The Atheist Book Club discussion

:)

"The God Delusion" is a good one. I just read "infidel," by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and that one really takes you inside one woman's journey from the Muslim Brotherhood and condemning Western civilization to atheism and promoting free thought. Really remarkable autobiography.

is good, also:

; my fave quote from Population Wars: "Believing that God’s plan is a secret known only to him might seem comforting to some, but to others—myself included—it brings no sense of peace. I’m a skeptic. I need to see some proof that someone gives a shit about me…it is far more realistic to assume that no deity (or any corporation for that matter) cares a hoot about me as an individual…I can see how a belief in God and a defined plan makes people feel great. Unfortunately the belief in this 'ultimate purpose,' and the promise of a paradisiacal afterlife in a supernatural world of endless bounty, stands in stark contrast to the naturalist worldview that sees our biosphere as fragile and finite. The only real afterlife, to a naturalist, is the paradise around us—one that if we are lucky we will be able to leave to our children."

The age of reason by Thomas Paine is the perfect book for you. The author eviscerates Christianity in a brilliant fashion

Hello, I've been sharing my research into religion as fraud. The book I suggest is 'The True Authorship of the New Testament' (by Abelard Reuchlin). I also write information in the form of research papers, which are, of course, free.

These are the latest 2 research papers of Roman Piso. They have been posted within Academia(dot)Edu. A Session to explain any part of these two (a Session for each) and a chance to ask questions about them within Academia(dot)Edu has begun. These Sessions are active for a limited time.

The True Context Of Ancient History & The Gordian Emperors
http://www.academia.edu/s/cc567b0350/...

Ancient Alias Names List (2017)
http://www.academia.edu/s/a339f0df02/...

-OR- The same (and other) papers posted to Wordpress within The Piso Project there:

The True Context Of Ancient History & The Gordian Emperors
http://pisoproject.wordpress.com/the-...

There are also

God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens - who is very opinionated all the time

and The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason by Sam Harris

Samantha wrote: ":)"

I will provide a different "spin" from the others here. I am a secular humanist or non-believer, and not particularly anti-theistic. More non-theistic, I guess, with a strong dose of skepticism mixed in. I tend to follow the themes of science and mind (or the myth of soul, if you prefer), and what those two fields of study add to the understanding of religion.

So if you have any interest in the nature of what is called the soul, or mind, and want to understand it as a materialist function, I suggest either "The Mystery of Consciousness" or "Mind: A Brief Introduction," both by John Searle. Another one I have not read, but am intrigued by, is Owen Flanagan's "The Problem of the Soul."

These books all deal with the Cartesian problem, occurring when Descartes got monstrously close attention from the Church, to the point he had to concede under force that there was an immaterial soul beyond his research. It is getting much harder these days to support that concept, as brain functions are getting mapped so well.

If you think you might want to read something closer to pure science, I would suggest an interesting book called "Nonsense on Stilts" by Massimo Pigliucci. Then for human nature itself, there is Stephen Pinker's "How the Mind Works." It deals a lot with how we form language, and why that matters.

Last, it seems most fundamentalists spend more time bashing evolution without trying to comprehend it. So "Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters" by Donald R. Prothero is good. His discussion of debates with them is very instructive.