Back in April, I posted “Books maybe you should know about,” a list of upcoming freethought books I thought fellow freethinkers might like to read. We were about to cover about half the books on that list. And now, the march of progress continues! Here are four more books coming out between now and the end of the year, and I’ll try my damnedest to cover them all:
C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy by Jeff Sharlet (pub. by Little, Brown & Co., Sept 2010) – Sharlet continues the work he started in his stunning expose on The Family. Read my review of The Family, or listen to our podcast interview with Jeff Sharlet.
The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Moral Values by Sam Harris (pub. by Free Press, Oct 2010) – How often have you heard it said that science can tell us how things are, but not how they ought to be? Sam Harris (The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation) may have bitten off more than he can chew with this one. I’m also considering blogging my chapter-by-chapter reactions to this book, similar to what I did when reading Dawkins’ The Greatest Show on Earth.
Hating God: The Untold Story of Misotheism by Bernard Schweizer (pub. by Oxford Univ. Press, Nov 2010) – Speaking of oft-heard questions, how many times have you been asked, once your atheism is revealed, “Why do you hate God?” The answer, of course, is that atheists don’t hate God–they don’t think he even exists! But it makes a certain twisted sense that some percentage of those who actually believe in God don’t see Him as the Loving, Merciful Creator. (I’d never heard the term “misotheist” before, so I’m really looking forward to reading this one.)
The Good Atheist: Living a Purpose-Filled Life without God by Dan Barker (pub. by Ulysses Press, Dec 2010) – Something tells me the former reverend Barker will approach the problem of atheist ethics from a slightly different angle than Sam Harris. Should be an interesting contrast–and just in time for Christmas!
I think I’ve figured out how they could pull off a sequel to the recent film Gran Torino: as the new movie opens, Clint Eastwood’s über-curmudgeon Walt Kowalski lies in intensive care, riddled with bullet holes but not dead. Grimacing, he opens his eyes. Standing at his bedside is a horde of his Hmong neighbors, looks of concern on their faces. With them is a Hmong shaman, a large rooster tucked under one arm and a shit-eating grin on his face.
Answering “Seven Questions You Should Ask an Atheist”
Thursday, August 19th, 2010I stumbled, quite by accident, across this blog entry by Tom Elliff (who has been, among other things, president of the SBC Pastors Conference and two-term president of the Southern Baptist Convention). “Seven Questions You Should Ask an Atheist” is apparently Elliff’s idea of playing gotcha with the village atheist. But really, I can’t help but thinking that if this is the best the good reverend can come up with, he isn’t really trying.
Elliff sets up his little pop quiz by mischaracterizing the so-called “New Atheist” movement. According to Elliff, among other things, New Atheism “calls… for absolute intolerance of any belief in God, and the banishment of such belief by every possible means.” Really? “Absolute intolerance”? “Banishment”? “Every possible means”? Is Elliff seriously implying that New Atheists call for outlawing religion, persecuting Christians–even murder? Just about the only thing Elliff gets right is that atheists are increasingly unwilling to stay silent.
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Tags: seven questions you should ask an atheist, tom elliff
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