In fact there are probably many reasons; in a debate, it helps - not only because you understand where your opponent might be coming from, but also you might be more likely to notice it when they are being inconsistent to their own core beliefs merely to win the argument.
And like it or not, religion plays a big part in the way the human world works; it helps to understand this as fully as you can, even if you don’t personally subscribe to it.
Further suggestions for reading: Straight and crooked thinking by Robert H. Thouless (if you can find a copy) Water Logic by Edward De Bono.
On the fiction front, you should read just about anything by Rob Morrow, but especially Towing Jehovah and Blameless in Abaddon. Not precisely atheistic, since God is a character in them, but pretty stridently anti-faith. Also, just damned good books.
For a lighter touch, check out Parke Godwin’s Waiting for the Galactic Bus, which posits God and Satan as bored extraterrestrial schoolboys who create life on Earth as a lark after being stranded here by their prankish schoolmates.
Hijack: I haven’t actually read Origin of Species, but I was under the impression that it was a scientific work about, well, the evolution of species. Does it actually talk about the existence of God?
Martin Gardner’s The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener is wonderfully written. Gardner, best known for his long-running column “Mathematical Games” in Scientific American, tackles many thorny philosophical issues, including the existence and nature of God. Rather surprisingly, Gardner turns out not to be an atheist. He describes himself as a “fideist.” The book’s a gem. I would recommend this for any person who has a mind and enjoys using it.
You may already own this, Lobsang (just a wild guess :)), but Terry Pratchett’s Small Gods offers an irreverent opinion on the nature of gods, if not exactly an atheistic one.
I don’t see why The Origin of Species is regarded as an atheist book. It’s a scientific book. It has no more to do with the existence of God than Newton’s Principia or Lavoisier’s Elements of Chemistry. Granted it establishes that the structure and diversity of living things can be explained without reference to a deity, but any scientific theory explains phenomena without refrence to a deity. Numerous Christians see no conflict between their faith and evolution. IIRC, The official stance of the Catholic Church is to accept evolution, as long as evolution isn’t framed to rule god out. Many mainstream churches accept evolution, and their are even some evangelicals who do. I assume one could also find Rabbis and Imams who accept evolution, as well as Buddhists, Hindus, Taoists, Confucianists, Zoroastrians, Ba’hais, Shintoists, Animists, Wiccans, Scientologists, New-Agers, and Philosophical Deists.
Claiming Darwin as a sort of atheist saint is not only silly but counterproductive. Darwin belongs to everyone, and the theory of evolution is valid for everyone. Claiming Darwin for Atheism only excacerbates a conflict that shouldn’t exist at all.
I don’t mean to jump on Lobsang specifically. This is something that’s been irritating me for a while. I don’t like the Darwin fish, and I don’t like it that some Atheists tried to proclaim “Darwin Day” as an atheist celebration.
‘The Origin of Species’ is not an atheist book. I merely mention it because it is relevant to atheism (It is rival to the fundementalist’s view that God created Man in his image). I will explain no further as I am already intoxicated.
True enough. Sorry to jump on you, but I’ve just noted that some atheists seem to be claiming Darwin for atheism, which strikes me as wrong-headed. You didn’t do that.
Also, I would recommend Bertrand Russell’s Why I am not a Christian. Russel’s an excellent writer in addition to being a top-notch philosopher, and the book is scathing and sometimes quite funny. (On preview I note Voyager has already recommended this book, so let this count as a second.) Also, check out Voltaire if you can get a good anthology.
I see several recommendations for The Demon-Haunted World and I totally agree that you should get this book. But one of Sagan’s books I do not see recommended is Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors. This book will really put it all into perspective for you. It doesn’t mention God or religion much at all, but it lays it all out for you in black and white and astonishes you with facts about the known world you may be unaware of.
From beginning to end, a fascinating book that should be required reading in high school.
