Atheism: A Reader

by S.T. Joshi

Book Overview

This unique anthology assembles the best writings on atheism, agnosticism, and skepticism by some of the world's great thinkers past and present. Arranged to address the most significant questions pertaining to religious belief-the existence of God, immortality, the nature of religious belief, and religion in relation to science, ethics, politics, and society-the selections in this volume present a challenge to religion on all fronts.Included are...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1573928550
• ISBN13: 9781573928557
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: Prometheus Books
• Length: 346 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.2" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Kindred spirits

If you're an atheist, this book is a wonderful resource, full of good friends. The selection seems strong and many selections are 10 pages long or less, so you can get acquainted with many atheists. Most wrote during the last 3 centuries. Discussion with a theist about God seems a waste of time, so I am sympathetic to Joshi's introduction. Theists indeed do seem "incapable of comprehending the issues at stake", as Joshi maintains. I attended a meeting of a local atheist group recently. The meeting was open to all, so there were fruitless debates with a die-hard fundamentalist. A so-called "atheist" viewed everyone's position as relative and wanted to encourage further theist-atheist meetings. But in this book an atheist can feel at home with just atheists. And if you're not atheist, but open to understanding atheist views, Josh's collection is a great way to start, with outstanding atheist writers like Emma Goldman, Bertrand Russell, Friedrich Nietzsche, Walter Kaufmann, H.P. Lovecraft, and Gore Vidal. Avoid this book if you are a theist and wish to remain so. The thinkers in here are among the human race's best and might possibly reach even you. This would make a good collection to any atheist's library, with a broad range of powerful statements to choose from on even the rainiest day.

Good collection of literary atheism

I enjoyed much about this reader. The selections appear to be chosen as much for their literary qualities as for their defense of atheism, making for very pleasurable reading. Additionally, Joshi introduced me to a few historical atheists I had not heard of before, as well as a few figures I had heard of, but had not known were atheists. So I do feel enriched for having read it. However, three aspects of the reader bothered me. First, Joshi's introduction is too militant, and will unjustly ward off even reasonable religious folks, who would otherwise profit from the selections that follow. Second, the literary emphasis notwithstanding, a "reader" on atheism really should include selections from modern atheistic philosophers of religion, such as J. L. Mackie and Michael Martin. Finally, though I do not myself believe in an afterlife, the question of immortality is perfectly separable from the question of whether or not there is a god, and so it bothered me that Joshi included in his reader on "atheism" a section against immortality. But with these qualifications, my impression of the reader was, overall, a very favorable one, and I believe this book should be on the list of every person who wants to learn more about atheism.

A treasure trove of wit and candor

This is a marvelous and eclectic assortment of essays by freethinkers throughout the ages, including Thomas Paine, David Hume, Bertrand Russell, Charles Darwin, Gore Vidal, Carl Sagan, and Robert Ingersoll. Each essay is beautifully crafted by writers who knew the fine art of constructing a powerful and persuasive essay; each is riveting in its insight or its candor. While a few of the essays are no longer politically correct (e.g. with references to "lesser minds"), the core theses remain vibrant and still ring true. While religionists will scarcely find an uplifting sentence in this collection, there is still much to recommend this book to such an audience. First, it dispels many of the common myths about atheists: that they lack morals, that they reject god for selfish reasons, that they are ignorant of theism, that there is no meaning in their lives, that they cling to their own religious dogmas, etc. Second, it provides an interesting glimpse into the religious views of a wide assortment of freethinkers, which will challenge your core beliefs, such as "life after death" and "absolute morality". As an atheist, I found this book an absolute joy to read. Compared to the contorted logic that religionists often indulge to lend an air of respectability to their dogmas, these essays are positively bursting with the wit and acumen that only seem to spring from unfettered minds. Each essay does its part to clear away the cobwebs of mysticism. I will close with two of my favorite quotes from the book. I chose these quotes not only for their insightfulness, but equally for their mastery of language. This will give you a taste of what awaits you in this book. page 49: Leslie Stephen, commenting on religionists: "They feel rather than know. The awe with which they regard the universe, the tender glow of reverence and love with which the bare sight of nature affects them, is to them the ultimate guarantee of their beliefs. Happy those who feel such emotions! Only, when they try to extract definite statements of fact from these impalpable sentiments, they should beware how far such statements are apt to come into terrible collision with reality." page 140: David Hume, commenting on the tendency with which religionists embellish dogmas: "Every virtue, every excellence, must be ascribed to the divinity, and no exaggeration will be deemed sufficient to reach those perfections, with which he is endowed. Whatever strains of panegyric can be invented, are immediately embraced, without consulting any arguments of phenomena: It is esteemed a sufficient confirmation of them, that they give us more magnificent ideas of the divine objects of our worship and adoration."

Very Comprehensive

Great compilation of short essays from all the great minds in atheism and agnosticism including: Robert Ingersoll, Bertrand Russell, John Stuart Mill, David Hume, Friedrich Nietzsche, H.L. Mencken, Thomas Paine, Walter Kaufman, Benedict Spinoza, Gore Vidal, and many more. If you're not very familiar with freethought/atheism/agnosticism, this book is the perfect place to begin your study and expand your mind.

Thou shalt think for thyself

Any book bearing the name of S T Joshi is worth looking into, and happily there seem to be more of them every day. This one is a collection of miscellaneous writings by authors from Lucretius to Gore Vidal, from T H Huxley to Emma Goldman, and including along the way such luminaries as Bertrand Russell, H P Lovecraft, George Eliot, Charles Darwin and Clarence Darrow. All of the pieces are arguments against religious belief, whether from the point of view of logic (as in the delightful extract from Lovecraft's correspondence, or Anatole France's careful refutation of miracles), or morals (Eliot's attack on mean-spirited fundamentalism, Nietzsche's magnificent rant against the lily-livered hypocrisy that passes for goodness among Christians), or just plain disgust (as in Gore Vidal's coolly disdainful dissection of the way in which the original Enlightenment ideals of the USA were betrayed when "In God We Trust" sneaked onto the money). (Not that we in Britain do much better - we still have an established State church; many of us baptise our children before they are old enough to walk, let alone think or speak; and on our coins we have "Queen by the grace of God" - though at least we have it in Latin, so that nobody understands it). There are rousing and tightly argued condemnations of just about every Christian virtue - faith, meekness, ignorance, priest-worship, misogyny and so forth. The book also has a very fine introduction by S T Joshi, commending it to the open-minded and consigning the rest to their quagmire. He may well be unduly optimistic in his assertion that, for the intellectual world at least, "there is no going back to irrational piety"; but books like this one should certainly help.