religious and anti-religious sentimentality; painfully funny at points, always impassioned and never glib. Rowan Williams, Master, Magdalene College, Cambridge University and former Archbishop of Canterbury Spufford has the great virtue of making the reader want to argue with him, while simultaneously yearning to hear more. Daily Telegraph Remarkable, passionate, challenging and tumultuously articulate book ... this is Spufford's most fascinating book. Our Choice, Sunday Times An interesting additional to the religious cannon ... a refreshing approach, which makes the book far more palatable than the nearly hysterical polemics we have come to expect from both sides. Spufford writes well, and his rationality shines through here. Sunday Business Post

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Book SynopsisThere is widespread confusion about the nature of religious truth. For the first time in history, a significantly large number of people want nothing to do with God. Militant atheists preach a gospel of godlessness with the zeal of missionaries and find an eager audience. Tracing the history of faith from the Palaeolithic Age to the present, Karen Armstrong shows that meaning of words such as ''belief'', ''faith'', and ''mystery'' has been entirely altered, so that atheists and theists alike now think and speak about God - and, indeed, reason itself - in a way that our ancestors would have found astonishing.Does God have a future? Karen Armstrong examines how we can build a faith that speaks to the needs of our troubled and dangerously polarised world.Trade ReviewOne of our best living writers on religion...prodigiously sourced, passionately written * Financial Times *A journey through religion that helps us to rescue what remains wise from so much that to many in Britain today no longer seems true... Armstrong is one of the the handful of wise and supremely intelligent commentators on religion -- Alain de Botton * Observer *A tour de force of learning. A hefty history of theology, philosophy and science, and how they converge, it knocks Dawkins and Hitchens into an intellectual cocked hat...Armstrong rejoices in the unknowableness of life and searches, logically enough for meaning therein * Sunday Herald *It isn't an easy read - why should it be? - but she is wonderfully clear and insightful - and not out to convert anyone * Daily Mail *Dense and brilliant, chastening and consoling. Whether or not it sells as well as the latest Hitchens or Dawkins will be a measure of us, not the book * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisShould we believe in God? In this new book, written for a new generation, the brilliant science writer and author of The God Delusion, explains why we shouldn't.Should we believe in God? Do we need God in order to explain the existence of the universe? Do we need God in order to be good? In twelve chapters that address some of the most profound questions human beings confront, Dawkins marshals science, philosophy and comparative religion to interrogate the hypocrisies of all the religious systems and explain to readers of all ages how life emerged without a Creator, how evolution works and how our world came into being.For anyone hoping to grapple with the meaning of life and what to believe, Outgrowing God is a challenging, thrilling and revelatory read.--------------------------------Trade ReviewOutgrowing God is another sally against his oldest foe, the Almighty * The Times *Books of 2019: The scientist and controversial commentator on religious and cultural questions presents an accessible, "junior" version of The God Delusion (2006). * Guardian *His contagious enthusiasm renders the basics of natural selection newly astonishing. * The Guardian *Books of 2019: Richard Dawkins has always had it in for the almighty and he's back to take another pop at the poor bloke. Here he outlines what he believes is the real meaning of life. * The Times *Dawkins new book is special in the terrain of atheists’ pleas for humanism and rationalism precisely since it speaks to those most vulnerable to the coercive tactics of religion. As Dawkins himself says in the dedication, this book is for “all young people when they’re old enough to decide for themselves.” It is also, I must add, for their parents. * Professor Janna Levin, Claire Tow Professor of Physics & Astronoy at Barnard College of Columbia University *

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Book SynopsisOutlines how Christianity transformed the ancient world in ways we may have forgotten: bringing liberation from fatalism, conferring great dignity on human beings, subverting the cruelest aspects of pagan society, and elevating charity above all virtues.Trade Review"Hart has the gifts of a good advocate. He writes with clarity and force, and he drives his points home again and again. He exposes his opponents errors of fact or logic with ruthless precision."—Anthony Kenny, Times Literary Supplement"It is a taut and tart introduction to the ideas that drove the Christian Revolution, fired by righteous anger and with an arsenal of learning that explodes off the page."—Nick Mattiske, The Lutheran (Australian Lutheran Church)"A brilliant investigation of the current fad among intellectuals for atheism."—Contemporary Review"A provocative work, vigorous, humorous, erudite."—James R. A. Merrick, Scottish Bulletin on Evangelical Theory". . . takes no prisoners in its response to fashionable criticisms of Christianity."—Dr Rowan Williams, The Archbishop of Canterbury, Church Times"Entertaining and challenging, this book brings us back to what Christmas is about."—Nick Baines, The Church Times (Christmas Books)"With impressive erudition and polemical panache, David Hart smites hip and thigh the peddlers of a 'new atheism' that recycles hoary arguments from the past. His grim assessment of our cultural moment challenges the hope that ‘the Christian revolution' could happen again."—Richard John Neuhaus, former editor in chief of First Things"Provoked by and responding to the standard-bearers of 'the New Atheism,' this original and intellectually impressive work deftly demolishes their mythical account of 'the rise of modernity.' Hart argues instead that the genuinely humane values of modernity have their historic roots in Christianity."—Geoffrey Wainwright, Duke Divinity School "In this learned, provocative, and sophisticated book, Hart presents a frontal challenge to today's myopic caricature of the culture and religion that existed in previous centuries."—Robert Louis Wilken, University of Virginia"Surely Dawkins, Hitchens et al would never have dared put pen to paper had they known of the existence of David Bentley Hart. After this demolition-job all that is left for them to do is repent and rejoice at the discreditation of their erstwhile selves."—John Milbank, author of Radical Orthodoxy: A New Theology"A devastating dissection of the 'new atheism,' a timely reminder of the fact that 'no Christianity' would have meant 'no West,' and a rousing good read. David Hart is one of America's sharpest minds, and this is Hart in full, all guns firing and the band playing on the deck."—George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington“An unanswerable and frequently hilarious demolition of the shoddy thinking and historical illiteracy of the so-called New Atheists.”—Michael Robbins, Commonweal -- Michael Robbins * Commonweal *

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Book SynopsisA Sunday Times bestsellerChristopher Hitchens was an unparalleled, prolific writer, who raised the polemical essay to a new art form, over a lifetime of thinking and debating the defining issues of our times. As an essayist he contributed to the New Statesman, Atlantic Monthly, London Review of Books, TLS and Vanity Fair. Any publication of a volume of Hitchens' essays was a major event on both sides of the Atlantic. Now comes a volume of Hitchens' previously uncollected essays, covering the themes that define Hitchens the thinker: literature, religion and politics. These essays remind us, once more, of the fierce, brilliant and trenchant voice of Christopher Hitchens.Trade ReviewThe range is remarkable... Literary criticism is often where he shines - the pieces on Orwell and Chesterton, in particular, are alert, nuanced and witty. * Financial Times *And yet... there are few journalists who can match the verve and panache of Hitchens's prose. He mixes the loquaciousness of the barfly with the fluency of the literary artist, and could not pen a dull sentence if he tried. * Guardian *What you will find in And Yet..., is a body of work that offers some of the most various, nutritious and amusing prose you are likely to encounter, and that stands as a testament to the consolations of a phrase he cherished: litera scripta manet - the written word remains. * Daily Telegraph *This final collection displays his startling ability to write so well about so much... The sense of loss at the subjects he will not write about is more than outweighed by the pleasure at those that he did. * New Statesman *Table of Contents1: Che Guevara: Goodbye to All That 2: Orwell's List 3: Orhan Pamuk: Mind the Gap 4: Bring on the Mud 5: Ohio's Odd Numbers 6: On Becoming American 7: Mikhail Lermontov: A Doomed Young Man 8: Salman Rushdie: Hobbes in the Himalayas 9: My Red-State Odyssey 10: The Turkey Has Landed 11: Bah, Humbug 12: A. N. Wilson: Downhill All the Way 13: Ian Fleming: Bottoms Up 14: Power Suits 15: Blood for No Oil! 16: How Uninviting 17: Look Who's Cutting and Running Now 18: Oriana Fallaci and the Art of the Interview 19: Imperial Follies 20: Clive James: The Omnivore 21: Gertrude Bell: The Woman Who Made Iraq 22: Physician, Heal Thyself 23: Edmund Wilson: Literary Companion On the Limits of Self-improvement, Part I: Of Vice and Men 24: On the Limits of Self-improvement, Part II: Vice and Versa 25: On the Limits of Self-improvement, Part III: Mission Accomplished 26: Ayaan Hirsi Ali: The Price of Freedom 27: Arthur Schlesinger: The Courtier 28: Paul Scott: Victoria's Secret 29: The Case against Hillary Clinton 30: The Tall Tale of Tuzla 31: V. S. Naipaul: Cruel and Unusual 32: No Regrets 33: Barack Obama: Cool Cat 34: The Lovely Stones 35: Edward M. Kennedy: Redemption Song 36: Engaging with Iran Is Like Having Sex with Someone Who Hates You 37: Colin Powell: Powell Valediction 38: Shut Up about Armenians or We'll Hurt Them Again 39: Hezbollah's Progress 40: The Politicians We Deserve 41: Rosa Luxemburg: Red Rosa 42: Joan Didion: Blue Nights 43: The True Spirit of Christmas 44: Charles Dickens's Inner Child 45: G. K. Chesterton: The Reactionary 46: The Importance of Being Orwell 47: What Is Patriotism?

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Book SynopsisThe bestselling cult classicgod Is Not Great is the ultimate case against religion. In a series of acute readings of the major religious texts, Christopher Hitchens demonstrates the ways in which religion is man-made, dangerously sexually repressive and distorts the very origins of the cosmos. Above all, Hitchens argues that the concept of an omniscient God has profoundly damaged humanity, and proposes that the world might be a great deal better off without 'him'. In god is Not Great Hitchens turned his formidable eloquence and rhetorical energy to the most controversial issue in the world: God and religion. The result is a devastating critique of religious faithTrade ReviewDo yourself a favor and skip the Dawkins and Harris; they're smug, turgid, and boring, with all the human feeling of a tax return. Read Hitchens instead... A tendentious delight, a caustic and even brilliant book... Thank God for Christopher Hitchens. -- Mark Warren * Esquire *Dazzling... A campaign to put this glittering anti-theist tract on the national curriculum for "religious education" should begin here. -- Johann Hari * Independent *Hitchens is a grand rhetorician, and his double-barrelled shotgun of a book is high entertainment... As with Voltaire, his scornful laughter is a powerful weapon. -- Christopher Hart * Sunday Times *The anti-religion case has never been put so well, so comprehensively or so definitively as in this razor-sharp book... Hitchens accumulates a devastating case... Outstanding. -- A.C. Grayling * Independent on Sunday *Christopher Hitchens is a master craftsman of argument... God is not Great is undoubtedly the most boisterously entertaining contribution to the [atheism] debate. -- Siobhan Murphy * Metro *God is not Great is easily the most brilliant and fascinating contemplation upon the role of religion in human society in recent times, the Das Kapital of a tolerant, if exasperated, atheism. -- Kevin Myers * Irish Independent *Table of Contents1: Putting It Mildly 2: Religion Kills 3: A Short Digression on the Pig; or, Why Heaven Hates Ham 4: A Note on Health, to Which Religion Can Be Hazardous 5: The Metaphysical Claims of Religion Are False 6: Arguments from Design 7: Revelation: The Nightmare of the "Old" Testament 8: The "New" Testament Exceeds the Evil of the "Old" One 9: The Koran Is Borrowed from Both Jewish and Christian Myths 10: The Tawdriness of the Miraculous and the Decline of Hell 11: "The Lowly Stamp of Their Origin": Religion's Corrupt Beginnings 12: A Coda: How Religions End 13: Does Religion Make People Behave Better? 14: There Is No "Eastern" Solution 15: Religion as an Original Sin 16: Is Religion Child Abuse? 17: An Objection Anticipated: The Last-Ditch "Case" Against Secularism 18: A Finer Tradition: The Resistance of the Rational 19: In Conclusion: The Need for a New Enlightenment

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Book SynopsisThe Problem of Atheism offers the first translation of Augusto Del Noce’s landmark book from 1964. One of the earliest works to recognize the new secularizing trends in Western culture following World War II, this book remains relevant to contemporary debates about secularization, political theology, and modernity.

