The God Argument
The Case Against Religion and for Humanism
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
There has been a bad-tempered quarrel between defenders and critics of religion in recent years. Both sides have expressed themselves acerbically because there is a very great deal at stake in the debate. This book thoroughly and calmly examines all the arguments and associated considerations offered in support of religious belief, and does so in full consciousness of the reasons people have for subscribing to religion, and the needs they seek to satisfy by doing so. And because it takes account of all the issues, its solutions carry great weight. The God Argument is the definitive examination of the issue, and a statement of the humanist outlook that recommends itself as the ethics of the genuinely reflective person.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In his 31st book, the eminent English philosopher re-examines the arguments for and against God and falls firmly in the camp of the nonbelievers. There is not a lot of new ground covered here Kant, Descartes, Hume and Locke all fall under the microscope, and Grayling has intelligently tackled religious belief in a long list of other books, including The Good Book (2011). While Grayling makes a thoughtful case in engaging writing for humanism a belief in the potential of human beings and their rationality he, like so many others, fails to offer religious readers a reason to rally behind it beyond common sense. Like so many atheist writers, Grayling assumes that all believers are fundamentalists, with little nuanced beliefs, implying that believing in the divinity of Jesus is the equivalent of believing in the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus. Until Grayling and other atheist writers recognize that religious believers, too, have brains that can be appealed to and must also be reached not only with emotion, his book and others like it are just more preaching to the atheist choir.
