Atheists! Would like your suggestion.. (page 2)

cofty

Sam Harris is very much worth your attention. Perhaps "The End of Faith" for a start.

scotoma

The best book I have found for beginners in understanding atheism: The Atheist Debater's Handbook.

"This handbook is, in part, an attempt to summarise the best arguments from these journals, and to offer a concise set of rejoinders for use by atheists in their formal (and informal) debates with theists. Older, more traditional, arguments are included as well, but these are treated in greater detail than ever before. The author has set forth original arguments which will advance the debate if only slightly. Great care has been taken to ensure that digressions and rhetoric are minimised. The result is a short book, yet one that contains an unrelenting presentation of argument and analysis." ___Amazon

Most libraries have it.

talesin

I researched religions. I read about it, talked to some Catholics and looked at their religious books, attended a couple sessions at a Buddhist temple, talked to a Hindu swami, etc.

The more I learned about G*d belief, the less sense it made to me.

tal

snare&racket

I have never been so sincere in all my life.... If you want to become an atheist ...... READ THE BIBLE.

MrFreeze

snare&racket is right on... but I would couple it with God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.

SixofNine

If you haven't done so already, I recommend you read the funny, witty parable "Kissing Hank's Ass". It doesn't really have anything to do with atheism per se, but it's a hilarious, mocking send-up of JW's and Mormons.

Then read how the author came to be an atheist even after being "filled with spirit": http://www.jhuger.com/mystic_atheism

SixofNine

But don't think you have to read anything specific to atheism or by atheist to come to a conclusion.

Instead, I highly recommend you read and study voraciously about science and what is known about reality, and see if you think it comports with ANY of the stories of god or gods that you have heard, or your own past beliefs about god.

That way you'll know that unlike some atheist and virtually ALL believers, you weren't influence by anything other than evidence and the lack thereof.

NewChapter

Good point Six. For myself, I had not read anything by an atheist---or anything apostate for that matter---but had been reading a great deal about science. It raised an odd question that made it through the cognitive dissonance and opened the gateway.

Read about Science!! Really learn about the scientific method. Study evolution. At the very least, this will teach you critical thinking skills, and you can use these skills to examine religion and god belief and come to your OWN conclusion! Some people start thinking critically, but still believe in some type of god---but almost never the bible, because science has debunked it as accurate. Some reconcile this by saying the stories are not literal. Others study science and come to the conclusion that a god is not necessary for our existence, which means it may not be there, and if it is, it is not intervening in natural processes.

The most important thing is to come to your own conclusion through critical thinking and not to just choose the best argument for or against. At least that is how I see it, and my critical thinking lead me to become an atheist. But I wouldn't want to convince someone just by being persuasive---I would want them to have really broken things down and asked all of their own questions and come to a conclusion they are good with.

But I love Dawkins and Hitchens, because once I came to that conclusion, they helped me to defend it and even to think about aspects even I had not considered. I was unfamiliar with both of them before I was already an atheist.

NC

umadevi

Thank you friends for all your wonderful comments and links. I truly appreciate it.

leavingwt

There is now a revised edition of the book I mentioned above. Here is the URL.

http://www.amazon.com/Why-Became-Atheist-Preacher-Christianity/dp/1616145773/ref=cm_rdp_product

Atheists! Would like your suggestion..

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