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Book SynopsisWhy have Western societies that were once overwhelmingly Christian become so secular? Looking to the feelings and faith of ordinary people, the award-winning author of Protestants Alec Ryrie offers a bold new history of atheism.We think we know the history of faith: how the ratio of Christian believers has declined and a secular age dawned. In this startlingly original history, Alex Ryrie puts faith in the dock to explore how religious belief didn't just fade away. Rather, atheism bloomed as a belief system in its own right.Unbelieverslooks back to the middle ages when it seemed impossible not to subscribe to Christianity, through the crisis of the Reformation and to the powerful, challenging cultural currents of the centuries since. As this history shows, the religious journey of the Western world was lived and steered not just by published philosophy and the celebrated thinkers of the day the Machiavellis and Michel de Montaignes but by men and women at every level of society. TheiTrade Review Praise for Unbelievers ‘Unbelievers covers much ground in a short space with deep erudition and considerable wit. The history of doubt is still in its relatively early stages. This is an important and convincing contribution to it.’ Spectator ‘Highlights the dynamic role that emotions have played in the very human tendency to disbelieve religious claims … Those with an interest in the history of religion will be treated to a new perspective on the old opposition between believers and nonbelievers’ Library Journal ‘Ryrie’s contention that its power and effectiveness derive as much from its emotional impact as its rational argumentation makes considerable sense to me … what Ryrie’s engaging book suggests is that the battle over God is really a battle about a certain sort of emotional literacy. Giles Fraser, Unherd.com ‘In Unbelievers we encounter heart-wrenching expressions of faith and its absence with nuanced attention to words and modulations of emotions. We find preachers, female writers, dramatists, poets and essayists who struggled daily with a religion that demanded faith … An arresting consideration of how their voices shaped what came after them. Deep insights are leavened with characteristic wit and humour, making this book a crucial read for anyone thinking about religion in our time.’ Bruce Gordon, author of Calvin ‘With wit and remarkable breadth of learning, Ryrie addresses an issue that touches us all.’ John O’Malley, author of Vatican I ‘How has unbelief come to dominate so many Western societies? The usual account invokes the advance of science and rational knowledge. Ryrie’s alternative, in which emotions are the driving force, offers new and interesting insights into our past and present.’ Charles Taylor, author of A Secular Age

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Book SynopsisThe rise of the New Atheism has aroused great general interest, yet the debate up to this point has focused largely on rebutting the new atheist critique of Christianity. Alister McGrath takes the discussion further, and explores how the ideas of the New Atheism are defended and propagated through websites and blogs.Trade ReviewMcGrath's book, in my view, conclusively refutes any claim that "reason and science" can claim some sort of rational superiority to "reason and religion", and is a masterly exposé of the moral pretensions of the "new atheism". -- Keith Ward * Church Times *Why God Won't Go Away simply demolishes New Atheism in all departments and in every respect . . . There's no way back for it from this. And to think that mild-mannered Alister McGrath delivered the fatal blow. Priceless. * The Church of England Newspaper *Armed with McGrath, the message is clear - it's time for Christians to embrace science and philosophy without fear, and defend Christianity from the misleading rhetoric of the militant atheists. * Christianity magazine *

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Book SynopsisSecularism: The Basics is a concise and engaging introduction to confusing and contradictory public discussions of secularism across the globe. In this lively and lucid book, Jacques Berlinerblau addresses why secularism is defined in so many ways and why it so ignites peopleâs passions. In so doing, he explores the following important questions: What does secularism mean? Why should we care about this idea? What are the different types of secularism and what are their histories? What are the basic principles of political secularisms? Why are secularism and Atheism often confused? What is the relationship between secularism and LGBTQ rights? What opposition are secularisms up against? What does the future hold for a concept millennia in the making, but only really operationalized in the last century and a half? This thoroughly updated new edition includes two new chapters on African Secularisms and the importance of Mexico in the history of political secularism.

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Book SynopsisEste livro analisa, ainda que de forma abreviada, a criação de mitos, muitos dos quais já consagrados em várias religiões, sobre a criação do Universo, do planeta Terra e dos seres que a habitam, com enfoque especial no ser humano como animal pensante e, portanto, o único capaz de elaborar perguntas e procurar pelas respostas que há milênios vêm desafiando a humanidade. Somente o homem, utilizando-se da principal ferramenta de que dispõe - a ciência -, pode ultrapassar a barreira do incognoscível e questionar o que nos ensinam a maioria das religiões, por meio de seus mitos e de crenças muitas vezes sem fundamento plausível e de algumas divindades que provavelmente nunca existiram. O Universo, desde o seu início, se desdobra em novos espetáculos continuamente e de forma imprevisível. E o faz, naturalmente para usufruir a sua própria essência. Existe, é claro, para o gozo da vida material. É por isso incompatível com a ficção espiritual - ideia que nasceu do sofrimento e da inconformidade com a morte.Este livro foi pensado e composto no dia a dia de um pesquisador e professor de neuroanatomia, por várias décadas, em uma Universidade Estadual. Ao escrevê-lo, o Autor mantém o que defende desde a juventude, o que ele percebeu em relação às coisas sobrenaturais e às crenças religiosas. O seu propósito não é outro senão o de convidar o leitor a fazer uma introspecção a respeito do sentido das religiões e das crenças que nos são propostas há séculos. A sua sólida análise parte de um dado científico: o corpo morre. A alma é feita do mesmo material que o corpo. A alma morre. No momento de nossa morte ela simplesmente se dissolve - não há vida após a morte. Os que creem vêm tanto se consolando quanto se torturando com a ideia de que algo os espera depois de suas mortes.A reflexão encetada pelo Autor nos convida a reconhecer que, como a alma morre junto com o nosso corpo, é necessário entender que não pode haver recompensa ou castigos póstumos. Por isso, é bastante plausível supormos que todas as religiões organizadas são, acima de tudo, ilusões supersticiosas. Essas ilusões baseiam-se em desejos, medos e ignorâncias enraizadas profundamente ao longo dos séculos. Os humanos projetam imagens do poder, da beleza e da segurança perfeita que gostariam de ter. Ao moldar seus deuses de acordo com essas imagens, tornam-se escravos de seus próprios sonhos impossíveis.Longe de aceitar o desespero como saída para essa conclusão lapidar e assustadora, com coragem e ousadia, o Autor se alinha com a atitude do herói grego, daquele que merece ser lembrado porque vive sem esperança, mas ainda assim enfrenta o agon, ou seja, o conflito, que é a vida e o comportamento para quem vive tragicamente. Viver sem esperança é o modo de amadurecimento resistindo à melancolia, olhando-a nos olhos, mas, ainda assim, desafiando-a na lida com os objetos concretos da vida, que nos retira da doença, do desespero, legando-nos à coragem como outra grande virtude trágica, sustentada pela virtude da reverência como reconhecimento de que vivemos lutando contra forças que jamais venceremos.

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Book SynopsisRoger Scruton explores the place of God in a disenchanted world. His argument is a response to the atheist culture that is now growing around us, and also a defence of human uniqueness. He rebuts the claim that there is no meaning or purpose in the natural world, and argues that the sacred and the transcendental are ''real presences'', through which human beings come to know themselves and to find both their freedom and their redemption.In the human face we find a paradigm of meaning. And from this experience, Scruton argues, we both construct the face of the world, and address the face of God. We find in the face both the proof of our freedom and the mark of self-consciousness. One of the motivations of the atheist culture is to escape from the eye of judgement. You escape from the eye of judgement by blotting out the face: and this, Scruton argues, is the most disturbing aspect of the times in which we live. In his wide-ranging argument Scruton explains the growing sense oTrade ReviewRoger Scruton is one of our most interesting intellectuals... This is an important book, with a very wide cultural range. It is brave in pointing to a turning away from God as the fundamental plight of our times. * The Church Times *... if you want a handy pocket guide to humanity's perennial search for God, one that will take you safely round the edges of the current religious battlefield, this elegant and gracious book is one to buy. * New Statesman *... [Scruton's] sequence on the structure of the effable (buildings) is good, and the book contains many interesting and prettily phrased thoughts. * The Guardian *Scruton develops this account with illuminating attention to some classic artworks (the book has 20 illustrations), and the book's introduction and five chapters are consistently nontechnical and accessible. -- P.K. Moser, Loyola University Chicago * CHOICE *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. The View from Nowhere 2. The View from Somewhere 3. Where Am I? 4. The Face of the Person 5. The Face of God

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Book SynopsisInfidel. Atheist. Rationalist. Agnostic. Occultist Aleister Crowley, soldier J. F. C. Fuller, and poet Victor Neuburg embraced these labels as active contributors and participants in the British secularist movement at the dawn of the twentieth century. Rebelling against Victorian religious and social strictures, they dreamed of a world guided by scientific evidence instead of superstition. Friendship in Doubt examines how the Agnostic movement-from Saladin''s Agnostic Journal and G. W. Foote''s Freethinker, to the Rationalist Press Association and its Literary Guide--inspired and introduced Crowley, Fuller, and Neuburg to each other as foundational figures in the new religious movement of Thelema. Agnosticism would inform not only Thelema, but also Crowley''s publishing company S.P.R.T.; A?A?, a successor to the fragmented Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn; the Equinox journal; and the concept of magick as Scientific Illuminism. This volume also collects for the first time the contributions of all three to the Agnostic literature. This scarce and largely unknown material provides insight into the thinking of Crowley, Fuller and Neuburg at the start of their careers, and an understanding of their subsequent trajectories after they parted ways. As such, it provides unique insights into the role of Agnosticism in the formative years of an emerging occult movement which would go on to exert an immense influence on Western esotericism in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A tour-de-force survey of the changing relation of culture and religion."—Publishers Weekly"Eagleton produces an account of the continuing power of religion that is rich and compelling. Open this book at random, and you will find on a single page more thought-stirring argument than can be gleaned from a dozen ponderous treatises on philosophy of sociology. Most of the critical turning points in modern thought are examined illuminatingly."—John Gray, New Statesman"Wide-ranging and intellectually impassioned."—Sarah Bakewell, Financial Times"His latest book confirms him as one of the most interesting thinkers on culture and religion that we have, and the good news is that what he says about our contemporary situation is true, important and accessible . . . That Eagleton . . . ought to be taken seriously by serious people is beyond doubt."—John McDade, The Tablet"Getting rid of God has been a long slog, Eagleton’s concise, absorbing overview of the philosophical and cultural trends of the past three centuries explains."—Marcus Tanner, The Independent"Terry Eagleton brings all his forensic insights and acerbic wit, to the search for a replacement for God in critical thinking since the Enlightenment . . . Eagleton’s thoughts – 'one can kill for all sorts of motives, but killing on a spectacular scale is almost always the consequence of ideas' – are a joy to ponder. That and his depth of knowledge make for fascinating reading."—Scarlett MacGwire, Tribune Magazine"If Terry Eagleton didn't exist, it would be necessary to invent him."—Simon Critchley, author of The Book of Dead Philosophers"The central virtue of Eagleton's reliably witty and erudite story of culture and politics in Western thought is the insistence on how difficult, and how rare, genuine atheism is. No one interested in the seemingly endless 'God debate' can ignore this book, which briskly surveys more than three centuries of intellectual discourse about democracy and the divine, and then ends with a well-turned, provocative snarl."—Mark Kingwell, author of Unruly Voices: Essays on Democracy, Civility and the Human Imagination

