An Intelligent Person's Guide to Atheism (Intelligent Person's Guides) (Intelligent Person's Guides)

Atheism has always been open to the attack that it is a sterile concept and that atheists clearly don t believe in anything. In this remarkable book, Daniel Harbour turns this disadvantage into the spearhead of his defense of atheism and incisive attack on religion, whether Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or Zen. He argues that the battle between the two has wrongly been fought on the narrow issue of the existence of God. In reality, the question is based on what is morally good and bad, i.e. whether a religious belief or an atheist belief puts one in a better position to do good. Using modern examples such as gay marriages and racial hatred, Daniel Harbour casts a light on the ideas atheism stands for. Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Basics and Basis 2. Discovering God 3. The Price of Knowledge? 4. Contra Compromise 5. Individuals and Intuitions 6. Consequences: Religion and Government 7. Two Corollaries, Two Addenda, and A Note 8. Conclusion Endnotes Index