As soon as man becomes conscious of his existence, as soon as he was able to reason, he was bound to ask himself the questions: "From whence did I come? And "Whither do I go?" It was very natural that he should wonder how he came to be here on earth and what would become of him after death. He saw his fellow man fall asleep, never to awaken. He saw others killed, life extinguished. It was his efforts to solve these problems that caused primitive man to create beliefs in life after death and in the power of super-human beings. When we look back over the experiences of the race, the history of mankind, we find that man has found three different ways of explaining his activities. In other words, there have been but three conceptions of history, three basic explanations by man of his doings on this planet. It is true that more than three names have been given to these conceptions of history, but they will all fall within the following: First, in order of time, is the Theological Conception of History; Second, is the Idealist Conception of History, and, third, is the Materialist Conception of History.

If suddenly you find yourself traveling down a long tunnel towards a soothing, ethereal light and you see Grandma waving to you from a distant garden with harp music in the background, relax. You're not dead. When you die, you'll know it. Death isn't going to sleep. Death is waking up. It is actually like being startled awake. There is no afterlife. There is merely life. What comes after the biology is magic.

What is Atheism? Atheism is the rejection of religion outright. It posits that there are no deities, and that the existence of all things can be explained rationally and without the presence of a higher power. This independently written book aims to examine the history of atheism and its philosophical development throughout the years, its rise in popularity throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, its central tenets of belief, the reason behind a person becoming and atheist, as well as atheism's future. It also contains survey data, provides popular quotes about atheism, lists a large variety of famous atheists, and depicts today's commonly used atheist symbols. Contents: What is Atheism? The History and Development of Atheism Atheism Today & Tomorrow Atheism Vs. Agnosticism What is Behind the Selection of Atheism as a Religion? Types of Atheism Reasons for Atheism The Current State of Atheism Atheist Symbols, Quotes and Famous People

A Secular Humanist's tour de force, Don Libey's second novel offers Christian believers rare insight into the true fallacy of God's Church and a Life in the Lord. Set in Small Town, America, it is the story of how people of blind faith plant their seed, nurture their beliefs, and harvest their rewards with their unquestioning reliance on the mythical divine and revealed Word of God and the moral rectitude and disaster of Christian teaching. For those for whom "Jesus is enough" this is a story that reveals the "old-timey Gospel" as essentially hypocrisy and a simple life with God on your heart as the primary ingredient for the church to make money and keep its "believers" enslaved.

Infinity and God have been close bedfellows over the recent millennia of human thought. But this is James A. Lindsay's point. These two ideas are thought, mere concepts. Lindsay shows in a concise and readable manner that infinity is an abstraction, and shows that, in all likelihood, so is God, particularly if he has infinite properties. This book is about math. It is about God. It is about stressing the importance of not confusing these two ideas with reality. Never the twain shall meet. "A short and engaging read on the meeting of two huge ideas, infinity and God, that leaves us seeing both as abstract ideas that may have nothing to do with reality. Honest and accessible, Dot, Dot, Dot is a great little book to stretch your thinking." - Peter Boghossian, author of A Manual for Creating Atheists "Timely, important and very readable, this book pulls the rug from under theists' feet." - Jonathan MS Pearce, The Little Book of Unholy Questions "Read this to avoid making any more cardinal sins and learn how much math is an amazing human endeavor." - Aaron Adair, PhD, The Star of Bethlehem: A Skeptical View

Beginning in 1689, Jean Meslier worked for around forty years as the priest of the small town of Etripigny, France. When he died, his parishioners were astonished to find his last testament to them: a refutation of every religious doctrine he had advocated in life. This is the testament, with preface by Voltaire, who exhorted his own daughter to read it again and again. The Godless Heritage Series is a project dedicated to bringing hard-to-find works of atheist and secularist history back into print in an accessible way. Our goal is to bring back works that allow us to rediscover the lives of atheists, agnostics, and secularists from across cultures and through the ages.

