Books – August 2010

Just added a new page called Books (see header) which lists all the Atheism, Philosophy, Science, Theism, and related topics, books that I own (and have, mostly, read – see Legend), updated and current as of August 2010.

Most of these used to be listed in a text widget in the sidebar, which has now been deleted.

50 Reasons – A Review

50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God by Guy P. Harrison – A Review by OzAtheist

Finished reading the above book on my Kindle today, did I mention I have a Kindle?

This is an excellent book for atheists and theists alike. For theists it gives them some questions to answer as to why they may believe in a god. For atheists it provides 50 reasons why believing in a god has no basis in reality, but it does it in a very nice way.

Unlike many other atheist tracts (Dawkins, Hitchens take note) this book is rather polite and not condescending (well not much) to believers. The book has certainly given me some positive ideas on how I should better interact with believers. Harrison makes some very good points about how non-believers might persuade believers to think about their position when it comes to believing in a god.

A fair few of the observations made in this book have been said many times before by many people. However, I think Harrison has done a very good job of putting them all together in the one book, and in a polite and thought provoking (particularly to theists) manner.

Here is the list of 50 reasons why people believe in a god:

1. My god is obvious
2. Almost everybody on Earth is religious
3. Faith is a good thing
4. Archaeological discoveries prove that my god exists
5. Only my god can make me feel significant
6. Atheism is just another religion
7. Evolution is bad
8. Our world is too beautiful to be an accident
9. My god created the universe
10. Believing in my god makes me happy
11. Better safe than sorry
12. A sacred book proves my god is real
13. Divine justice proves my god is real
14. My god answers prayers
15. I would rather worship my god than the devil
16. My god heals sick people
17. Anything is better than being an atheist
18. My god made the human body
19. My god sacrificed his only son for me
20. Atheists are jerks who think they know everything
21. I don’t lose anything by believing in my god
22. I didn’t come from a monkey
23. I don’t want to go to hell
24. I feel my god when I pray
25. I need my god to protect me
26. I want an eternal life
27. Without my god we would have no sense of right and wrong
28. My god makes me feel like I am part of something bigger than myself
29. My religion makes more sense than all the others
30. My god changes lives
31. Intelligent design proves my god is real
32. Millions of people can’t be wrong about my religion
33. Miracles prove my god is real
34. Religion is beautiful
35. Some very smart people believe in my god
36. Ancient prophecies prove my god exists
37. No one has ever disproved the existence of my god
38. People have gone to heaven and returned
39. Religion brings people together
40. My god inspires people
41. Science can’t explain everything
42. Society would fall apart without religion
43. My religion is so old it must be true
44. Someone I trust told me that my god is real
45. Atheism is a negative and empty philosphy
46. Believing in a god doesn’t hurt anyone
47. The earth is perfectly tuned to support life
48. Believing is natural so my god must be real
49. The end is near
50. I am afraid of not beleiving

By all accounts all of the above 50 reasons have been told to Harrison, I think I’ve heard most of them myself. Harrison does repeat himself a few times, but I have to forgive him this faux pas as so do most theists!

Overall, a good read, another book that should be compulsory reading by everyone on the planet.