Atheists: Do you know of any good books dispelling Christianity and/or proving atheism?

Question

I knew Christianity was false years ago...
I figured it out when I realized that all the people around me who were the most religious were also the most cruel and miserable.
(Fundies please spare me the lecture about how they were not "true christians")

But I want to LEARN more about it (atheism!), and would appreciate any authors or books you can suggest.
Thanks!

I'm sorry, WHEN did I say that Atheism is a religion?
Take a deep breath...

Answer 1

Read "The God Who Wasn't There," or "The God Delusion."

Of course, you could always take a college level course on the history of world religions. I took one in 1995, and haven't been able to believe in any form of god since. Make sure you keep the text books some place handy though. All of mine are at my Dad's place in California, so I can't give you specific authors off the top of my head.

Answer 2

While I personally have never read any books, it is really not necessary to read any books proving atheism or dispelling Christianity.

I'm an agnostic, not exactly the same thing as an atheist, but the concept of atheism is simple.

All one has to do to be an atheist is to:

1) realize that most, if not all, of the stories in the Bible that Christians believe happened are too silly and ridiculous to have actually happened. The truth is that the New Testament itself was written by people many years after these events had supposedly happened, meaning there is no way of proving its accuracy.

2) Realize there is no concrete proof or evidence that a God actually exists.

3) Based on reasons 1 and 2, conclude that there is no god or creator. That doesn't mean an atheist cannot be enlightened. Quite to the contrary, atheists are often enlightened as they are basing their lack of belief on the failure of religion to explain things in a logical way.

If you need more information, I suggest watching the History channel on a regular basis. (At least finding the shows that pertain to new findings about the real Jesus and misinterpretations of the Bible.)

Answer 3

You can not prove atheism, you can not prove the non-existence of something.


If you want to learn why Christianity is wrong, then read the bible and compare it to reality.

You do not need to prove why you are an atheist. The people who believe have to prove why what they believe is right. If I claim that there is a unicorn at the bottom of my garden, then the burden of proof is on me, not on you to prove me wrong!


If you are looking for some science texts for the general public then Richard Dawkins' books on evolution and Stephen Hawking's books on physics are a good start.

Dawkins' last book "The God Delusion" may be what you are looking for, but I found it a little heavy handed, and mainly went over what I had already worked out for myself.

Answer 4

There isn't much to learn about atheism. It is, in a nutshell, non belief in god. No more, no less.

"The God Delusion" is indeed a pretty comprehensive discussion of the issues surrounding belief and/or non belief in god. But it is rather pedantic and a slow read.

Another excellent book is "Atheist Universe" by David Mills. It is an easy read, very lucid, and claims to be the world's best-selling book on atheism.

Answer 5

i'm able to inform you for a fact that no atheist hates god, it is not conceivable. If somebody is offended at your god, he's not an atheist, you may desire to first have confidence that some variety of god exists to be mad at it. So there are 2 communities of people right here, believers who experience slighted and offended at god, and atheists. If somebody claims to be an atheist yet is incredibly offended at jehovah (or the different god) then that person isn't an atheist. As for hating christianity, then yeah, some atheists do, and that's specially because of fact they experience that christians won't bypass away them on my own and want to stress faith onto them, so in all probability you're first going to might desire to convince them that all and sundry christians are not rabid fundies.....

Answer 6

You should definitely read 'The God Delusion' by Richard Dawkins. I am reading it right now and it is excellent. It is by far the most highly recommended book regarding this particular subject that I have seen thus far. If you look it up on Wikepedia it gives an overview of what each chapter covers. I think you will find it very interesting.

Answer 7

You can't learn about "it," because "it" is not a centralized thing. Lacking a god is not a belief system unto itself.

With that said, some authors have, nevertheless, attempted to stand up to the task. George H. Smith and Richard Dawkins first come to mind. Ayn Rand has a couple of good articles out there as well, but it can be hard to follow her specific reasoning if you don't understand the basics of her philosophical system.

Answer 8

Kiddo, "atheism" is not a religion. There are no books "teaching atheism."
Rather, if you (like me) have trouble believing in a merciful sky-daddy who knocked up a virgin and gave birth to himself so we could all go live with the bluenoses after we've died, you only have to ask questions.
Questioning what things are (and what we think we "know") is the basis of science. The fundamental credo of the humanist is the question: "Why?"
Whatever "why" intrigues you, study and learn and try to understand. Or, if that's too tough, surrender your intellect to accreted apocrypha and stake out a spot in the pew.

Answer 9

Demon Haunted World - Shermer
Brief Tour of Human Consciousness - Ramachandran
The Bible - Bunch of half wit primitives
Biblical Errancy website - Dennis McKinsey
Infidel Guy's Forum

Answer 10

I hope you do realize that you are categorizing atheism as a religion, when in fact, it is simply the lack of religious belief and the only requirement to being an atheist is not believing in any deities...