The Age of Reason, The Complete Edition is one of the most powerful thought provoking books ever written about God and religion. It smashes through the ancient walls of superstition and fear of the "revealed" religions with the unstoppable battering ram of our innate God-given reason Thomas Paine was often attacked for having written this enlightening book, but his arguments and profound observations found within have never been defeated. This edition contains the seldom seen third part to The Age of Reason and, unlike any other editions, also includes all of Paine's known essays and correspondence regarding God, Deism, the Bible and theology.

Some events defy statistics and common sense, like winning the lottery four times in a row. For believers it's just God doing His thing. Atheists and agnostics don't have it that easy. What are these astounding synchronicities and highly improbable lucky breaks? Are they just coincidences or is there something else at work here? Drawing on science, mathematics, psychology, and philosophy, this book places the miraculous into a rational framework, and suggest strategies for harnessing its power in your decision-making and worldview. That's just half the story. The other half is the author's own improbable life, starting as a Jewish infant hidden in the basement of a Gestapo headquarters, later becoming an Israeli soldier in the Six-Day War, a concert pianist, a stand-up comedian, and a yogi in an ashram, all before he turned 50. It is a rip-roaring hilarious tale that will make your head spin. It will also give you a blueprint for turning your own life into a journey of awe and amazement. About the author Peter Elyakim Taussig is a Czech-Israeli-Canadian-American composer, author, filmmaker, concert pianist, nature photographer, and inventor. He is neither award-winning nor internationally acclaimed. He resides in Lenox Massachusetts and Santa Barbara California. Further self-aggrandizing information is available on his web site at: www.petertaussig.com

Discussions about belief and non-belief usually end up, time and time again, in the concept of religion, but in this book the author has started from the premise that we need to separate the concept of God, from the notion of human institutions and organized religion. The real issue, he argues, is that the concept of God is poorly explored by believers, and greatly explored by non-believers, when in reality should be the opposite. As religious people grow up in religious environments, at some point God becomes just a word without a definition, and people lose perspective of what they really mean when they say: I do believe in God. So, in this book he takes on straight on the concept of God, the nature of faith, the connection between God and religion, how worshipping has evolved and the actual possibility of morality in the absence of believe. As in his first book he has made every attempt to express his ideas in a simple, straight-forward manner, without being condescending to the believers and inviting them to learn about atheism and humanism without a push to stop believing. His only true objective is to promote reason and tolerance, and both believers and non-believers alike will find his work enticing, and thought-provoking. This book is the second (and last) in the "Inside a Non-Believer's" Mind series. On the first part (my Journey from Christianity to Freethinking), the author shared his ideas about the reasons to become a humanist and freethinker.

Jabez from the book of Chronicles was a blessed man but was selfish. This book will encourage us to go beyond Jabez. Dr. T Charles Brantley is married to Jackie Brantley for over 27 years with three children. He has also earned a double Doctorate and Masters Degrees from Newburgh Seminary. In addition, he has authored 12 national published books. He is also senior pastor of Restoration Springs Interdenominational Church in Waterbury, Connecticut. (www.rest.org)

Rudolf Steiner discovered that, in addition to "ordinary" space, negative space, or "counterspace," also exists, leading to a more holistic worldview. Steiner suggested that it was important to understand counterspace as a necessary supplement to the conventional approach. The author relates the phenomena of our world to both space and counterspace, which leads to a new scientific understanding. If counterspace actually exists, then the resulting interplay between counterspace and "ordinary" space must be significant. This concept is applied to gravity, liquids, gases, heat, light, chemistry, and life. Each aspect involves a separate investigation, whereas the various threads begin to interweave and become a unified whole. A new concept of time, and indications for a new approach to relativity and quantum physics begin to emerge. Note: Science between Space and Counterspace contains advanced mathematical and scientific proofs that the nonspecialist, general reader might find difficult.