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Book SynopsisA dazzling investigation into psychology, art and religion; the demise of capitalism; and the beginning of a new era from the author of IDEAS.Trade ReviewI would not wish to have missed The Age of Nothing by Peter Watson, a brisk 565 pages on the displacement of God from Western Culture. -- TOM STOPPARD * TLS - BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2014 *his erudition is formidable -- THEODORE DALRYMPLE * THE TIMES *In a vividly engaging conspectus of the formative ideas of the past century, The Age of Nothing shows how Nietzsche's diagnosis evoked responses in may areas of cultural life, including some surprising parts of the political spectrum. -- John Gray * NEW STATESMAN *I recommend this book to anyone who needs to know what the loss of religious faith has meant to the high culture of our civilsation and what, if anything, we might do about it.... (it) covers a whole century of intellectual endeavour as lightly as it can. -- ROGER SCRUTON * THE INDEPENDENT *The beauty of this book is Watson's ability to impose order on a riot of ideas. * PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY *This book will appeal to anyone with intellectual curiosity about the human condition and the development of ideas. It will especially appeal to the non-religious reader. This isn't a book about, or even particularly in defence of atheism as a worldview, but it sets out objectively a history of non-religious thought that covers everything from science to poetry, incorporating philosophy, the rise of new age 'spiritualism' and therapy. -- GREG JAMESON * ENTERTAINMENT FOCUS *There is much in this book that I did not know, and I am grateful to have learnt it. -- Theodore Dalrymple * THE TIMES *his erudition is formidable -- Theodore Dalymple * THE TIMES *The beauty of this book is Watson's ability to impose order on a riot of ideas. * Publisher's Weekly *This book will appeal to anyone with intellectual curiosity about the human condition and the development of ideas. It will especially appeal to the non-religious reader. This isn't a book about, or even particularly in defence of atheism as a worldview, but it sets out objectively a history of non-religious thought that covers everything from science to poetry, incorporating philosophy, the rise of new age 'spiritualism' and therapy. -- Greg Jameson * Entertainment Focus *I recommend this book to anyone who needs to know what the loss of religious faith has meant to the high culture of our civilsation and what, if anything, we might do about it.... (it) covers a whole century of intellectual endeavour as lightly as it can. -- Roger Scruton * THE INDEPENDENT *In a vividly engaging conspectus of the formative ideas of the past century, The Age of Nothing shows how Nietzsche's diagnosis evoked responses in may areas of cultural life, including some surprising parts of the political spectrum. -- John Gray * NEW STATESMAN *

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Book SynopsisThere has been a bad-tempered quarrel between defenders and critics of religion in recent years. Both sides have expressed themselves acerbically because there is a very great deal at stake in the debate. This book thoroughly and calmly examines all the arguments and associated considerations offered in support of religious belief, and does so in full consciousness of the reasons people have for subscribing to religion, and the needs they seek to satisfy by doing so. And because it takes account of all the issues, its solutions carry great weight. The God Argument is the definitive examination of the issue, and a statement of the humanist outlook that recommends itself as the ethics of the genuinely reflective person.Trade ReviewA lucid, informative and admirably accessible account of the atheist-secular-humanist position * New Statesman *Precise and incisive … Mr Grayling is a talented apologist. His brand of humanism comes across as sensible, reasonable and characterized by generosity of spirit that is often absent from religious structures, many of which involve compiling lists of what is forbidden and dreaming up creatively horrendous punishments for those who fall short * Economist *A calm and intelligent look at different religions and their various arguments for the existence of their gods * Daily Mail *Grayling writes with clarity, elegance and the occasional aphoristic twist ... straight alpha material * Independent on Towards The Light *There is an immense depth of human wisdom on display here, and five minutes with any passage will have you contemplating all day * Independent on The Good Book *Undeniably thought-provoking * The Sunday Times *Professor Grayling himself neatly exemplifies the values of calm rationality which are at the heart of Stoicism, and which influenced early Christian thought * Church Times *Debunks the teleological, ontological and cosmological arguments employed throughout Christendom for the literal existence of God … Those looking for a succinct analysis of these centuries old debates will appreciate Grayling’s insights * Washington Post *

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Book SynopsisThe central contention of the “New Atheism” of Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens is that there has for several centuries been a war between science and religion, that religion has been steadily losing that war, and that at this point in human history a completely secular scientific account of the world has been worked out in such thorough and convincing detail that there is no longer any reason why a rational and educated person should find the claims of any religion the least bit worthy of attention.But as Edward Feser argues inThe Last Superstition, in fact there is not, and never has been, any war between science and religion at all. There has instead been a conflict between two entirely philosophical conceptions of the natural order: on the one hand, the classical “teleological” vision of Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas, on which purpose or goal-directedness is as inherent a feature of the physical world as mass or electric charge; and the modern “mechanical” vision of Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, and Hume, according to which the physical world is comprised of nothing more than purposeless, meaningless particles in motion. As it happens, on the classical teleological picture, the existence of God, the immortality of the soul, and the natural-law conception of morality are rationally unavoidable. Modern atheism and secularism have thus always crucially depended for their rational credentials on the insinuation that the modern, mechanical picture of the world has somehow been established by science. Yet this modern “mechanical” picture has never been established by science, and cannot be, for it is not a scientific theory in the first place but merely a philosophical interpretation of science. Moreover, as Feser shows, the philosophical arguments in its favor given by the early modern philosophers were notable only for being surprisingly weak. The true reasons for its popularity were then, and are now, primarily political: It was a tool by which the intellectual foundations of ecclesiastical authority could be undermined and the way opened toward a new secular and liberal social order oriented toward commerce and technology. So as to further these political ends, it was simply stipulated, by fiat as it were, that no theory inconsistent with the mechanical picture of the world would be allowed to count as “scientific.” As the centuries have worn on and historical memory has dimmed, this act of dogmatic stipulation has falsely come to be remembered as a “discovery.”However, not only is this modern philosophical picture rationally unfounded, it is demonstrably false. For the “mechanical” conception of the natural world, when worked out consistently, absurdly entails that rationality, and indeed the human mind itself, are illusory. The so-called “scientific worldview” championed by the New Atheists thus inevitably undermines its own rational foundations; and into the bargain (and contrary to the moralistic posturing of the New Atheists) it undermines the foundations of any possible morality as well. By contrast, and as The Last Superstition demonstrates, the classical teleological picture of nature can be seen to find powerful confirmation in developments from contemporary philosophy, biology, and physics; moreover, morality and reason itself cannot possibly be made sense of apart from it. The teleological vision of the ancients and medievals is thereby rationally vindicated – and with it the religious worldview they based upon it.

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Book SynopsisWhat words come to mind when we think of God? Merciful? Just? Compassionate? In fact, the Bible lays out God’s primary qualities clearly: jealous, petty, unforgiving, bloodthirsty, vindictive—and worse! Originally conceived as a joint presentation between influential thinker and bestselling author Richard Dawkins and former evangelical preacher Dan Barker, this unique book provides an investigation into what may be the most unpleasant character in all fiction. Barker combs through both the Old and New Testament (as well as 13 different editions of the “Good Book”), presenting powerful evidence for why the Scripture shouldn’t govern our everyday lives. This witty, well-researched book suggests that we should move past the Bible and clear a path to a kinder and more thoughtful world.

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Book SynopsisAtheism in Five Minutes offers insights into a number of commonly held questions about the ideas, practices and attitudes concerning atheism and atheists. The volume highlights approaches based on the study of religion, sociology, history, anthropology, politics and psychology. It also examines the implications and assumptions in common questions about atheism. Ideal for both classroom use and personal study, some of the questions asked include: Are atheists immoral? Are children born atheist? Do atheists have rituals? How has atheism related to politics? Why do some atheists remain members of religious groups? Is it difficult to be an atheist in Muslim countries? Do atheist parents have atheist children? Why are there so few black atheists? What are the most atheistic societies? Has the Internet made atheism more popular? Each essay is based on the latest research written by a leading scholar in the field. They offer concise and thoughtful answers along with suggestions for further reading.Table of ContentsPreface Teemu Taira Conceptual and Historical Issues What Does the Term “Atheism” Mean? Nathan G. Alexander What Is the Difference Between Atheism, Agnosticism, Nonreligion and Secular? Christopher R. Cotter, University of Edinburgh Have All Great Scientists Been Atheists? Aku Visala, Univesity of Helsinki Were There Atheists in Ancient Greece and Rome? Ramón Soneira Martinez, University of Erfurt What Is the Relationship Between Judaism and Atheism? Daniel Langton, University of Manchester Why Has Buddhism Been Perceived as Atheistic? Jens Schlieter, University of Bern Is It Difficult to Be an Atheist in Muslim Countries? Karin van Nieuwkerk, Radboud University Society, Politics and Media What Are the Most Atheistic Societies? Isabella Kasselstrand, University of Aberdeen Why Are Some Societies More Atheistic than Others? Teemu Taira Are Atheists Typically Young People? Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme, University of Waterloo, & Joel Thiessen, Ambrose University Why Are Men More Likely to Be Atheists than Women? Tiina Mahlamäki, University of Turku Why Are There So Few Black Atheists? Daniel Swann, Goucher College and University of Maryland College Park How Has Atheism Related to Politics? Steven Kettell, Univesity of Warwick Does Atheism Promote Peace? Stacey Gutkowski, King's College London How Has Atheism Related to Communism? Atko Remmel, University of Tartu Is Contemporary Atheism Leaning Politically to Right or Left? Stuart McAnulla, University of Leeds Do Laws About Religion Take Atheism into Account? Lori Beaman, University of Ottawa What Do Religious People Think of Atheists? Petra Klüg, Universität Bremen How Are Atheists Organized? Richard Cimino, Religion Watch, & Christopher Smith Do Atheists and Feminists Support Each Other? Tiina Mahlamäki How Are Atheists Represented in the Media? Teemu Taira What Is the Historical Role of Atheism in Literature and the Arts? James B. Reeves, Texas State University Beliefs, Values and Practices Do Atheist Parents Have Atheist Children? Christel Manning, Sacred Heart University How Does One Become an Atheist? Julia Martínez-Ariño, University of Groningen How Do Atheists Deal with the Problem of Evil? Sami Pihlström, University of Helsinki How Do Atheists Cope with Mortality? Jacob S. Sawyer, Pennsylvania State University Where Do Atheists Get Their Values? Kyle Thompson, Harvey Mudd College and MiraCosta College Do Atheists Have Religious Experiences? Abby Day, Goldsmiths, University of London Do Atheists Have Sacred Scripture? Ethan G. Quillen Do Atheists Have Rituals? Richard Cimino & Christopher Smith Can an Atheist Be Spiritual? Atko Remmel Are Atheists Immoral? Kyle Thompson Are Atheists Intolerant? Filip Užarević, Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar, Zagreb Do Atheists Value Some Religions More than Other Religions? Joel Thiessen & Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme What Do Atheists Value in Religion, If Anything? Teemu Taira Is Atheism Good for Your Health? Kevin McCaffree & Anondah Saide, both at University of North Texas Future What is the Future of Atheism? Teemu Taira

