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Atheism: Why God Does Not Exist: Atheism Explained
Atheism is a subject that draws a lot of controversy into today’s society. People are now starting to doubt the existence of God because of all the advancements in modern science and technology that explain many of life’s questions. With that being said, there is still a lot of confusion out there about atheism and what its belief system actually is. The only thing that people seem to know is that it is the disbelief in God, but it actually goes much deeper than that. In fact, there are different types of atheists who don’t all act the same way about their disbelief. Some of them are open to new scientific evidence that proves them wrong while others are simply determined to not believe in God no matter what. In this book you will not only learn about the general concept of atheism and its effect on the world, but you will also learn about the different types of atheists as well.
Religious followers tend to think of atheists as “devil worshippers” and other nonsensical things. The reality is atheists are just people who believe is something that is not supernatural or superhuman. The religious community only holds their “devil” belief about atheists because it contradicts their own religion. But what the religious community fails to realize is that there are many different religions and faiths in the world that all have their own belief system. The actions a person commits in one religion will be offensive to some other religion in the world. Therefore, there is no way to make people of all faiths happy and satisfied. There will always be some group of people out there who gets offended by what you belief and what you do. So if you want to be an atheist then no one should feel afraid to be open about it.
Atheism won’t even take much time out of your day because there are no churches or group organizations to go to worship atheist beliefs. Another reason this book was written was because atheists travel a very lonely road. Sure there are some forums on the internet where you can chat with other atheists, but in your regular life there is nowhere you can go to meet up with other atheists. After all, how many atheists do you know in your regular life? You could probably count the number on one hand. Fortunately, anyone can celebrate being an atheist by simply waking up in the morning and asking themselves what is real to them and what is not. If they are still convinced that God is not real then they will be satisfied with that belief and go about their day.
This book on Atheism is not meant to ridicule or put down anyone else’s faith. Instead, it was written to actually help people of all faiths to better understand atheism and the viewpoints of atheists around the world. The world is very diverse as it pertains to people’s religious beliefs. Many of the wars taking place around the world are formed from the basis of these beliefs. Hopefully, this book will show people of all religions that there is another belief system out there that does not indoctrinate or persecute anyone.
-Preface
-My experience with god
-What is atheism
-Types of atheism
-Atheist philosophies
-Why god is evil
-Morality vs. religion
-Do you need religion to be nice
-Atheist criticisms of religion
-Proof that there is no god
-Religious people are less intelligent than atheists
-Nonsense from the bible
-Reasons for being an atheist! Why choose atheism
-Atheism in the USA
-Conclusion
Religious followers tend to think of atheists as “devil worshippers” and other nonsensical things. The reality is atheists are just people who believe is something that is not supernatural or superhuman. The religious community only holds their “devil” belief about atheists because it contradicts their own religion. But what the religious community fails to realize is that there are many different religions and faiths in the world that all have their own belief system. The actions a person commits in one religion will be offensive to some other religion in the world. Therefore, there is no way to make people of all faiths happy and satisfied. There will always be some group of people out there who gets offended by what you belief and what you do. So if you want to be an atheist then no one should feel afraid to be open about it.
Atheism won’t even take much time out of your day because there are no churches or group organizations to go to worship atheist beliefs. Another reason this book was written was because atheists travel a very lonely road. Sure there are some forums on the internet where you can chat with other atheists, but in your regular life there is nowhere you can go to meet up with other atheists. After all, how many atheists do you know in your regular life? You could probably count the number on one hand. Fortunately, anyone can celebrate being an atheist by simply waking up in the morning and asking themselves what is real to them and what is not. If they are still convinced that God is not real then they will be satisfied with that belief and go about their day.
This book on Atheism is not meant to ridicule or put down anyone else’s faith. Instead, it was written to actually help people of all faiths to better understand atheism and the viewpoints of atheists around the world. The world is very diverse as it pertains to people’s religious beliefs. Many of the wars taking place around the world are formed from the basis of these beliefs. Hopefully, this book will show people of all religions that there is another belief system out there that does not indoctrinate or persecute anyone.
