50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists

Copyright © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists

Editor(s): Russell Blackford, Udo Schüklenk

Published Online: 11 NOV 2009

Print ISBN: 9781405190459

Online ISBN: 9781444307986

DOI: 10.1002/9781444307986

About this Book

Product Information

About The Product

50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists presents a collection of original essays drawn from an international group of prominent voices in the fields of academia, science, literature, media and politics who offer carefully considered statements of why they are atheists.

  • Features a truly international cast of contributors, ranging from public intellectuals such as Peter Singer, Susan Blackmore, and A.C. Grayling, novelists, such as Joe Haldeman, and heavyweight philosophers of religion, including Graham Oppy and Michael Tooley
  • Contributions range from rigorous philosophical arguments to highly personal, even whimsical, accounts of how each of these notable thinkers have come to reject religion in their lives
  • Likely to have broad appeal given the current public fascination with religious issues and the reception of such books as The God Delusion and The End of Faith

Table of contents

    1. You have free access to this content
      Front Matter (pages i–ix)

    2. Introduction: Now More Important than Ever - Voices of Reason (pages 1–4)

      Russell Blackford and Udo Schüklenk

    3. Unbelievable! (pages 5–9)

      Russell Blackford

    4. My “Bye Bull” Story (pages 10–15)

      Margaret Downey

    5. How Benevolent Is God? An Argument from Suffering to Atheism (pages 16–22)

      Nicholas Everitt

    6. A Deal-Breaker (pages 23–27)

      Ophelia Benson

    7. Why Am I a Nonbeliever? – I Wonder … (pages 28–32)

      J. L. Schellenberg

    8. Wicked or Dead? Reflections on the Moral Character and Existential Status of God (pages 33–40)

      John Harris

    9. Religious Belief and Self-Deception (pages 41–47)

      Adèle Mercier

    10. The Coming of Disbelief (pages 48–49)

      J. J. C. Smart

    11. What I Believe (pages 50–56)

      Graham Oppy

    12. Too Good to Be True, Too Obscure to Explain: The Cognitive Shortcomings of Belief in God (pages 57–64)

      Thomas W. Clark

    13. How to Think about God: Theism, Atheism, and Science (pages 65–77)

      Michael Shermer

    14. A Magician Looks at Religion (pages 78–81)

      James Randi

    15. Confessions of a Kindergarten Leper (pages 82–85)

      Emma Tom

    16. Beyond Disbelief (pages 86–96)

      Philip Kitcher

    17. An Ambivalent Nonbelief (pages 97–104)

      Taner Edis

    18. Why Not? (pages 105–111)

      Sean M. Carroll

    19. Godless Cosmology (pages 112–117)

      Victor J. Stenger

    20. Unanswered Prayers (pages 118–122)

      Christine Overall

    21. Beyond Faith and Opinion (pages 123–128)

      Damien Broderick

    22. Could It Be Pretty Obvious There's No God? (pages 129–138)

      Stephen Law

    23. Atheist, Obviously (pages 139–144)

      Julian Baggini

    24. Why I am Not a Believer (pages 145–156)

      A. C. Grayling

    25. Evil and Me (pages 157–160)

      Gregory Benford

    26. Who's Unhappy? (pages 161–164)

      Lori Lipman Brown

    27. Reasons to be Faithless (pages 165–167)

      Sheila A. M. McLean

    28. Three Stages of Disbelief (pages 168–171)

      Julian Savulescu

    29. Born Again, Briefly (pages 172–176)

      Greg Egan

    30. Cold Comfort (pages 177–181)

      Ross Upshur

    31. The Accidental Exorcist (pages 182–186)

      Austin Dacey

    32. Atheist out of the Foxhole (pages 187–190)

      Joe Haldeman

    33. The Unconditional Love of Reality (pages 191–196)

      Dale McGowan

    34. Antinomies (pages 197–199)

      Jack Dann

    35. Giving Up Ghosts and Gods (pages 200–203)

      Susan Blackmore

    36. Some Thoughts on Why I Am an Atheist (pages 204–210)

      Tamas Pataki

    37. No Gods, Please! (pages 211–219)

      Laura Purdy

    38. Welcome Me Back to the World of the Thinking (pages 220–225)

      Kelly O'Connor

    39. Kicking Religion Goodbye … (pages 226–229)

      Peter Adegoke

    40. On Credenda (pages 230–235)

      Miguel Kottow

    41. “Not Even Start to Ignore Those Questions!” A Voice of Disbelief in a Different Key (pages 236–251)

      Frieder Otto Wolf

    42. Imagine No Religion (pages 252–258)

      Edgar Dahl

    43. Humanism as Religion: An Indian Alternative (pages 259–262)

      Sumitra Padmanabhan

    44. Why I Am NOT a Theist (pages 263–269)

      Prabir Ghosh

    45. When the Hezbollah Came to My School (pages 270–273)

      Maryam Namazie

    46. Evolutionary Noise, not Signal from Above (pages 274–278)

      Athena Andreadis

    47. Gods Inside (pages 279–287)

      Michael R. Rose and John P. Phelan

    48. Why Morality Doesn't Need Religion (pages 288–293)

      Peter Singer and Marc Hauser

    49. Doctor Who and the Legacy of Rationalism (pages 294–299)

      Sean Williams

    50. My Nonreligious Life: A Journey From Superstition to Rationalism (pages 300–309)

      Peter Tatchell

    51. Helping People to Think Critically About Their Religious Beliefs (pages 310–322)

      Michael Tooley

    52. Human Self-Determination, Biomedical Progress, and God (pages 323–331)

      Udo Schüklenk

    53. You have free access to this content
      About the Contributors (pages 332–337)

    54. You have free access to this content
      Index (pages 338–346)

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