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Book SynopsisWhen Richard Dawkins published The God Delusion, David Robertson wanted an intelligent Christian response – and so he wrote it. This honest book draws on Robertson’s experience as a debater, letter writer, pastor and author to clarify the questions and the answers for thinkers and seekers, and to respond to Dawkins in a gentle spirit.Trade Review"I have read your manuscript. In a word, it is SUPERB! You really do an extraordinary job." -- Samuel Logan (International Director, World Reformed Fellowship)Wow, this is an intelligent and well-crafted view of RD's book. -- Response from an atheist on Richard Dawkins WebsiteThe content is excellent. It's a fun, engaging read. -- Ligon Duncan (Chancellor and CEO, Reformed Theological Seminary)The book does a particularly good job of point out the unending contradictions between what Dawkins wants to believe and what he must actually believe. -- Tim Challies (Author, ‘Seasons of Sorrow’)This book is a more than useful contribution to the 'Dawkins Debate.' -- Christian Marketplace (Resourcing retailers and suppliers)Brief, brilliant and compelling... It is a remarkable apologetic for the Christian faith and an essential tool in winning the battle of ideas. I'd give it ten stars if I could! -- Richard Morris, Wesley OwenThis book is a refreshing, excellent read... I wouldn't hesitate to pass this book on to a non-Christian, atheistically-persuaded friend. -- The Evangelical Magazine (Published by Evangelical Movement of Wales)Note from the author: The poster, 'richarddawkins.net' (is this an official view?) accuses me of lying and gives the example of the quotes on the cover of the book having been made up. From a Christian perspective this accusation of lying by either myself or CFP is very serious. Lying for Jesus is obviously self contradictory and wrong. The example that the poster gives is just wrong. All the quotes came from the Dawkins website, were seen by many people, and I have copies of them all. However over 300 posts were removed from that particular thread - including many of my own posts and all the ones referred to in the book. Perhaps it was just a coincidence but whatever the case those quotes did exist. If the poster is writing on behalf of richarddawkins.net, they know this and therefore are themselves not telling the truth. It is not the first time that a lie is told in order to accuse others of lying. It is very strange that richarddawkins.net are so keen to accuse me of lying, it indicates a certain level of desperation. They are struggling to answer The Dawkins Letters and so have to revert to attacking the author. -- David RobertsonWow, this is an intelligent and well-crafted view of RD's book. -- Reader on www.richarddawkins.net

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Book SynopsisThe key to the book is a set of interviews with people who fall broadly into the Christian Atheist category; some are more agnostic and less sceptical than others, but what they have in common is the rejection of traditional belief in God, counterbalanced by an admiration for the aesthetic genius of Christianity (leading to a sense of deeper value), the Christian moral compass, and in some cases the community aspect of Christian life. As one of his interviewees points out, you can?t have Christian atheism without mainstream, traditional Christianity, so Brian Mountford sets their comments within a broader discussion of the issues: God, aesthetics, orthodoxy, doubt and belief, ethics and communal values. His purpose is threefold: to validate and affirm the Christian atheist position within the broad spectrum of Christianity to say to the Church, you ignore this phenomenon at your peril to show that the distinction between atheist and religious adherent is rarely black and white, and that the ground between the two is a fertile source of meaning and valueTrade ReviewIn this fascinating and thoughtful book, Brian Mountford explores the borderland where Christians and atheists gaze at each other with expressions ranging from the hostile and scornful to the friendly and sympathetic. In some ways it is the most interesting place in contemporary religion. Mountford has an extensive knowledge of this borderland, and in the interviews and reflections in this book he explores it in the company of some eloquent and thoughtful contemporaries. (Philip Pullman, author and self-confessed Christian Atheist)

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Book SynopsisDemonstrates definitively that the secularization thesis is correct, and religion is losing its grip on societies worldwideIn the decades since its introduction, secularization theory has been subjected to doubt and criticism from a number of leading scholars, who have variously claimed that it is wrong, flawed, or incomplete. In Beyond Doubt, Isabella Kasselstrand, Phil Zuckerman, and Ryan T. Cragun mount a strong defense for the theory, providing compelling evidence that religion is indeed declining globally as a result of modernization. Though defenses of secularization theory have been mounted in the past, we now have many years' worth of empirical data to illuminate trends, and can trace changes not just at a given point in time but over a trajectory. Drawing on extensive survey data from nations around the world, the book demonstrates that, in spite of its many detractors, there is robust empirical support for secularization theory. It also engages with theTrade ReviewSociology professors Kasselstrand, Zuckerman, and Cragun examine the rise of secularization in this edifying entry. The authors draw on rich empirical evidence and careful analysis to make their case, and the global perspective is both ambitious and rewarding. Religion students and scholars will find this illuminating. * Publishers Weekly *Emphatically argues that when empirical measures and rigorous definitions are applied, religion declines. ... The authors take aim at refuting the stances of sociologists Rodney Stark, Peter Berger, Grace Davie, Christian Smith, and others who said otherwise. They also sift through the global survey data on religious beliefs, behaviors, and belonging. From this, they posit that the rationalization and differentiation of modernism has had exactly the effect that secularization theory predicted it would: that religions will decline as societies develop. * Library Journal *Featuring multiple decades’ worth of extensive and comprehensive data, the authors defend and formalize secularization theory in a way that is compelling yet simple. Indeed, Beyond Doubt will be the defining text on the undeniable proof that secularization theory is correct and here to stay. -- Steve Bruce, author of Secularization: In Defence of an Unfashionable TheoryPresents critics’ arguments against secularization theory fairly, yet the case the authors make I think critics will find difficult to reject. This book will make a significant contribution, not just to the sociology of religion, but to anyone interested in the role of religion in society today. -- Jesse M. Smith, co-editor of Secularity and Non-religion in North America

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Book SynopsisOriginally published in 1845, this concise critique formed the basis of thirty later lectures delivered in 1848 by Ludwig Feuerbach, one of Germany's most influential humanist philosophers. In The Essence of Religion Feuerbach applied the analysis expounded in The Essence of Christianity (1841) to religion as a whole. The main thrust of Feuerbach's argument is aptly summed up in the original subtitle to this work: "God the Image of Man. Man's Dependence upon Nature the Last and Only Source of Religion." Feuerbach reviews key aspects of religious belief and in each case explains them as imaginative elaborations of the primal awe and sense of dependence that humans experience in the face of nature's power and mystery. Rather than humans being created in the image of God, the situation is quite the reverse: "All theology is anthropology," he says, and "the being whom man sets over against himself as a separate supernatural existence is his own being." Feuerbach goes on to argue that the attributes of God are no more than reflections of the various needs of human nature. Further, as human civilization has advanced, the role of God has gradually diminished. In ancient times, before human beings had any scientific understanding of the way nature works, divine powers were seen behind every natural manifestation, from lightning bolts to the change of seasons. By contrast, in the modern era, when an in-depth understanding of natural causes has been achieved, there is no longer any need to imagine God behind the workings of nature: "He who for his God has no other material than that which natural science, philosophy, or natural observation generally furnishes to him . . . ought to be honest enough also to abstain from using the name of God, for a natural principle is always a natural essence and not what constitutes the idea of a God." Feuerbach's naturalistic philosophy had a decisive influence on Karl Marx and radical theologians such as Bruno Bauer and David Friedrich Strauss. His incisive critique remains a challenge to religion to this day.

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Book SynopsisAccording to anthropologists, religion arose in the Neolithic period, a time that began 12 thousand years ago when people abandoned the hunter-gatherer lifestyle and started settling down in communities. By the time of the ancient Egyptians, religion had reached a significant level of development. The spirits of the seeds and the weather had evolved into gods. In the end, the gods numbered more than a thousand; every god required a temple, and every temple needed a priest, or several of them. For the Christian god to reach its final form took an additional three hundred years. It was accomplished through the work of dozens of bishops who wrestled with the problem of how a god consisting of three persons could really be one entity. Religion, Power & Illusion: A Genealogy of Religious Belief puts forth the idea that modern concepts of God are inextricably tied to the generations of mortal priests that shaped biblical and religious ideas. Religious orthodoxy as we know it today is the result of the countless solutions proposed by priests, not necessarily as the result of so-called primary texts or teachings, with various bishops condemning various proposals as heretical and blessing others as conventional. But how were orthodoxy and heresy distinguished? Any position that increased the power of the bishops was, by definition, orthodox, and any position that undermined it was heretical. Thus, the Christian god that we have today is a construct assembled over many years, and for two thousand years it has served to augment and solidify the power of the bishops who created it and who sustain it. Religion, Power & Illusion concludes that priestly power is so firmly rooted in the human condition that religion is not likely to disappear any time soon. It also explores the defective logic used by religious promoters, and what is necessary for experiences to be non-illusory.

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Book SynopsisAlthough humankind today can peer far deeper into the universe than ever before, we still find ourselves surrounded by the unknown and perhaps the unknowable. All great science fiction has used the human imagination to explore that realm beyond the known, just as theistic religions have done since long before the genre existed. As Hugo Award-winning author Robert Charles Wilson argues in Owning the Unknown, the genre’s freewheeling speculation and systematic world-building make it it a unique lens for understanding, examining, and assessing the truth claims of religions in general and Christianity in particular. Drawing on his personal experience, his work as a science fiction writer, and his deep knowledge of the classics of the genre, he makes the case for what he calls intuitive atheism—an atheism drawn from everyday personal knowledge that doesn’t depend on familiarity with the scholarly debate about theology and metaphysics, any more than a robust personal Christianity does. And as he reminds us, the secrets that remain hidden beyond the borders of the known universe—should we ever discover them—will probably not resemble anything currently found in our most prized philosophies, our most sacred texts, or our most imaginative science fiction.