-Preface
-My experience with god
-What is atheism
-Types of atheism
-Atheist philosophies
-Why god is evil
-Morality vs. religion
-Do you need religion to be nice
-Atheist criticisms of religion
-Proof that there is no god
-Religious people are less intelligent than atheists
-Nonsense from the bible
-Reasons for being an atheist! Why choose atheism
-Atheism in the USA
-Conclusion
39 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 8, 2015
28 people are currently reading
10 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 23, 2015
although I do believe in a higher power, I found this book interesting. I think a person who is religious should also give a person who isn't to believe what they want. I think the author did a good job in explaining atheism and I don't think that this book is meant to make non-believers out of believers, but is a way to let people find out a few facts about those who don't believe in God. If all people would give others the right to believe, whether in God, science or something totally different, we would have live in a better world. It is not for us to judge, as a people we need to be more understanding and by reading a book like this we open our eyes into anthers point of view and by doing that maybe we can all be a little better to each other.
October 14, 2017
I was a 'born-again' Christian for 35 years - until I started to think for myself. Reading books like this one made real sense to me just as the Bible was making less sense. Dan Steel has written a thought provoking book that I highly recommend.
August 16, 2017
Good book!
This is an interesting book. I enjoyed reading it very much. It makes a lot of great points. Great job!
This is an interesting book. I enjoyed reading it very much. It makes a lot of great points. Great job!
January 30, 2016
The author begins this very short book by defining atheism as “merely the disbelief in Gods and deities,” but very shortly thereafter adds that its importance “is to believe in science instead of superstition.” Later, he adds: “Atheism treats everybody fairly and will not punish anyone for who they are or what they do,” and “the atheist philosophy is that all people are equal.” He also comments briefly on the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, speculating that the priests who abused children "probably think that they can just say a few Hail Marys and then be forgiven by God" whereas atheists "think these acts are unforgivable" (although presumably not punishable, if we take his earlier statement at face value). It is a big overstep of a generalization to say that atheists, as a group, believe that any given act is forgivable or unforgivable. Categorizing one named act and attributing the categorization to atheists-as-a-group raises the question of how many other specific acts should be categorized, which is anyway a useless exercise since atheists do not actually have consensus about such things. Loading down the definition of atheism with all this specific content is not the way to go. It is all too much to package inextricably with the mere disbelief in gods.
“Atheism is all it takes to be intelligent,” he says, and, fortunately, “just the fact that you question God’s existence means you’re in the range of atheism.” Plenty of religious people question God's existence, and, as long as we're questioning things, let's question whether questioning God's existence is indeed sufficient proof of meeting a general intelligence bar, which it probably is not.
There are at least three additional problematic passages about ethics.
First: “Many atheist parents will tell their children ‘Don’t do to others what you wouldn’t want done to you.’ In other words, don’t commit violence or criminal acts towards others because you wouldn’t want the same thing done to you. This is the ideology that most atheists live by.” The Golden Rule is taught by parents to children across all religious and non-religious backgrounds alike because young children can easily apply its rule even while they are still fuzzy about other people's outlooks and interests and even while they cannot yet comprehend greater abstractions (see Kohlberg's stages of moral development). Furthermore, just because parents say something to children does not mean that the parents themselves take it as an "ideology" to "live by."
Second, he goes on to say that humanists’ “sense of right and wrong comes from natural instinct. After all, we all know that killing, assaulting, stealing and raping is wrong. You don’t need to join a church to figure these things out. This is merely common knowledge that all human beings know.” This, too, is problematic, because he fails to acknowledge that violence and theft is committed all too often. If "all human beings know" that these acts are wrong, how does he account for their occurrence? Furthermore, if people already know something, why do many of them "join a church [to attempt] to figure" out what they already supposedly know? (See the "KK principle" in epistemology: If you know something, you know that you know it.) These obvious objections undermine his claim that the sense of right and wrong is instinctual.
Third, this appeal to authentic selfhood is inadequate as a moral philosophy:
He is essentially giving permission for everyone to do their own thing, to pursue what makes themselves happy, and to privately believe that they are moral.
This doesn't square with what he said at the beginning of the book regarding how an atheist "treats everybody fairly" and regarding the proposition (which supposedly follows from atheism) that "all people are equal." If we are responsible for protecting others, then we have to be capable of other-directed perceptions (to see others so that we can treat them in a certain way) and abstract thought about them (so that we can conceive of something like equal rights).
