Showing titles in Atheism

In this mini-audiobook collection of essays, prominent atheist author Greta Christina offers secular ways to handle your own mortality and the death of those you love. Blending intensely personal experience with compassionate, down-to-earth wisdom, Christina (Coming out Atheist and Why Are You Atheists So Angry?) explores a variety of natural philosophies of death.

Parenting Without God is for parents who lack belief in a god and who are seeking guidance on raising free thinkers in a Christian-dominated nation. It will help parents give their children the tools to stand up to attempts at religious proselytization, whether by teachers, coaches, friends, or even other family members. It also offers advice on teaching children to question what others tell them and to reach their own conclusions based on evidence and reason.

Drawing from years of experience as a priest and a teacher of philosophy, Fr. Younan presents the fallacies that often accompany thinking about a concept as difficult as God. With clarity and humor, he presents the "Five Ways" of Aquinas, discusses the big bang and evolution, the problem of evil, morality, and the complexities and abuses of religion.

The gloves come off in this electric exchange, originally hosted by Christianity Today, as leading atheist Christopher Hitchens (author of God Is Not Great) and Christian apologist Douglas Wilson (author of Letter from a Christian Citizen) go head-to-head on this divisive question. The result is entertaining and provocative—a glimpse into the ongoing debate.

The father of the intelligent design movement, Phillip E. Johnson, thinks the new atheists are right! How? They’ve put serious discussion about God back on the public agenda. Despite their conclusions, folks like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett are asking the right questions. They’re making belief in any religion an issue again, especially in the university context where, for decades, questions about faith and reason have been taken off the table for serious discussion. Open debate is exactly what we need on the topics of God, evolution, and creation.

By daring to question "sacred" religion, challenging your childhood beliefs, and risking eternal damnation, you will discover an appreciation for religion on a new level, as well as a renewed appreciation for the human race. Through a unique blend of science, philosophy, theology, and a touch of humor, you will see how you can trust your logic and reason, be true to yourself, and embrace God - not as a being, but as a concept - "The Concept".

What does "real" faith look like and how do you know it when you have it? And what allows anyone to be so sure their beliefs are based in reality? The Rise and Fall of Faith touches on these and other questions. While the aim of the audiobook is to initiate a much-needed conversation between Christians and atheists, it will be up to each of us to carry the discussion forward.

Nearly a third of Americans under the age of thirty have no religious affiliation, the highest in any recorded generation. In this growing segment of "nones" are many young Atheists who have faced prejudice in their high schools and communities for standing up for their constitutional right of freedom from religion. You'll hear some of their stories in this book, whether they're protesting their school's public prayers at football games and graduations or sitting out the "under God" portion of the Pledge of Allegiance.

Atheism Destroys focuses on how godlessness destroys our most treasured institutions and values: free speech, family, relationships, and even courage. Lurie shows how godlessness has been the primary destroyer of many of our liberties. He also shows how godlessness is the root of and primary force enabling drug cartels, the mafia, sex trafficking, and psychopaths. With insight, stories, and humor, Lurie treats atheism as a destructive force in and of itself—one that we dare not tread lightly and which we must resist like any other enemy at the gate.

A wide-ranging journey through atheism and its surprising digressions by Michael J. Vaughn, author of the best-selling atheist novel, The Popcorn Girl. The book goes from the author's lightweight California Methodist past into the rethinking that inspired his call for the human species to drop religion like a bad habit. Steps along the way include a visit to the radical Deists who founded America and the radical fundamentalists who intend to tear it down, as well as humorous takes on the Catholic church's new cannibalism and the Ten Commandments on a pizza box.

Based in the idea that social phenomena are best studied through the lens of different disciplinary perspectives, Empty Churches studies the growing number of individuals who no longer affiliate with a religious tradition. Coeditors Jan Stets, a social psychologist, and James Heft, a historian of theology, bring together leading scholars in the fields of sociology, developmental psychology, gerontology, political science, history, philosophy, and pastoral theology.

Shortlisted for the 2012 Orwell Prize. 'As soon as we abandon our own reason', wrote Bertrand Russell, 'and are content to rely upon authority, there is no end to our troubles.' For over 40 years, Christopher Hitchens has proclaimed truth where others have spun falsehood and written, with passionate commitment, on matters that others fear to broach. This volume of essays encompasses Hitchens's writing over the past decade on politics, literature and religion.

Humanism is "the radical idea that you can be good without a god". That's how Roy Speckhardt, the longtime executive director of the American Humanist Association, defines it. His new audiobook, Creating Change Through Humanism, lays out how and why people can lead moral and ethical lives without belief in a higher power. While surveys show that more and more Americans are giving up on religion, merely abandoning traditional religious faith is just one step on a path to a better way of thinking.

What drives us to be good? How do we even know how to be good? Philosophers and theologians have dealt with such questions for millennia, but Dan Barker thinks the answers are not so complicated. In Mere Morality, he argues there's no need to appeal to supernatural commandments or the fear of some higher power when considering morality. Stripping “good" and "evil” down to the basics, he offers a simple compass for navigating life's most difficult moral and ethical dilemmas.

Atheist Meditation Atheist Spirituality is a guide and memoir that shows how spirituality and meditation can be practiced without faith in God(s), gurus, or the supernatural. Techniques such as mindfulness and vipassana meditation have been practiced for thousands of years; are corroborated by reason, psychology, and neuroscience; and help develop a sense of compassion, charity, and the pursuit of meaning and knowledge.

Great journeys often start with a single question. For D. K. Evans, a newly married professional in the Christian-dominated South, that question was, “Why Do I Believe in God?” That simple query led him on a years-long search to better understand the nature of religion and faith, particularly as it applies to the Black community. Evans took inspiration from John Henrik Clarke, Yosef-Ben Jochannan, Hubert Harrison, and John G. Jackson, champions of a rich Black tradition of challenging religious orthodoxy, and also from many others in his own community who had similarly come to question their core religious beliefs.

Religion can be both inspiring and distressing. Many critiques of it are simultaneously compelling and dubious. Shay examines atheist arguments with a refreshing modern eye in this comprehensive look at our most fundamental questions about faith and reason.

Coming out as an atheist is a powerful, liberating act. It makes life better for you, for other atheists, and for the world. But telling people you're an atheist can be risky. What are the best ways to do it? And how can we help each other take this step? In this compassionate, friendly, down-to-earth how-to guide, popular author of Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless and blogger Greta Christina, offers concrete strategies and guiding philosophies for coming out as an atheist.

The stunning popularity of the “New Atheist” movement - whose most famous spokesmen include Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and the late Christopher Hitchens - speaks to both the growing ranks of atheists and the widespread, vehement disdain for religion among many of them. In Faitheist, Chris Stedman tells his own story to challenge the orthodoxies of this movement and make a passionate argument that atheists should engage religious diversity respectfully.

Do you want the greatest political and societal challenges of the day to be addressed with thoughtful, reality-based solutions rather than with cherry-picked quotations from scripture? Do you want to shrink religion - especially fundamentalist religion - to the point that it plays no noticeable role in public life? Do you want right-wing religious leaders to be so unpopular that politicians avoid them rather than pander to them for endorsements? This book illustrates specific, actionable steps for facilitating fundamentalist religion's decline.