Godless

How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists

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Godless
Dan Barker
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Last edited by ImportBot
December 17, 2022 | History

Godless

How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists

  • 5.00 ·
  • 1 Rating
  • 9 Want to read
  • 0 Currently reading
  • 2 Have read

After 19 years as an evangelical preacher, missionary, and Christian songwriter, Dan Barker 'threw out the bathwater and discovered there is no baby there.' Barker, who is now co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (America's largest organization of atheists and agnostics), describes the intellectual and psychological path he followed in moving from fundamentalism to freethought. The four sections in Godless--Rejecting God, Why I Am An Atheist, What's Wrong With Christianity, and Life is Good!--include chapters on bible problems, the historicity of Jesus, morality, the Kalam Cosmological argument, the unbelievable resurrection, and much more. Barker relates the positive benefits from trusting in reason and human kindness instead of living in fear of false judgment and moral condemnation. Godless expands the story told in Dan's 1992 book, Losing Faith in Faith--the two books overlap about 20%--but a lot has happened in 16 years, and Dan updates the story with four new chapters, including 'The New Call' (lessons from the debate circuit), 'Adventures in Atheism,' and 'We Go To Washington' (FFRF's Supreme Court lawsuit, in which Dan was a plaintiff).

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Language
English

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Edition Availability
Cover of: Godless
Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists
2010, ReadHowYouWant.com, Limited
in English
Cover of: Godless

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Book Details


The Physical Object

Pagination
686
Weight
1.173

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL44246571M
ISBN 13
9781459601734

Excerpts

People are invariably surprised to hear me say I am both an atheist and an agnostic, as if this somehow weakens my certainty. I usually reply with a question like, “Well, are you a Republican or an American?” The two words serve different concepts and are not mutually exclusive. Agnosticism addresses knowledge; atheism addresses belief. The agnostic says, “I don't have a knowledge that God exists.” The atheist says, “I don't have a belief that God exists.” You can say both things at the same time. Some agnostics are atheistic and some are theistic.
Page 96, added by Robin Lionheart.

on his agnostic atheism

If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are admitting that the assertion can’t be taken on its own merits. If something is true, we don't invoke faith. Instead, we use reason to prove it. Faith is intellectual bankruptcy. With faith, you don't have to put any work into proving your case or overcoming objections. You can “just believe.”

Truth does not ask to be believed. It asks to be tested. Scientists do not join hands every Sunday and sing, “Yes, gravity is real! I know gravity is real! I will have faith! I will be strong! I believe in my heart that what goes up, up, up must come down, down, down. Amen!” If they did, we would think they were pretty insecure about the concept.
Page 101, added by Robin Lionheart.

on faith

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