He also makes some unfair characterizations of religious people. He says that religious people “don’t actually kill or sacrifice anyone because they would get in legal trouble.” First of all, he has already stated that all human beings have instinctual moral knowledge against killing, so the threat of judicial punishment should be unnecessary. Secondly, many religious arguments – apart from don't get caught – have been advanced against murder, and he could easily find such an argument if he wanted. He also says that “Christians believe in keeping women below men," which is a sweeping generalization about the beliefs of a couple billion people alive today. Statements like these undermine his own dream that “one day, atheists and religious followers can work together in order to better their communities and promote a more harmonious atmosphere in the world.”
This sentence is unclear: “Now days [sic], homosexuality is accepted in civilized society, but in the bible it is not. Atheists criticize how homosexual Catholics and Christians can even exist when their own bible wants them dead.” I don't think he means that atheists believe that "homosexual Catholics and Christians" should be shunned or killed, but rather that people who find their sexuality in conflict with their church teaching should leave their church. It is hard to tell, however.
Statements that “the proof of God’s nonexistence continues to be in the lack of proof of his existence" and “Atheism is a belief system that was really never talked in [sic] America until the late 20th century” are insufficient from logical and historical perspectives, respectively.
He ends by telling the reader how to evaluate his writing when leaving online reviews of his book.
“Atheism is all it takes to be intelligent,” he says, and, fortunately, “just the fact that you question God’s existence means you’re in the range of atheism.” Plenty of religious people question God's existence, and, as long as we're questioning things, let's question whether questioning God's existence is indeed sufficient proof of meeting a general intelligence bar, which it probably is not.
There are at least three additional problematic passages about ethics.
First: “Many atheist parents will tell their children ‘Don’t do to others what you wouldn’t want done to you.’ In other words, don’t commit violence or criminal acts towards others because you wouldn’t want the same thing done to you. This is the ideology that most atheists live by.” The Golden Rule is taught by parents to children across all religious and non-religious backgrounds alike because young children can easily apply its rule even while they are still fuzzy about other people's outlooks and interests and even while they cannot yet comprehend greater abstractions (see Kohlberg's stages of moral development). Furthermore, just because parents say something to children does not mean that the parents themselves take it as an "ideology" to "live by."
Second, he goes on to say that humanists’ “sense of right and wrong comes from natural instinct. After all, we all know that killing, assaulting, stealing and raping is wrong. You don’t need to join a church to figure these things out. This is merely common knowledge that all human beings know.” This, too, is problematic, because he fails to acknowledge that violence and theft is committed all too often. If "all human beings know" that these acts are wrong, how does he account for their occurrence? Furthermore, if people already know something, why do many of them "join a church [to attempt] to figure" out what they already supposedly know? (See the "KK principle" in epistemology: If you know something, you know that you know it.) These obvious objections undermine his claim that the sense of right and wrong is instinctual.
Third, this appeal to authentic selfhood is inadequate as a moral philosophy:
"The real way to find true morality is to look within yourself and figure out what kind of person you want to be. It really doesn’t matter what religion you are or what belief system you participate in. You can be a moral person if you simply become the kind of person that makes you happy. Even though there may be some people in the world who don’t view your character traits as moral, you will at least believe you are moral in your own mind."
He is essentially giving permission for everyone to do their own thing, to pursue what makes themselves happy, and to privately believe that they are moral.
This doesn't square with what he said at the beginning of the book regarding how an atheist "treats everybody fairly" and regarding the proposition (which supposedly follows from atheism) that "all people are equal." If we are responsible for protecting others, then we have to be capable of other-directed perceptions (to see others so that we can treat them in a certain way) and abstract thought about them (so that we can conceive of something like equal rights).
He also makes some unfair characterizations of religious people. He says that religious people “don’t actually kill or sacrifice anyone because they would get in legal trouble.” First of all, he has already stated that all human beings have instinctual moral knowledge against killing, so the threat of judicial punishment should be unnecessary. Secondly, many religious arguments – apart from don't get caught – have been advanced against murder, and he could easily find such an argument if he wanted. He also says that “Christians believe in keeping women below men," which is a sweeping generalization about the beliefs of a couple billion people alive today. Statements like these undermine his own dream that “one day, atheists and religious followers can work together in order to better their communities and promote a more harmonious atmosphere in the world.”
This sentence is unclear: “Now days [sic], homosexuality is accepted in civilized society, but in the bible it is not. Atheists criticize how homosexual Catholics and Christians can even exist when their own bible wants them dead.” I don't think he means that atheists believe that "homosexual Catholics and Christians" should be shunned or killed, but rather that people who find their sexuality in conflict with their church teaching should leave their church. It is hard to tell, however.
