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Books

If you enjoy reading, you may enjoy participating in our book club.

A good starter for the average person would be to read
"50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God" by Guy Harrison. You will probably still believe after reading but you will have a deeper understanding and be more intelligent about be...lief. The author is extremely understanding and patient. He also suggests additional books for exploring issues more deeply.

Another great start book would be "Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe" by Greg Epstein. Epstein is the humanist chaplain at Harvard University. He provides a friendly explanation of humanism for a wide audience. Secular Humanism is a life stance based on reason and kindness without resorting to the supernatural. I am a secular humanist.

"Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists" by Dan Barker. As a former believer Dan Barker is better able to explain the problems with faith. This is an entertaining read for the most part and does a good job with some complicated topics.

Daniel Dennett provides insight into the biological/psychological reasons behind human belief in the supernatural. It goes a long way to explaining how billions of people could be wrong which was a huge problem for me to resolve. "Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon" by Daniel C. Dennett

No one makes the case against god better then Richard Dawkins. However, if you take your god too seriously Dawkins will piss you off. When you are ready for it, read "The God Delusion."

Sam Harris provides a look into the problems that religion creates for individuals and the world. You can find a shortened version in "Letter to a Christian Nation." However, I recommend "End of Faith" to get the full treatment. Christopher Hitchens does this well also in "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" though I think it's harder to read for the believer.

For a deconstruction of the catholic faith in particular, read "Imagine No Superstition: The Power to Enjoy Life With No Guilt, No Shame, No Blame" by Stephen Uhl. As a former priest he provides excellent insight into issues with the catholic faith. This one would be a bit hard to read for the believer as Dr. Uhl doesn't hold back with his old beliefs. (It does have some good jokes in the chapter intros so, of course, I liked it.)

To better understand the catholic sex scandal and problems with the pope, read "Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II" by Jason Berry and Gerald Renner which details the issues, the response (or lack of) from the church and the connections with Ratzinger and John Paul II. Bring a napkin.

To understand what happened to the bible and why it is not the inspired word of god, read "Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why" by Bart Ehrman.

If you are still not sure about evolution then you should definitely read "The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution" by Richard Dawkins. He behaves nicely in this book for the most part so anyone can read it and enjoy it.

For an interesting and informative critique of the christian faith, read "The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails" by John Loftus. This is a compilation of several writers and is quite interesting. Some interesting thoughts on the historicity of Jesus.

Losing religion creates a serious hole in your world view. Most of these books do a good job of arguing for atheism and against religion. However, you will still have to replace your old philosophy with a new one. "Sense and Goodness without God" by Richard Carrier is a detailed philosophy for the humanist/atheist.

For parents struggling with teaching kids versus indoctrinating them I recommend, "Parenting Beyond Belief: On Raising Ethical, Caring Kids Without Religion" by Dale McGowan

Some good books for kids are "How do you know it's true?" by Hy Ruchlis. "Maybe Yes, Maybe No" by Dan Barker. "Humanism, What's That?" by Helen Bennett.

Videos

  • Julia Sweeney's Letting Go of God - documentary on leaving religion
  • The God Who Wasn't There - documentary on escaping religion
  • Growing Up In The Universe - Richard Dawkins evolution lecture
  • The Root of All Evil - Richard Dawkins
  • The 4 Horsemen - 2 hour YouTube video
  • Flock of Dodos - documentary
  • Jesus Camp - scary documentary
  • Guns, Germs & Steel - Jared Diamond's book
  • Religulous - Bill Maher
  • Be More Cynical - Bill Maher. He has numerous great DVDs on Netflix of his stand-up acts
  • In God We Trust - 2 hour documentary on King, NC
  • On the lighter side:
  • The Invention of Lying - comedy
  • Monty Python: Life of Brian - great comedy
  • Idiocracy - great comedy
  • Outnumbered - BBC TV series
  • Dogma - comedy