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Book SynopsisThoughtful essays to revive dialogue about atheism beyond belief. The Varieties of Atheism reveals the diverse nonreligious experiences obscured by the combative intellectualism of Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Christopher Hitchens. In fact, contributors contend that narrowly defining atheism as the belief that there is no god misunderstands religious and nonreligious persons altogether. The essays show that, just as religion exceeds doctrine, atheism also encompasses every dimension of human life: from imagination and feeling to community and ethics. Contributors offer new, expansive perspectives on atheism's diverse history and possible futures. By recovering lines of affinity and tension between particular atheists and particular religious traditions, this book paves the way for fruitful conversation between religious and non-religious people in our secular age.Trade Review“What does it mean to be an atheist? It’s not just one thing, it’s not just disbelief in god. There’s a positive expression connected to ideas of ethics, our relationship with authority, how reason and experience and the material world inform our lives, when does science become moral–these are big questions that we have to ask. This book points the way to a positive belief.” * Beyond Atheism Podcast *"Fundamental for anyone interested in the study of atheism." * Reading Religion *“What is atheism? Neither a mere negation, nor a single (self-evident?) truth: this book makes clear that it is as rich, varied, and nuanced as religion itself. To call yourself an atheist is not to state a position, but to start a conversation—a conversation for which this book is an excellent primer.” -- Alec Ryrie, author of 'Unbelievers: An Emotional History of Doubt'“An excellent collection of essays by well-established and up-and-coming voices in religious studies, this book is both critical of New Atheism’s reductive critique of religion and constructive with new possibilities—theological, philosophical, ethical, and political. It enriches the debates by giving atheism histories and subtleties that debates themselves frequently lack.” -- Graham Ward, University of Oxford“Just as contemporary scholars of religion have pushed us to move beyond simplistic equations between religion and belief, this stimulating collection of essays urges us to recognize that atheism also comes in many varieties. By exploring the implications of different forms of atheism and their relation to different conceptions of science, politics, power, ethics, literature, and, indeed, life, this book is a major contribution to the study of religion and its critics. Anyone interested in the relation between religion and the modern world will have much to learn from this exciting collection.” -- Leora Batnitzky, Princeton UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction The Genealogy of Atheism David Newheiser 1 Atheism and Science: On Einstein’s “Cosmic Religious Sense” Mary-Jane Rubenstein 2 Atheism and Society: Hume’s Prefiguration of Rorty Andre C. Willis 3 Atheism and Power: Nietzsche, Nominalism, and the Reductive Spirit Denys Turner 4 Atheism and Ethics: Recovering the Link between Truth and Transformation Susannah Ticciati 5 Atheism and Metaphysics: A Problem of Apophatic Theology Henning Tegtmeyer 6 Atheism and Politics: Abandonment, Absence, and the Empty Throne Devin Singh 7 Atheism and Literature: Living without God in Dante’s Comedy Vittorio Montemaggi 8 Atheism and the Affirmation of Life: Dostoevsky’s Response to Russian Nihilism George Pattison Afterword: The Drama of Atheism Constance M. Furey Acknowledgments Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“What does it mean to be an atheist? It’s not just one thing, it’s not just disbelief in god. There’s a positive expression connected to ideas of ethics, our relationship with authority, how reason and experience and the material world inform our lives, when does science become moral–these are big questions that we have to ask. This book points the way to a positive belief.” * Beyond Atheism Podcast *"Fundamental for anyone interested in the study of atheism." * Reading Religion *“What is atheism? Neither a mere negation, nor a single (self-evident?) truth: this book makes clear that it is as rich, varied, and nuanced as religion itself. To call yourself an atheist is not to state a position, but to start a conversation—a conversation for which this book is an excellent primer.” -- Alec Ryrie, author of 'Unbelievers: An Emotional History of Doubt'“An excellent collection of essays by well-established and up-and-coming voices in religious studies, this book is both critical of New Atheism’s reductive critique of religion and constructive with new possibilities—theological, philosophical, ethical, and political. It enriches the debates by giving atheism histories and subtleties that debates themselves frequently lack.” -- Graham Ward, University of Oxford“Just as contemporary scholars of religion have pushed us to move beyond simplistic equations between religion and belief, this stimulating collection of essays urges us to recognize that atheism also comes in many varieties. By exploring the implications of different forms of atheism and their relation to different conceptions of science, politics, power, ethics, literature, and, indeed, life, this book is a major contribution to the study of religion and its critics. Anyone interested in the relation between religion and the modern world will have much to learn from this exciting collection.” -- Leora Batnitzky, Princeton UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction The Genealogy of Atheism David Newheiser 1 Atheism and Science: On Einstein’s “Cosmic Religious Sense” Mary-Jane Rubenstein 2 Atheism and Society: Hume’s Prefiguration of Rorty Andre C. Willis 3 Atheism and Power: Nietzsche, Nominalism, and the Reductive Spirit Denys Turner 4 Atheism and Ethics: Recovering the Link between Truth and Transformation Susannah Ticciati 5 Atheism and Metaphysics: A Problem of Apophatic Theology Henning Tegtmeyer 6 Atheism and Politics: Abandonment, Absence, and the Empty Throne Devin Singh 7 Atheism and Literature: Living without God in Dante’s Comedy Vittorio Montemaggi 8 Atheism and the Affirmation of Life: Dostoevsky’s Response to Russian Nihilism George Pattison Afterword: The Drama of Atheism Constance M. Furey Acknowledgments Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisAtheism is an erudite and open-ended exploration of profound questions of estrangement, death, suicide, and the infinite that demonstrates the range and the provocative power of Alexandre Kojève’s thought.Trade ReviewKojève is a riddle, his Russian roots eclipsed by his legendary role as explicator of German idealism to French intellectuals in the 1930s. This splendid translation of his erudite, eccentric 1931 text reveals him taking on the most Dostoevskian of questions with all the wisdom of Western Europe at his back. What is our relation to what is outside the world? Here is an inquiry into atheistic anthropology that would have thrilled Heidegger himself. -- Caryl Emerson, Princeton UniversityAlexandre Kojève became famous and influential primarily because of his seminar on Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit that was given in Paris between the years 1933 and 1939. This seminar was regularly attended by leading figures of the French intellectual life of that time such as Georges Bataille and Jacques Lacan. Kojève's earlier book Atheism is a brilliant analysis of the relationship between faith and atheism that offers invaluable insights on the formation of Kojeve’s thought but also remains important in our time. -- Boris Groys, author of Under Suspicion: A Phenomenology of MediaAlexandre Kojève's philosophical novella on the stakes of atheism for his time is the most significant work of his early career. It is key to understanding his famous Hegel lectures, his attempt to outdo Heidegger, and his idiosyncratic early politics that mixed hopes of radical transformation with a deep pessimism. Thanks to Jeff Love's translation, we can open up anew those philosophical movements of interwar France, including phenomenology and existentialism, which Kojève would so profoundly affect. -- Stefanos Geroulanos, New York UniversityIn Jeff Love's careful translation, this difficult text exudes the irresistible attraction of Kojève's philosophical prose. Written a couple of years before his famous lectures on Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, this essay already displays Kojève's signature combination of intellectual depth, probity, and radicalism. -- Galin Tihanov, George Steiner Professor of Comparative Literature, Queen Mary University of LondonKojève’s text is intriguing and suggestive in its ideas as well as in its genre. -- Clare Carlisle * Times Literary Supplement *I found it most enlightening and asking questions that lie underneath the surface that is usually not scratched by other atheist philosophers. * Scene Point Blank *This book is dense and very rewarding for those who approach it patiently. * Choice *We are glad to have this profound essay to stimulate our thinking on theism, atheism, and mortality, and to give us further insight into the breadth of Kojeve's inquiries. * Review of Metaphysics *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Atheism and PoliticsTranslator’s NoteAtheismNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisStudies secularism and religiosity in Russia, past and presentTrade ReviewDrawing upon the material on a particular Russian region, the Republic of Marii El (the former Mariiskaia Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic), from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first century, the author traces the intricate relationship of religion and secularism in Soviet and post-Soviet times.49.1 2015 * Canadian-American Slavic Studies *Highly recommend[ed]. * H-Soz-u-Kult *[Sony Lûrman's] objective of the study is to compare methods to promote atheist and religious ideas in the Soviet and post-Soviet periods, respectively. Although the content of the teaching of religion [is] the opposite of atheistic propaganda, according to the author, there are similarities in terms of audience and methods . . . .1 2014 * Laboratorium *[This book] greatly enhances our understanding of the post-Soviet revival of religion.June 2013 * REVIEW OF POLITICS *Each chapter traces a concept, an 'elective affinity,' through rich descriptions of how that concept is instantiated in practice across time and across a multireligious social field. The result is new and productive lens through which to understand the relationship between religion and communism. * Anthropos *Highly recommend[ed].April 2014 * H-Soz-u-Kult *Secularism Soviet Style is an attractively written and thought-provoking book that deserves to be read not only by regional specialists but by scholars of religion and secularism more generally. * Slavic Review *Luerhmann's ethnography makes an important contribution to studies about the nature of and the relationships between secular and religious movements in Russia. At the same time, its impact will extend beyond studies of religion to shed critical light on processes of knowledge formation and knowledge transmission. In many ways, because Luerhmann does such a good job of attending to and unpacking Russian styles of persuasion, it will be of tremendous value to schlars working on a wide range of topics, from political ideology to forms of aesthetics and representation to institutions and bureaucracies, not just in Russia but across the former Soviet Union. * The Russian Review *Luehrmann's book is well written and excellently researched. It provides much-needed understanding of the late-Soviet atheist endeavors. Importantly, by showing how Soviet secularism diverged from liberal projects, it makes a valuable contribution to conceptualizations of secularism. * PoLAR *Luehrmann's book is a fascinating anthropological inquiry into the every-day lives of post-communist citizens that focuses especially on four religious groups: Orthodox,Protestant-Lutherans, Evangelical (especially Pentecostal and Charismatic) and Traditional Mari Religion (Chimarij) and the way these religious groups appropriate the secular mobilization and didactic techniques that were forged during the Soviet period. * Anthropology of East Europe Review *This is a fascinating probe into the complex world of a country attempting to remove religion and god from society in order to modernize, but finding that atheism is not synonymous with modernization, and that religion has deep roots and an extraordinary ability to adapt to changing circumstances. . . . Recommended. * Choice *Table of ContentsPreface and AcknowledgmentsNote on Translation, Transliteration, and NamesIntroduction: Atheism, Secularity, and Postsecular ReligionI. Affinities1. Neighbors and Comrades: Secularizing the Mari Country2. "Go teach:" Methods of ChangeII. Promises3. Church Closings and Sermon Circuits4. Marginal LessonsIII. Fissures5. Visual Aid6. The Soul and the SpiritIV. Rhythms7. Lifelong LearningConclusion: Affinity and DiscernmentGlossaryNotesReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisIn this book two philosophers, each committed to unambiguous versions of belief and disbelief, debate the central issues of atheism and theism. Considers one of the oldest and most widely disputed philosophical questions: is there a God? Presents the atheism/theism issue in the form of philosophical debate between two highly regarded scholars, widely praised for the clarity and verve of their work. This second edition contains new essays by each philosopher, responding to criticisms and building on their previous work. Trade Review"Smart and Haldane are both remarkable philosophers. Each in his own way possesses the rare combination of formidable dialectical skills, an original vision for philosophy, and immense personal integrity ... I do not see how anyone could read this book and not feel that it represents the finest kind of intellectual encounter ..."Hilary Putnam, Harvard University "Philosophers of both theistic and atheistic persuasions will find this important new debate on theism particularly interesting for themselves and for their students. Haldane an Smart show that the dispute over the existence of God is very much alive among the best philosophers at the end of the twentieth century." Linda Zagzebski, University of Oklahoma "This book show contemporary academic philosophy at its best." Scientific and Medical Network ReviewTable of ContentsPreface to the Second Edition. Introduction: J. J. Haldane and J. J. C. Smart. Part 1: Atheism and Theism: J. J. C. Smart. 1. Introduction. 2. Theism, Spirituality and Science. 3. The New Teleology and the Old. 4. Pantheism. 5. Fine Tuning and the Anthropic Cosmological Principle. 6. The Argument from the Appearance of Design. 7. God as an Ethical Principle. 8. The Argument from Contingency. 9. The Argument from Religious Experience. 10. Pascal's Wager. 11. Miracles. 12. Higher Criticism of the New Testament. 13. The Problem of Evil. 14. Historical Theism and Metaphysical Theism. Part 2: Atheism and Theism: J. J. Haldane. 1. Introduction. 2. Theism and Science. 3. Some Varieties of Explanation. 4. 'Old' Teleology. 5. 'New' Teleology. 6. The Cause of Things. 7. God and the World. 8. God, Good and Evil. 9. Liberty and Providence. 10. Theism - Philosophical and Religious. Part 3: Reply to Haldane: J. J. C. Smart. 1. Methodology. 2. Representation and Intentionality. 3. Consciousness. 4. Chicken and Egg. 5. Eternity and Sempeternity. 6. Theism and the Problem of Evil. Part 4: Reply to Smart: J. J. Haldane. 1. Methodology. 2. The Existence of God. 3. Metaphysical Matters. 4. Reason, Faith and Revelation. 5. A Religious Conclusion. Afterword: J. J. C. Smart and J. J. Haldane. Part 5 Further Reflections on Atheism for the Second Edition: J.J.C. Smart. Part 6 Further Relections on Theism for the Second Edition: J. J. Haldane. Bibliography. Index.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"... the great Catholic philosopher Yves Simon explains with admirable clarity just in what the Aristotelian conception of virtue consists." -Crisis

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Book SynopsisThe first collected volume of essays devoted to the thought of Simon.Trade Review"[He] was the best and clearest philosopher in his school." -- -Mortimer J. Adler

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Book SynopsisA study of clerical reaction to the sizeable number of Catholics who outwardly conformed to Protestantism in late 16c England. An important and satisfying monograph... Many insights emerge from this rich and original study, whichwhets the appetite for more. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW [Diarmaid MacCulloch]`Church Papist' was a nickname, a term of abuse, for those English Catholics who outwardly conformed to the established Protestant Church and yet inwardly remained Roman Catholics. The more dramatic stance of recusancy has drawn historians' attention away from this sizeable, if statistically indefinable, proportion of Church of England congregations, but its existence and significance is here clearly revealed through contemporary records, challenging the sectarian model of post-Reformation Catholicism perpetuated by previous historians. Alexandra Walsham explores the aggressive reaction of counter-Reformation clergy to the compromising conduct of church papists and the threat theyposed to Catholicism's separatist image; alongside this she explains why parish priests simultaneously condoned qualified conformity. This scholarly and original study thus draws into focus contemporary clerical apprehensions andanxieties, as well as the tensions caused by the shifting theological temper ofthe late Elizabethan and early Stuart church.ALEXANDRA WALSHAM is Lecturer in History at the University of Exeter.Trade ReviewA short book on a big subject...fluent, well-structured, sensitive, wise and mature. I wish it had been twice as long. JOURNAL OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORYAn important and satisfying monograph... Many insights emerge from this rich and original study, which whets the appetite for more. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW [Diarmaid MacCulloch]A distinguished and impressively scholarly book... Alexandra Walsham has succeeded admirably in her basic aim of putting church papists firmly on the religious map of early modern England. * HISTORY *Table of ContentsThe discovery of the church papist; the Reformation and the rediscovery of the church papist; "Reasons of Refusall"; "Comfortable Advertisements"; church papists; statute protestants.