Statements that “the proof of God’s nonexistence continues to be in the lack of proof of his existence" and “Atheism is a belief system that was really never talked in [sic] America until the late 20th century” are insufficient from logical and historical perspectives, respectively.
He ends by telling the reader how to evaluate his writing when leaving online reviews of his book.
October 24, 2019
WOW!!
This book is written in a very straightforward manner. It is easy to understand. This books speaks to me and this is why I bought it. Ever since I was nine years old, I felt I was an atheist. Every page in this book has confirmed how I feel right now about God. You only need to watch the news everyday to know that there can't possibly be a God looking down upon us from the sky, either wishing us well, or helping us with our prayers, or more importantly, intervening to prevent problems and disasters from happening. If we decide God is a loving God - then being The Creator of the universe means we would be living in a loving world. But we clearly aren't! The author writes in such a respectful tone. It's made me feel a little less fearless about being who i really am. This book has helped me see a more balanced view of the world. I too, hope all human beings can see each other as equal in every respect. I hope we can all go above and beyond to help others achieve the best they can be. I highly recommend this book to anyone who needs guidance on understanding atheism.
This book is written in a very straightforward manner. It is easy to understand. This books speaks to me and this is why I bought it. Ever since I was nine years old, I felt I was an atheist. Every page in this book has confirmed how I feel right now about God. You only need to watch the news everyday to know that there can't possibly be a God looking down upon us from the sky, either wishing us well, or helping us with our prayers, or more importantly, intervening to prevent problems and disasters from happening. If we decide God is a loving God - then being The Creator of the universe means we would be living in a loving world. But we clearly aren't! The author writes in such a respectful tone. It's made me feel a little less fearless about being who i really am. This book has helped me see a more balanced view of the world. I too, hope all human beings can see each other as equal in every respect. I hope we can all go above and beyond to help others achieve the best they can be. I highly recommend this book to anyone who needs guidance on understanding atheism.
May 7, 2024
Shallow with little scholarship
This short book puts forwards the case for atheism, written by an atheist who wishes to persuade the reader of the merits of atheism. However, it is shallow with very little scholarship to support it. It is descriptive rather than critical in approach and repeats many of the tired tropes atheists frequently fall back upon, such as the false claim that there is no evidence for God. There is evidence and the atheists' case would be more rational if it actually addressed the evidence objectively. Instead, as with many atheist books, it simply dismisses evidence out of hand.
Atheists will probably enjoy the confirmation bias they find in this book. Critical, free thinkers will find it disappointing.
This short book puts forwards the case for atheism, written by an atheist who wishes to persuade the reader of the merits of atheism. However, it is shallow with very little scholarship to support it. It is descriptive rather than critical in approach and repeats many of the tired tropes atheists frequently fall back upon, such as the false claim that there is no evidence for God. There is evidence and the atheists' case would be more rational if it actually addressed the evidence objectively. Instead, as with many atheist books, it simply dismisses evidence out of hand.
Atheists will probably enjoy the confirmation bias they find in this book. Critical, free thinkers will find it disappointing.
July 20, 2025
Believers view of Atheists
I don't think this author understands the role of today's Atheist. His attempt at classifying atheists is off base in my opinion. Agnostics are not a type of atheist, they are just agnostics. If you want to know something about atheists I'd look elsewhere.
I don't think this author understands the role of today's Atheist. His attempt at classifying atheists is off base in my opinion. Agnostics are not a type of atheist, they are just agnostics. If you want to know something about atheists I'd look elsewhere.
January 12, 2024
This book is recommended only for people who don't have any prior knowledge about atheism
The overall reading experience of this book is good but the contents in the book are basic and not deep enough.
The overall reading experience of this book is good but the contents in the book are basic and not deep enough.
March 29, 2022
Starter in Atheism.
This book is ideal for learning about Atheism and is therefore ideal for allowing religious folk to turn away from brainwashing belief systems.
This book is ideal for learning about Atheism and is therefore ideal for allowing religious folk to turn away from brainwashing belief systems.
July 16, 2024
Probably the shortest book I’ve ever read and didn’t really tell me anything I didn’t already know. Several times atheism is referred to as a belief system which it manifestly is not.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews