Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Nelson on December 22, 2011 at 6:26pm

Hey Cody! Welcome to the community :)

I'm glad to give you some reading suggestions.

Start with the John Loftus edited anthologies, The Christian Delusion, and The End of Christianity. I also highly recommend the John Loftus authored Why I Became an Atheist but I would hold off for the moment because the 2nd edition of the book, reworked and updated with 100 new pages, is coming out in 3 months or so (the link to the book in this post is to the 1st edition).

Reading those three books will certainly send you on your way. If there's anything specific you'd like to read about I can suggest books on those subjects too.

Hope that helps you! Welcome once again!

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Permalink Reply by Colin Austin on December 22, 2011 at 7:04pm

As well as the excellent texts mentioned in the previous post, also get a copy of "Demon-Haunted World" by Carl Sagan, "The God Delusion" by you_know_who, "God Is Not Great" by Chris Hutchins and a fascinating archeological look at the Old Testament read "The Bible Unearthed" by Israel Finkelstein & Neil Asher Silberman.
Welcome to the wonderful world of an enquiring mind. We have a great community here.
Colin

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Permalink Reply by Bill Butler on December 22, 2011 at 7:05pm

Welcome Cody you appear to be on the right track keep looking things up on the internet and finding good sites to visit and learn from. I have read Hitchens, Dawkins, and Sam Harris but long after becoming an Atheist so they did not so much convince me as reaffirm my already held belief but as a new comer they might be more enlightening. As far as my personal doubt I found the God I was taught to believe in could not exist in this world at least not as he had been described to me. I was also a student of mythology and came to the realization that what ancient cultures believed about there gods was no more than a way to explain the parts of the natural world that they did not understand. When you look at modern religion in the same light you see the same pattern God is responsible for every thing we cant account for scientifically and when science dose explain a phenomenon previously attributed to god the various churches scream bloody murder, just look at the fight over evolution. So that's how I got here keep an open mind and ask questions also don't ever worry about not knowing something no one has all the answers and the sigh of an open mind is one that can admit "I don't Know". 

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Permalink Reply by Cody Warren on December 22, 2011 at 8:51pm

Thank you guys for being so welcoming and inviting! I will be sure to check these books out as soon as possible! :)

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Permalink Reply by Ron V on December 22, 2011 at 10:21pm

For books, I think Atheism A Very Short Introduction (Baggini) and Atheism The Case Against God (Smith) are good starters.

Also, check out

Secular Web http://www.infidels.org/

The Rejection of Pascal's Wager http://www.rejectionofpascalswager.net/central.html

and Why Won't God Heal Amputees http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/all-videos.htm

 

Personally, I think you will be intellectually far more satisfied on a journey of freethought than one of religious bondage.   

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Permalink Reply by ernie garcia on December 23, 2011 at 2:18am

There is another good anthology entitled "Atheism: A Reader"  edited by S T Joshi.  It collects speeches, essays, and book excerpts from several sources like Thomas Huxley, Carl Sagan, Bertrand Russell, H L Mencken, Robert Green Ingersoll, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, John Stewart Mill, Thomas Paine, and Gore Vidal.   I found it very insightful in as much as it presented so many different viewpoints of skepticism.

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Permalink Reply by Kathleen on December 23, 2011 at 8:18am

The Skeptics Annotated Bible might be a useful website to you. It has the bible broken up by category and topic.

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Permalink Reply by Mo Trauen on December 23, 2011 at 11:33am

Try reading these:

http://goodatheistarguments.blogspot.com/2010/09/why-atheism.html

http://goodatheistarguments.blogspot.com/2010/09/atheism-is-simply-...

http://goodatheistarguments.blogspot.com/2010/10/atheism-vs-agnosti...

http://goodatheistarguments.blogspot.com/2010/11/solipsism-and-agno...

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Permalink Reply by bob spencer on December 23, 2011 at 1:51pm

On the origin of species. Darwin. I also love Dawkins the God Delusion and The Portable Atheist ed Hitchens.

I also find this site so helpful as we all arrive at atheism from different places and we have differing opinions and specialities and its great to share knowledge and experiences

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Permalink Reply by Kyle Wilkins on December 23, 2011 at 2:25pm

Welcome Cody!
I am also 20 and grew up in a Catholic house, although after going to a Catholic high school and grade school religion was never forced upon me. I was Catholic until I started asking questions and wasn't able to get any more of an answer then "it's the mysteries of god!". Professor Richard Dawkins book titled The God Delusion was my first book which I am reading again. I will also be checking out these books others have recommended but I can say Professor Dawkins book was a solid read and armed me with a lot of knowledge. I've also watched several videos on youtube in which Richard Dawkins has been in (debates are interesting to me).

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Permalink Reply by Cody Warren on December 23, 2011 at 8:29pm

Thanks you guys!

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Permalink Reply by Dave Gibbs on December 23, 2011 at 9:32pm

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/

Learn about the overwhelming, ironclad evidence for common descent, while seeing some of the arguments of evangelicals exposed as lies or ignorance.

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