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Book Synopsis50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists presents a collection of original essays drawn from an international group of prominent voices in the fields of academia, science, literature, media and politics who offer carefully considered statements of why they are atheists. Features a truly international cast of contributors, ranging from public intellectuals such as Peter Singer, Susan Blackmore, and A.C. Grayling, novelists, such as Joe Haldeman, and heavyweight philosophers of religion, including Graham Oppy and Michael Tooley Contributions range from rigorous philosophical arguments to highly personal, even whimsical, accounts of how each of these notable thinkers have come to reject religion in their lives Likely to have broad appeal given the current public fascination with religious issues and the reception of such books as The God Delusion and The End of Faith Trade Review"For students in comparative religion this volume offers ample material and powerful reasons to make them subject most if not all religious claims to a highly critical appraisal, preparing for a constructive and public debate." (Acta Comparanda, 2011) "50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists brings together many scholars and intellectuals from a variety of academic fields who explain the reasons why they do not believe in God. Russell Blackford and Udo Schüklenk's unique collection of original essays not only consists of short, digestible essays which are full of introductory presentations of both positive and negative arguments in support of atheism, but also in its candid testimonials which are more personally oriented." (Reviews in Religion, 2011) "The international cast of contributors includes many well-known names, from a diversity of fields-notably philosophy (about a third of the writers are philosophers) science, journalism, politics and science fiction. By no means do they agree on everything, but the unifying themes of rejection of conventional religions and acceptance of secular humanism shine through brightly. A descriptive list of contributors and an excellent index complement the essays, many of which are accompanied by useful endnotes and references." (Quadrant, September 2010) "It was mostly fascinating reading, in particular, those articles that abstained from using dull polemics and cynicism. Some of the articles-most notably from Nicholas Everitt, Thomas W. Clark, Michael Shermer, Peter Tatchell, Michael Tooley, and Udo Schüklenk-can indeed be used in undergraduate courses concerned with the existence of God in philosophy, ethics, and theology. I recommend this volume especially for all those who need to grasp a general and easy introduction into atheistic reasoning." (Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 2010) "I recommend this volume especially for all those who need to grasp a general and easy introduction into atheistic reasoning." (Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 2010) "The essays in this book reveal a great concern for our human plight, a concern that is the equal of religious impulses; they raise a richness of issues that are too often ignored, including the ultimate fear of the theists that perhaps in time it may well be possible to settle the question of God’s existence. The fifty voices in this book have spoken out with more than a small amount of courage. What emerges from thinking about these essays is a realization of what human reason is up against, within ourselves." (Free Inquiry, August/September 2010) "Good writing and clear thinking don't always go hand in hand. It's a pleasure, then, to find both in a recent book about going it alone -- no deus ex machina for us, please -- titled 50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists. In one volume, edited by Russell Blackford and Udo Schuklenk, you'll find idiosyncratic essays by a range of atheists from science fiction authors and philosophers to scientists and activists." (Psychology Today, Creating in Flow Blog, May 2010) "Many of the pieces in this book are full of superior contempt for the intellectual inadequacy of theism. Tatchell is forthright in his criticism of religion, but he never sneers. The essays in this book are all clearly argued, and will reassure the already faithful that they are neither daft nor deluded." (Church Times, April 2010) "The contemporary relevance,and timeliness of this book is unsurpassed. It is ... an account of various well known non-believers [and] personal viewpoints, directed at a popular audience. Very approachable at all levels, containing a wide range of stories, anecdotes and personal statements about why each of the authors considers themselves to be a non believer. Overall, this book is well suited for a mainstream audience, interested in questioning the power that religion holds over our lives. It [also] has good references ... which will also serve to guide the reader if further information is wanted. Thus, I recommend this book to anyone (regardless of their views concerning religion) interested in understanding why different people hold certain views concerning religion." (Metapsychology, April 2010) "By turns witty, serious, engaging and information, it is always human and deeply honest, and immensely rewarding to read." (Times Higher Education Supplement, December 2009) "Carefully considered statements … .Contributions range from rigorous philosophical arguments to highly personal, even whimsical, accounts of how each of these notable thinkers have come to reject religion in their lives. Likely to have broad appeal." (Australian Atheist, November 2009) "I am strongly recommending it as a present for anyone who has an interest in atheism/theism from either side of the debate. It's just a great read, from great authors." (Stephen Law Blogspot, October 2009) "It's a very good book, and I recommend it for all of us godless ones — or those who are considering abjuring the divine. It’s far more than just a collection of stories about 'How I came to give up God.' Many of the writers describe the philosophical and empirical considerations that led them to atheism. Indeed, the book can be considered a kind of philosophical handbook for atheists." (Why Evolution is True Blog, October 2009) "Wow! A book about atheism and it’s not written by Dawkins, Hitchens, Dennett or Harris! So this book is welcome partly because it helps break that knee-jerk reaction. But it’s also welcome because many of its contributors advance interesting ideas. There’s plenty to choose from. And one advantage of a collection like this is that you can dip into it wherever you want. There is something for everyone. And there is the opportunity to discover new ideas." (Open Parachute, October 2009) "For many who have spent some time involved in any form of engagement in these matters, the names should appear familiar: from the great AC Grayling to the revolutionary Maryam Namazie. Finally, in one book we can hear their stories – if not about themselves, then about the aspects of religion or lack thereof they find most important. If all these contributors were speakers at a convention, it would be sold out many times over." (Butterflies and Wheels, October 2009) "In their excellent collection of essays exploring and defending the philosophical stance of atheism, Russell Blackford and Udo Schüklenk had an inclusive vision. Contributors to the book range from those with science-fiction backgrounds to modern-day philosophy." (Kirkus Reviews, October 2009) "In more than 50 brief statements organized by Blackford and philosopher Schüklenk ... contributors share views—their routes toward nonbelief and their feelings about the place of religion in the world ... including James (the Amazing) Randi, a well-known magician and debunker of spurious psychic phenomena. Considering the popularity of Richard Dawkins's The God Delusion, Christopher Hitchens's God Is Not Great, and Sam Harris's The End of Faith, [these] memoirs and observations will be of interest to disbelievers." (Library Journal, October 2009)Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction: Now More Important than Ever – Voices of Reason 1 Russell Blackford and Udo Schüklenk Unbelievable! 5 Russell Blackford My “Bye Bull” Story 10 Margaret Downey How Benevolent Is God? – An Argument from Suffering to Atheism 16 Nicholas Everitt A Deal-Breaker 23 Ophelia Benson Why Am I a Nonbeliever? – I Wonder . . . 28 J. L. Schellenberg Wicked or Dead? Reflections on the Moral Character and Existential Status of God 33 John Harris Religious Belief and Self-Deception 41 Adèle Mercier The Coming of Disbelief 48 J. J. C. Smart What I Believe 50 Graham Oppy Too Good to Be True, Too Obscure to Explain: The Cognitive Shortcomings of Belief in God 57 Thomas W. Clark How to Think About God: Theism, Atheism, and Science 65 Michael Shermer A Magician Looks at Religion 78 James Randi Confessions of a Kindergarten Leper 82 Emma Tom Beyond Disbelief 86 Philip Kitcher An Ambivalent Nonbelief 97 Taner Edis Why Not? 105 Sean M. Carroll Godless Cosmology 112 Victor J. Stenger Unanswered Prayers 118 Christine Overall Beyond Faith and Opinion 123 Damien Broderick Could It Be Pretty Obvious There’s No God? 129 Stephen Law Atheist, Obviously 139 Julian Baggini Why I am Not a Believer 145 A. C. Grayling Evil and Me 157 Gregory Benford Who’s Unhappy? 161 Lori Lipman Brown Reasons to be Faithless 165 Sheila A. M. McLean Three Stages of Disbelief 168 Julian Savulescu Born Again, Briefly 172 Greg Egan Cold Comfort 177 Ross Upshur The Accidental Exorcist 182 Austin Dacey Atheist Out of the Foxhole 187 Joe Haldeman The Unconditional Love of Reality 191 Dale McGowan Antinomies 197 Jack Dann Giving Up Ghosts and Gods 200 Susan Blackmore Some Thoughts on Why I Am an Atheist 204 Tamas Pataki No Gods, Please! 211 Laura Purdy Welcome Me Back to the World of the Thinking 220 Kelly O’Connor Kicking Religion Goodbye . . . 226 Peter Adegoke On Credenda 230 Miguel Kottow “Not Even Start to Ignore Those Questions!” A Voice of Disbelief in a Different Key 236 Frieder Otto Wolf Imagine No Religion 252 Edgar Dahl Humanism as Religion: An Indian Alternative 259 Sumitra Padmanabhan Why I Am NOT a Theist 263 Prabir Ghosh When the Hezbollah Came to My School 270 Maryam Namazie Evolutionary Noise, not Signal from Above 274 Athena Andreadis Gods Inside 279 Michael R. Rose and John P. Phelan Why Morality Doesn’t Need Religion 288 Peter Singer and Marc Hauser Doctor Who and the Legacy of Rationalism 294 Sean Williams My Nonreligious Life: A Journey From Superstition to Rationalism 300 Peter Tatchell Helping People to Think Critically About Their Religious Beliefs 310 Michael Tooley Human Self-Determination, Biomedical Progress, and God 323 Udo Schüklenk About the Contributors 332 Index 338

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Book Synopsis50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists presents a collection of original essays drawn from an international group of prominent voices in the fields of academia, science, literature, media and politics who offer carefully considered statements of why they are atheists. Features a truly international cast of contributors, ranging from public intellectuals such as Peter Singer, Susan Blackmore, and A.C. Grayling, novelists, such as Joe Haldeman, and heavyweight philosophers of religion, including Graham Oppy and Michael Tooley Contributions range from rigorous philosophical arguments to highly personal, even whimsical, accounts of how each of these notable thinkers have come to reject religion in their lives Likely to have broad appeal given the current public fascination with religious issues and the reception of such books as The God Delusion and The End of Faith Trade Review"For students in comparative religion this volume offers ample material and powerful reasons to make them subject most if not all religious claims to a highly critical appraisal, preparing for a constructive and public debate." (Acta Comparanda, 2011) "50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists brings together many scholars and intellectuals from a variety of academic fields who explain the reasons why they do not believe in God. Russell Blackford and Udo Schüklenk's unique collection of original essays not only consists of short, digestible essays which are full of introductory presentations of both positive and negative arguments in support of atheism, but also in its candid testimonials which are more personally oriented." (Reviews in Religion, 2011) "The international cast of contributors includes many well-known names, from a diversity of fields-notably philosophy (about a third of the writers are philosophers) science, journalism, politics and science fiction. By no means do they agree on everything, but the unifying themes of rejection of conventional religions and acceptance of secular humanism shine through brightly. A descriptive list of contributors and an excellent index complement the essays, many of which are accompanied by useful endnotes and references." (Quadrant, September 2010) "It was mostly fascinating reading, in particular, those articles that abstained from using dull polemics and cynicism. Some of the articles-most notably from Nicholas Everitt, Thomas W. Clark, Michael Shermer, Peter Tatchell, Michael Tooley, and Udo Schüklenk-can indeed be used in undergraduate courses concerned with the existence of God in philosophy, ethics, and theology. I recommend this volume especially for all those who need to grasp a general and easy introduction into atheistic reasoning." (Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 2010) "I recommend this volume especially for all those who need to grasp a general and easy introduction into atheistic reasoning." (Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 2010) "The essays in this book reveal a great concern for our human plight, a concern that is the equal of religious impulses; they raise a richness of issues that are too often ignored, including the ultimate fear of the theists that perhaps in time it may well be possible to settle the question of God’s existence. The fifty voices in this book have spoken out with more than a small amount of courage. What emerges from thinking about these essays is a realization of what human reason is up against, within ourselves." (Free Inquiry, August/September 2010) "Good writing and clear thinking don't always go hand in hand. It's a pleasure, then, to find both in a recent book about going it alone -- no deus ex machina for us, please -- titled 50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists. In one volume, edited by Russell Blackford and Udo Schuklenk, you'll find idiosyncratic essays by a range of atheists from science fiction authors and philosophers to scientists and activists." (Psychology Today, Creating in Flow Blog, May 2010) "Many of the pieces in this book are full of superior contempt for the intellectual inadequacy of theism. Tatchell is forthright in his criticism of religion, but he never sneers. The essays in this book are all clearly argued, and will reassure the already faithful that they are neither daft nor deluded." (Church Times, April 2010) "The contemporary relevance,and timeliness of this book is unsurpassed. It is ... an account of various well known non-believers [and] personal viewpoints, directed at a popular audience. Very approachable at all levels, containing a wide range of stories, anecdotes and personal statements about why each of the authors considers themselves to be a non believer. Overall, this book is well suited for a mainstream audience, interested in questioning the power that religion holds over our lives. It [also] has good references ... which will also serve to guide the reader if further information is wanted. Thus, I recommend this book to anyone (regardless of their views concerning religion) interested in understanding why different people hold certain views concerning religion." (Metapsychology, April 2010) "By turns witty, serious, engaging and information, it is always human and deeply honest, and immensely rewarding to read." (Times Higher Education Supplement, December 2009) "Carefully considered statements … .Contributions range from rigorous philosophical arguments to highly personal, even whimsical, accounts of how each of these notable thinkers have come to reject religion in their lives. Likely to have broad appeal." (Australian Atheist, November 2009) "I am strongly recommending it as a present for anyone who has an interest in atheism/theism from either side of the debate. It's just a great read, from great authors." (Stephen Law Blogspot, October 2009) "It's a very good book, and I recommend it for all of us godless ones — or those who are considering abjuring the divine. It’s far more than just a collection of stories about 'How I came to give up God.' Many of the writers describe the philosophical and empirical considerations that led them to atheism. Indeed, the book can be considered a kind of philosophical handbook for atheists." (Why Evolution is True Blog, October 2009) "Wow! A book about atheism and it’s not written by Dawkins, Hitchens, Dennett or Harris! So this book is welcome partly because it helps break that knee-jerk reaction. But it’s also welcome because many of its contributors advance interesting ideas. There’s plenty to choose from. And one advantage of a collection like this is that you can dip into it wherever you want. There is something for everyone. And there is the opportunity to discover new ideas." (Open Parachute, October 2009) "For many who have spent some time involved in any form of engagement in these matters, the names should appear familiar: from the great AC Grayling to the revolutionary Maryam Namazie. Finally, in one book we can hear their stories – if not about themselves, then about the aspects of religion or lack thereof they find most important. If all these contributors were speakers at a convention, it would be sold out many times over." (Butterflies and Wheels, October 2009) "In their excellent collection of essays exploring and defending the philosophical stance of atheism, Russell Blackford and Udo Schüklenk had an inclusive vision. Contributors to the book range from those with science-fiction backgrounds to modern-day philosophy." (Kirkus Reviews, October 2009) "In more than 50 brief statements organized by Blackford and philosopher Schüklenk ... contributors share views—their routes toward nonbelief and their feelings about the place of religion in the world ... including James (the Amazing) Randi, a well-known magician and debunker of spurious psychic phenomena. Considering the popularity of Richard Dawkins's The God Delusion, Christopher Hitchens's God Is Not Great, and Sam Harris's The End of Faith, [these] memoirs and observations will be of interest to disbelievers." (Library Journal, October 2009)Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction: Now More Important than Ever – Voices of Reason 1 Russell Blackford and Udo Schüklenk Unbelievable! 5 Russell Blackford My “Bye Bull” Story 10 Margaret Downey How Benevolent Is God? – An Argument from Suffering to Atheism 16 Nicholas Everitt A Deal-Breaker 23 Ophelia Benson Why Am I a Nonbeliever? – I Wonder . . . 28 J. L. Schellenberg Wicked or Dead? Reflections on the Moral Character and Existential Status of God 33 John Harris Religious Belief and Self-Deception 41 Adèle Mercier The Coming of Disbelief 48 J. J. C. Smart What I Believe 50 Graham Oppy Too Good to Be True, Too Obscure to Explain: The Cognitive Shortcomings of Belief in God 57 Thomas W. Clark How to Think About God: Theism, Atheism, and Science 65 Michael Shermer A Magician Looks at Religion 78 James Randi Confessions of a Kindergarten Leper 82 Emma Tom Beyond Disbelief 86 Philip Kitcher An Ambivalent Nonbelief 97 Taner Edis Why Not? 105 Sean M. Carroll Godless Cosmology 112 Victor J. Stenger Unanswered Prayers 118 Christine Overall Beyond Faith and Opinion 123 Damien Broderick Could It Be Pretty Obvious There’s No God? 129 Stephen Law Atheist, Obviously 139 Julian Baggini Why I am Not a Believer 145 A. C. Grayling Evil and Me 157 Gregory Benford Who’s Unhappy? 161 Lori Lipman Brown Reasons to be Faithless 165 Sheila A. M. McLean Three Stages of Disbelief 168 Julian Savulescu Born Again, Briefly 172 Greg Egan Cold Comfort 177 Ross Upshur The Accidental Exorcist 182 Austin Dacey Atheist Out of the Foxhole 187 Joe Haldeman The Unconditional Love of Reality 191 Dale McGowan Antinomies 197 Jack Dann Giving Up Ghosts and Gods 200 Susan Blackmore Some Thoughts on Why I Am an Atheist 204 Tamas Pataki No Gods, Please! 211 Laura Purdy Welcome Me Back to the World of the Thinking 220 Kelly O’Connor Kicking Religion Goodbye . . . 226 Peter Adegoke On Credenda 230 Miguel Kottow “Not Even Start to Ignore Those Questions!” A Voice of Disbelief in a Different Key 236 Frieder Otto Wolf Imagine No Religion 252 Edgar Dahl Humanism as Religion: An Indian Alternative 259 Sumitra Padmanabhan Why I Am NOT a Theist 263 Prabir Ghosh When the Hezbollah Came to My School 270 Maryam Namazie Evolutionary Noise, not Signal from Above 274 Athena Andreadis Gods Inside 279 Michael R. Rose and John P. Phelan Why Morality Doesn’t Need Religion 288 Peter Singer and Marc Hauser Doctor Who and the Legacy of Rationalism 294 Sean Williams My Nonreligious Life: A Journey From Superstition to Rationalism 300 Peter Tatchell Helping People to Think Critically About Their Religious Beliefs 310 Michael Tooley Human Self-Determination, Biomedical Progress, and God 323 Udo Schüklenk About the Contributors 332 Index 338

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Book SynopsisChoice Outstanding Academic Title 2023A radically new way of understanding secularism which explains why being secular can seem so strangely religiousFor much of America's rapidly growing secular population, religion is an inescapable source of skepticism and discomfort. It shows up in politics and in holidays, but also in common events like weddings and funerals. In The Secular Paradox, Joseph Blankholm argues that, despite their desire to avoid religion, nonbelievers often seem religious because Christianity influences the culture around them so deeply. Relying on several years of ethnographic research among secular activists and organized nonbelievers in the United States, the volume explores how very secular people are ambivalent toward belief, community, ritual, conversion, and tradition. As they try to embrace what they share, secular people encounter, again and again, that they are becoming too religious. And as they reject religion, thTrade ReviewBy far the best work done on secular movements and secularism. Blankholm’s impressive scope of data and his attention to diversity based on ethnicity, gender, and apostates from non-Christian traditions make this a unique and exceptional contribution to the field. -- Darren Sherkat, Southern Illinois UniversityMasterfully illustrates how the organized secular movement in the US is constantly being negotiated. -- Ryan Cragun, The University of TampaSimultaneously, an incisive examination of American secularity’s paradoxical relationship to `religion,’ its constitutive other, and an expansive ethnography of how secular people live with and in that paradox. Blankholm brilliantly attends to secularity not simply as a space of absence—religion’s remainder—but as a set of ethical, epistemological, and affective commitments—a tradition. . . . A remarkable book and essential reading for those interested in debates about secularism and religion in the United States and beyond. -- Mayanthi Fernando, University of California, Santa CruzThis work enriches understanding of one of the fastest growing segments of the US population, those with no religious affiliation or identity… [T]his study merits the attention of students of American religious culture at all levels. -- C. H. Lippy (emeritus, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga) * CHOICE *...Interesting, thought-provoking, well-researched – and written in a readable, engaging, and captivating style. * Religious Studies Review *Pioneering. The Secular Paradox gives voice to a diverse cast of characters who can represent the increasing diversity of secular communities in the twenty-first-century United States and help to dispel views about secularism’s inherent whiteness and maleness. A must-read for scholars of American religions... sure to influence future scholarship in the field. * American Religion *Blankholm’s writing is praiseworthy… the author clearly articulates complicated paradoxical positions and clarifies murky terms. * Reading Religion *

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Book SynopsisCompares secular attitudes characterizing religious nones in the United States and CanadaAlmost a quarter of American and Canadian adults are nonreligious, while teens and young adults are even less likely to identify religiously. None of the Above explores the growing phenomenon of religious nones in North America. Who are the religious nones? Why, and where, is this population growing? While there has been increased attention on secularism in both Europe and the United States, little work to date has focused on Canada. Joel Thiessen and Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme turn to survey and interview data to explore how a nonreligious identity impacts a variety of aspects of daily life in the US and Canada in sometimes similar and sometimes different ways, offering insights to illuminate societal and political trends. With numbers of nonreligious people even higher in Canada than in the US, some believe that secular currents to the north foreshadow what will happen inTrade ReviewClearly written and highly accessible, this book will make a significant contribution to the sociological study of religious nones in North America. -- Chad Seales, The University of Texas at AustinGreatly advances our knowledge about nonreligion in North America. Thiessen and Wilkins-Laflamme add a much-needed comparative perspective, provide the most in-depth analysis of nonreligion in Canada available, and expertly use mixed methods to narrate in rich detail both the long-term trends in nonreligion and the lived experiences of secular individuals. . . . Essential reading for understanding important changes to religion and society in both the U.S. and Canada. -- Joseph O. Baker, author of American Secularism: Cultural Contours of Nonreligious Belief SystemsA unique and especially welcome addition to the field. The empirical foundations of this work mark it out as superior to other books in this area. An excellent treatment of an important topic. -- David Voas, University College LondonNone of the Above will be of most interest to scholars working on issues related to secularization of the United States and Canada. Given its clearly explained methodology, useful appendices, and extensive up-to-date bibliography, it would also be a good book for graduate seminars on the sociology of religion. * Nova Religio *This book is an engaging read and important contribution to our understanding of nonreligious identity ... None of the Above is clearly written and should be appealing to scholars, graduate students, and undergraduates alike. It is especially well-suited to courses on the sociology of religion but could also enrich courses on social change, identity, and/or politics. * Social Forces *In None of the Above, Joel Thiessen and Sarah Wilkins-LaFlamme have done a great service for the field, producing a stellar overview of what we have learned to date and pointing us toward fruitful new directions for work on this topic. * Sociology of Religion *

