A Manual for Creating Atheists by Peter Boghossian

A Manual for Creating Atheists, Peter Boghossian. Durham N.C.: Pitchstone Publishing, 2013. e-book, 224 pps.


A Manual for Creating Atheists in its basic form utilizes the Socratic Method in order to talk people into basing their lives on reason rather than upon faith. This idea of converting people to atheism is a foreign one to me at best and not something that I have attempted to do in any way, shape, or form. Nevertheless, I did read through the entire book.

What I found was more than a bit of repetition which I could have done without, some antidotes which didn't peak my interests, and some clear definitions of terminology. While I appreciated the latter and the amount of research which went into A Manual for Creating Atheists, the premise wasn't my cup of tea. My preference is for each individual adult to believe and put into practice what makes sense to them without the rest of us always having to have an opinion about it. The same objections that I have to street evangelism hold true regardless of the topic being pushed.

sapphoq reviews says: The most valuable point in A Manual for Creating Atheists was the differentiating between faith and reason. Faith works backwards from the conclusion. Reason [and science] works forward from the evidence. I like scholarly attempts but this one by Peter Boghossian falls way short. The most strident atheists among us will appreciate this book and maybe even enact some of the conversation suggestions. The rest of us will shrug our shoulders. And the religious among us will not find anything valuable here. Not recommended.

How I Unfriended God by Joel Douglas

Average Joe(l): How I Unfriended God, Volume 1, Joel Douglas. self-published, 2014. e-book 15 pps.


     "Why do people believe in god?"

     That was the question asked of a religious instructor who was teaching in Average Joe's classroom of captive children. That got him thinking. He began asking himself why he harbored that belief. As a teacher, he knew he had never researched this question or even read the bible totally through.

sapphoq reviews says: I hope to read more by Joel Douglas. Although short, How I Unfriended God makes several good points about why people believe [it's easier, for sure] and what happens when an adult turns a critical eye towards religion [nothing is guaranteed, anything can happen]. Highly recommended for those who want to read about atheism for everyday people.

"Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived." Issac Asimov said it. I took the picture of the garden spider and altered it using my copy of legally obtained software. You may download the picture and save it to your "My Computer," rename the picture for your files, upload it to the internet at will. No credit or link-back is necessary to use this picture. Copyright trolls and copyright monopolists, you are not welcome here. Go away. Far far away.