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This little book lays down reasons for atheism. To the question, "Does God exist?" the resounding answer is "No!" Individuals may believe whatever they want, of course. There is no shortage of untenable beliefs. This book does not address one's right to believe whatever one wants. Its concern is strictly with the epistemic warrant of the belief. The intended audience of the book is not restricted to atheists. Whatever side of the fence we sit on, our beliefs should be well-founded. The goal of this primer is to offer the best reasons going—for both sides. Atheists may learn them and use them at their disposal. Theists should be well informed of them (if not acquiesce to them).

The Atheist's Primer has five parts. Part 1 examines the differences between agnosticism and atheism, and explores the common criticism that atheists dismiss the wrong god. Part 2 clarifies why proofs for God fail. Part 3 examines the contradictions inherent in conceiving the nature of God. If God is defined as the being with specific attributes, and those specific attributes are impossible, or self-contradictory, then God, so defined, cannot exist. The classic problem of evil and the famous paradox of the stone occur here. Part 4 examines issues with faith, including rational, existential, fideist, mystical, and postmodern views. In all cases the conclusion is not much different. The appeal to faith reduces to the claim that the speaker believes in God. But since that was never in doubt, the diversion was idle. Part 5 examines the existential fear that often accompanies persons who consider giving up their belief in a god. Are mystical experiences devoid of spirit? What happens to morality? Does one have a reason to keep on living? What happens after death, then? The answer to the first is, "Yes, what else?" The answer to the second is "Nothing." The answer to the third is "Yes, of course." The answer to the last is "Nothing, sorry."

Comments:

"This book is excellent. Well-written, masterfully concise, easy to follow, and correct in nearly every detail, with an occasional hint of intellectual humor on almost every page. Well-sourced, with helpful notes and up-to-date citations of scholarship, Murray takes on not just conservative theism, but knocks down all the leading props of liberal theism, too. Though not attempting to be comprehensive, Murray nails the core basics, making it the ideal place to start for anyone considering the God question. Theists will be deeply troubled by it. Atheists will find in it new arguments, and new ways to phrase old ones. And for anyone on the fence, it's a must-read." – Dr. Richard Carrier, author of Sense and Goodness without God.

Malcolm Murray is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Prince Edward Island.  

Academics please note that this is a title classified as having a restricted allocation of complimentary copies. While the availability of bound complimentary copies is restricted to desk copies only, electronic complimentary copies are readily available for those professors wishing to consider this title for possible course adoption. Should you choose to adopt the book after viewing an electronic copy we will be happy to provide a bound desk copy.

Table of Contents: [Back to Top]

PREFACE

Summary of Parts

Not Discussed

Reading Tips

Acknowledgment

I. PRELIMINARIES

1. Why Not Agnosticism?

1. Proving Non-Existence
2. The Burden of Proof
3. Fallibilism
4. The Common Sense View
5. Is Atheism Itself a Metaphysical Belief?    
6. Summary

2. Which God Are You Denying?

1. Kidneys and Hearts
2. What is God?
3. Magenta and Pink
4. Tolerable Misdescriptions
5. Life-Forc
6. The Argument from Experience    
7. Our Natural Being
8. The Point

3. Religion Without God?

1. Religious Atheism
2. Spirit
3. The Back-Door God
4. Conclusion

4. Metaphor and Sacred Texts

1. Inconsistencies    
2. Improbabilities    
3. Ignored Dictums
4. Partial-Literalism
5. Metaphorical Reading
6. Ricoeur and Company

II. PROOFS

5. Ontologic Illogic

1. A Priori and A Posteriori Arguments
2. The Ontological Argument
3. Null Sets and Hypotheticals
4. Barretteless and Imaginary Dolls
5. Necessary Existence
6. Summary

6. Why is There Something Rather Than Nothing?

1. The Cosmological Argument
2. Inconsistency
3. Infinity    
4. Necessary Beings
5. Conclusion

7. Design or Evolution?    

1. The Design Argument
2. The Appeal
3. The Evolutionary Account
4. Chance and Fruit Flies
5. Intelligent Design?

8. Design and Analogy

1. Analogical Argument Structure
2. Watches and Astrolabes    
3. Summary

9. The Moral Argument

1. Aquinas's Version
2. Kant's Version    
3. Summary

III. ATTRIBUTES

10. The Problem of Suffering

1. Inscrutability
2. Free Will
3. Eschatological Recompense
4. Moral Fortitude    
5. Summary

11. Omnipotence

1. The Paradox of the Stone
2. No Impossible Powers
3. Two Impossible Acts Are Easier than One
4. Mortal Comprehension

12. Omniscience and Free Will 

1. The Basic Problem
2. Free Will Normalized
3. Out of Time
4. Different Necessities
5. Other Worlds
6. Summary

13. Time and Immutability

1. Problems with Immutability
2. Anthropomorphizing
3. Time Revisited    
4. Summary

14. Is God Love?

1. Different Kinds of Love

IV. FAITH

15. Faith and Reason

1. God is Special
2. Secular Faiths
3. Conclusion

16. Fideism

1. Kierkegaardian Fideism
2. Wittgensteinian Fideism    

17. Ultimate Concern

1. Ontological, Not Cosmological
2. Three Ambiguities
3. The Problem

18. Po-Mo Theo

1. A Monkey in a Box?
2. Summary

19. Pascal's Wager

1. Two Problems
2. Defending Pascal

20. Non-Falsifiability

1. Flew's Garden
2. Not Logical Positivism
3. Falsification and Verification
4. Objections
5. Replies
6. Summary

V. IMPLICATIONS

21. Mysticism

1. Common Components
2. Content    
3. Method    
4. Self-Confirming
5. Judging by the Effects
6. Conclusion

22. God and Morality

1. Moral Principles
2. The Euthyphro Argument
3. Innate Morality?
4. Sin and Moral Intuition
5. Strategic Interaction
6. Conclusion

23. The Meaning of Life

1. The Problem of Nihilism
2. Reductio ad Absurdum
3. The Argument from Consistency
4. The Non-Sequitur
5. Rephrasing the Question

24. Death

1. Platonic Arguments
2. Ghosts in the Machine
3. Brain Damage
4. Near Death Experiences    
5. The Identity Argument
6. Summary

25. Error Theory

1. Religion's Success
2. Some Psychological Accounts
3. The Evolution of Belief    
4. Back to Freud
5. Conclusion?

BIBLIOGRAPHY

NOTES