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Book SynopsisHonorable Mention, American Sociological Association Section on Religion Distinguished Book AwardA rapidly growing number of Americans are embracing life outside the bounds of organized religion. Although America has long been viewed as a fervently religious Christian nation, survey data shows that more and more Americans are identifying as not religious. There are more non-religious Americans than ever before, yet social scientists have not adequately studied or typologized secularities, and the lived reality of secular individuals in America has not been astutely analyzed. American Secularism documents how changes to American society have fueled these shifts in the non-religious landscape and examines the diverse and dynamic world of secular Americans.This volume offers a theoretical framework for understanding secularisms. It explores secular Americans' thought and practice to understand secularisms as worldviews in their own right, not just as negations oTrade ReviewFor those interested in the recent rise of secularity in the U.S, this book is indispensable. Smith and Baker's assessment of American irreligion is unbiased, soundly-supported with solid evidence, and thoughtfully-rendered. An informative, engaging, excellent analysis. -- Phil Zuckerman,author of Living the Secular LifeShatters conventional thinking about the supposed unity of secular culture. Baker and Smith artfully expose a vast diversity lurking within modern secularity. They look beyond the public scuffles between New Atheists and religious apologists to reveal an ideological landscape teeming with religions and secularisms. -- Paul Froese,author of On Purpose: A Sociology of Life’s MeaningAmid the growing social science literature on the nonreligious, [American Secularism] serves as an excellent introduction to American secularism while adding more careful, multimethod analysis than is found in other works with more dramatic titles about atheists and apostates. It should appeal to a broad audience. Students of religion will find merit in this strong piece of scholarship. * American Journal of Sociology *I have to give my approval of this book. Amid the growing social science literature on the nonreligious, it serves as an excellent introduction to American secularism while adding more careful, multimethod analysis than is found in other works with more dramatic titles about atheists and apostates. * American Journal of Sociology *This is an important book and perhaps one of the richest in insight I have read on communities and crime. There is just an amazing amount of material here on communities, criminal motivation, crime and place, hot spots of crime, history of criminology, and more. * American Journal of Sociology *Refreshingly, the authors do not condescend to seculars and dismiss & the conflation between the & religious and the & good that occurs within ethical frameworks laid out in religious and popular discourse. They note that not all seculars are necessarily atheists, many merely avowing no affiliation with a church or religion * Anthropology Database *Baker and Smith do the important work of introducing the historical context of present-day secularism in the US. They identify four secular groups in the USatheists, agnostics, non-affiliated believers, and the culturally religiousexamining their lifestyles, their statistically distinctive typologies, and the commonalities that unite them. Summing Up:Highly recommended. * Choice *American Secularismoffers an innovative framework for the study of both nonreligion and religion that will be an indispensable resource for both scholars of nonreligion as well as scholars of culture and religion who want to be better understand this new historical moment and its implications. * Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion *American Secularismintroduces a comprehensive, groundbreaking approach to understanding the rise of secularism in the United States. * Sociology of Religion *Secular Studies is one of the most important developments in the history of the sociology of religion, andAmerican Secularismis the best attempt so far to synthesize theory, survey data, and related scholarly literature into a comprehensive description of what American secularism looks like now. * Sociological Forum *

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Book SynopsisAn updated edition showcasing the social health of the least religious nations in the worldReligious conservatives around the world often claim that a society without a strong foundation of faith would necessarily be an immoral one, bereft of ethics, values, and meaning. Indeed, the Christian Right in the United States has argued that a society without God would be hell on earth. In Society without God, Second Edition sociologist Phil Zuckerman challenges these claims. Drawing on fieldwork and interviews with more than 150 citizens of Denmark and Sweden, among the least religious countries in the world, he shows that, far from being inhumane, crime-infested, and dysfunctional, highly secular societies are healthier, safer, greener, less violent, and more democratic and egalitarian than highly religious ones. Society without God provides a rich portrait of life in a secular society, exploring how a culture without faith copes with death, grapples with the meaning of life, and remainTrade ReviewZuckerman has been at the forefront of the growing field of Secular Studies for the best part of two decades. From Society Without God, it's easy to see why: beautifully written and engaging, drawing on both deep scholarship and an insightful mind. This is classic Zuckerman. -- Stephen Bullivant, Professor of Theology and the Sociology of Religion, St Mary's University, UK

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Book SynopsisExamines how Religious Nones negotiate tensions with those who think they ought to provide their children with a religious upbringingThe fastest growing religion in America isnone! One fifth of Americans now list their religion as none, up from only 7 percent two decades ago. Among adults under 30, those poised to be the parents of the next generation, fully one third are religiously unaffiliated. Yet these Nones, especially parents, still face prejudice in a culture where religion is widely seen as good for your kids. What do Nones believe, and how do they negotiate tensions with those convinced that they ought to provide their children with a religious upbringing?Drawing on survey data and in-depth personal interviews with religiously unaffiliated parents across the country, Christel Manning provides important demographic data on American Nones and offers critical nuance to our understanding of the term. She shows that context is crucial in understanding how thoTrade ReviewFull of new insights both conceptual and practical about the growing religiously unaffiliated population today. Manning offers a new typology for understanding its diverse constituency, beliefs and identities. For 'none' parents, she addresses many questions and issues likely to arise with their children. And does so in an honest and engaging manner drawing on insights gleaned from dealing with her own teenage daughter. A good and informative read. -- Wade Clark Roof,J.F. Rowny Professor of Religion and Society Emeritus, University of California at Santa BarbaraA very useful and timely addition to the sociological literature on the fast growing population of Nones, which is having a growing impact on 21st century American society. The dilemmas facing the current generation of parents who self-identify with no religion and have to grapple with the question of how to raise their children can be a real challenge for many couples. This book provides valuable insights and guidance by offering a rich body of material including a societal overview, interviewees stories, and the authors own experience as a parent. -- Barry A. Kosmin,Director, Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society & Culture, Trinity CollegeThe 'rise of the Nones' has been the decade's most important story about religion in America, but we know very little about what distinguishes the religiously unaffiliated from other Americans. In this sophisticated yet accessible qualitative study, Christel Manning provides a fascinating view of how None parents negotiate the moral and spiritual upbringing of their children. -- Mark Silk,Trinity CollegeThis book should be required reading for anyone interested in the changing contours of American religious and nonreligious life. * Reading Religion *Manning offers a thorough and incisive examination of the salience of choice in unaffiliated parents'moral world views. * Review of Religious Research *Will be of interest to the very population it examines, as it unwittingly reads a little like a how-to manual. I write thisweeks away from the birth of my first child, and I found this book informative, since I will soon be joining the ranks of the unaffiliated parents. * Sociology of Religion *[Manning] explores how parents of these varying worldviews raise their children, some in parts of the country where not attending church is viewed with great suspicion, and how they respond when a child asks the big questionsabout God, about death, about going to church. * VOYA: Voice of Youth Advocates *This book is lively, readable, and provocative. * Nova Religio *Manning explores the incredible diversity to be found among Nones, who include everyone from the esoteric spiritual seekers to devout Christians who simply don't identify with a particular denomination...a thorough primer. * Publishers Weekly *Refreshingly nonpolemicalwill be of special interest to secular parents struggling with some of the issues presented. * Kirkus Reviews *Complicates our scholarly understanding of religiousNonesand advances our understanding of how religion functions in their lives as parents."Losing Our Religionoffers important nuances in the picture of religious Nones in the early 21stcentury in the United States. Manning also makes important contributions to painting a more finely grained picture of Nones, their diversity, their motivation and longings, and the families they create * Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion *[] Christel Mannings interesting new analysis of the unaffiliated, also known as & Nones for their stated preference for no religion in particulararea diverse lot but even the secularists, like Manning herself, still commonly struggle with the default religiosity of American society and with the assumption that religion is inherently good or necessary for individual goodness. * Anthropology Review Database *[T]he most interesting insight in this book comes from Mannings characterization of what Nones are looking for in their own lives and the way they bring up their children. * Books & Culture *In this impressive book, [Manning] presents a detailed profile of religiously unaffiliated or disinterested parents and reveals the variety of ways in which they are raising the next generation. Summing Up: Highly recommended. * Choice *

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Book SynopsisA fascinating exploration of the breadth of social, emotional, and spiritual experiences of atheists in America Self-identified atheists make up roughly 5 percent of the American religious landscape, comprising a larger population than Jehovah's Witnesses, Orthodox Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus combined. In spite of their relatively significant presence in society, atheists are one of the most stigmatized groups in the United States, frequently portrayed as immoral, unhappy, or even outright angry. Yet we know very little about what their lives are actually like as they live among their largely religious, and sometimes hostile, fellow citizens. In this book, Jerome P. Baggett listens to what atheists have to say about their own lives and viewpoints. Drawing on questionnaires and interviews with more than five hundred American atheists scattered across the country, The Varieties of Nonreligious Experience uncovers what they think about morality,Trade ReviewRarely has this reviewer read a scholarly book as humane, moving, delightful, and respectfully written as Baggett’s thoughtful survey of contemporary atheism in the US… this masterful blend of qualitative sociological study and theologically informed thinking provides a valuable portrait of real-world atheism in the US. * Choice *A superb book. As noted, the number of interviews, the careful analysis, and the sincere effort to reflect the worldview of atheists result in this being perhaps the best scholarly work on atheists in the United States to date. ... Baggett’s incisive synthesis of the four roots that lie at the heart of the atheist worldview is particularly important and will be the standard citation on these ideas for years to come. This is an excellent volume on atheists in the United States that I highly recommend * Journal of the American Academy of Religion *Baggett presents an impressive and timely study of American atheists. With its strong foundation of extensive qualitative data that are systematically interpreted through a theoretical and historical lens, The Varieties of Nonreligious Experience should be of interest to an audience from multiple disciplines. I believe that it is a must-read for scholars interested in the study of secularity and nonreligion and of religion in the contemporary United States. Indeed, this book makes important and thought-provoking contributions to the scholarly conversation about what it means to be an atheist in a society that is normatively religious. * Sociology of Religion *Baggett strikes a balanced tone through the book. He strives for understanding, lets his research subjects speak for themselves, and directly dispels common stereotypes about American atheists. At the same time, he is critical of the foundational myths he detects in atheist self-understanding, including primarily the conflict between science and religion and the understanding of religious believers as irrational. The portrait that emerges is, I think, true to life in its ambivalence." * Theological Studies *The strengths of the book are the rich narratives it includes from the interviews. It becomes possible through the narratives to put faces and personalities and contexts and experiences together and in so doing to gain an understanding of atheists as individuals. The book’s strength also lies in the depth of its familiarity with the literature in religious studies and the sociology of religion. For anyone interested in the practices through which identities are constructed, this is a valuable contribution. * Contemporary Sociology *This book should find a wide audience among sociologists, anthropologists, historians, and religious studies scholars, among others. The organization and tone of the book are commendably clear, and the manner in which Baggett relays both ideas and evidence is quite engaging. The narrative of the book is particular rich and layered in two respects. One is the depth and persuasiveness of the historical context within which core arguments are located. Another is the sheer volume and quality of evidence out of which the arguments are constructed. This book will be useful both as a text in undergraduate seminars and in thematic graduate courses. Broadly, it adds intriguing insight into how we think about identity, identity change, and identity maintenance. More narrowly, the arguments presented provide a new and deeper understanding of what it means to become and to be atheist, and how this identity is understood and relayed to others. Methodologically, the book reminds us of the risks of overgeneralizing or underscrutinizing core concepts, like 'atheist' or 'religious None,' and underscores the importance of rethinking and revisiting questions that seem as if they are already relatively well understood. * Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion *This book should expand the study of American atheism beyond token outliers — the New Atheists and secular churches. It will also offer a point of contrast for more specific studies of non-white, less overtly masculine, and non-heteronormative atheist communities, allowing scholars to better grasp the secular landscape. * Numen *Baggett offers a rich and fascinating account of how these [contemporary American atheists] live and understand their lives. * Church History *Baggett’s expertise as a thinker and writer are on full display ... A compelling and complex portrait of rank-and-file nonbelievers living meaningful lives. * Nova Religio *

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