This work, "Christianity and Black Oppression: Duppy Know Who Fe Frighten" asks: How is it that blacks have been Christianized for more than four hundred years, and in some cases more than five hundred years, and yet blacks are stereotyped as morally and mentally inferior? At the very first encounter between Europeans and Africans, Africans were perceived as "pagan," "heathen," and "devil worshippers." The tool that would transform Africans, it was postulated, would be the Christian religion. In spite of over four centuries of Christianity, the perception of blacks as morally and mentally inferior has not changed. Blacks, it would appear, carry a stigma that is genetic and can be transmitted. "Christianity and Black Oppression: Duppy Know Who Fe Frighten" also addresses the issue as to why there has not been a radical change in the perception of blacks in spite of centuries of blacks' investment of an inordinate amount of time, energy and money in the Christian religion. Green argues that Blacks were forced to surrender their African world view and adopt a European Christian world view. Black history and culture are marginalized, and at times demonized, within Christianity, and this is transferred to other areas of the lives of blacks. Indeed in this work, a comparison is made between the Dalits of India who are ostracized within the Hindu religion and blacks who share the commonality of oppression that is based on a stigma that is supposedly genetic and therefore can be transmitted. In the light of the fact that Christianity is considered to be an egalitarian religion with a God who is benevolent and who intervenes in peoples' lives, and the reality of black oppression, the question then arises as to whether blacks are subjected to "divine racism."

Atheism's leading lights have long been intellectuals raised in the secular and academic worlds: Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and the late Christopher Hitchens. By contrast, Jerry DeWitt was born and bred into the church and was in fact a Pentecostal preacher before arriving at atheism through an extraordinary dialogue with faith that spanned more than a quarter of a century. "Hope After Faith" is his account of that journey.
DeWitt was a pastor in the town of DeRidder, Louisiana, and was a fixture of the community. In private, however, he'd begun to question his faith. Late one night in May 2011, a member of his flock called seeking prayer for her brother who had been in a serious accident. As DeWitt searched for the right words to console her, speech failed him, and he found that the faith which once had formed the cornerstone of his life had finally crumbled to dust. When it became public knowledge that DeWitt was now an atheist, he found himself shunned by much of DeRidder's highly religious community, losing nearly everything he'd known.
DeWitt's struggle for identity and meaning mirrors the one currently facing millions of people around the world. With both agnosticism and atheism entering the mainstream--one in five Americans now claim no religious affiliation, according to a recent study--the moment has arrived for a new atheist voice, one that is respectful of faith and religious traditions yet warmly embraces a life free of religion, finding not skepticism and cold doubt but rather profound meaning and hope. "Hope After Faith" is the story of one man's evolution toward a committed and considered atheism, one driven by humanism, a profound moral dimension, and a happiness and self-confidence obtained through living free of fear.

A concise compilation of logical and reasonable responses to Christian apologetic claims. This book will be of use to anyone who debates with Christians. It offers "old hands" a reminder of some of the arguments they may have forgotten, and maybe provides some new ones. It offers newcomers to the debate the common sense and rationality that is atheism and very good advice on how to keep control of theists who attempt to veer off the point or steer their rudders toward safer waters.

Five track athletes from New York went to Jamaica to learn the secrets to Jamaican sprinting. In their quest for immediate success, they ventured into the sacred hills of Jamaica. The harrowing experience almost killed them. Defeat and disappointment at the local track meet led them to become spies. The clues that they found convinced them that they could crack the secret codes that Jamaican's use to communicate and hide the secrets to sprinting. After a near death experience, a trip to the hospital and trickery from the number one con man in Jamaica, they returned to New York to compete in the County Championships.

The Complete Heretics' Guide to Western Religion Book One: The Mormons The next time that squeaky clean pair of LDS elders comes knocking on your door, they're in for a surprise Find out the secrets the Mormon Church would rather you didn't know (and for which they paid plenty of money to keep hushed up - unsuccessfully ) In this first book of The Complete Heretic's Guide to World Religion series, historian and award-winning atheist author Dave Fitzgerald takes us behind the Salt Lake Curtain for a glimpse at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and answers your questions: Where did this multi-billion dollar tax-exempt corporation come from? Did Joseph Smith really sleep with all those women? Are the Mormons going to take over the whole world, and if so, is there any way to stop them? But that's not all Learn about the bizarre, oxymoronic world of Mormon Archeology and discover their strange beliefs, not just all the crazy stuff you already know, but all the truly twisted things you never even suspected - including the astounding shocking skeletons rattling around in the closet of the Mormon church hierarchy. Don't miss out on this fun, informative and painstakingly researched historical romp by the highly praised and award-winning author of Nailed: Ten Christian Myths That Show Jesus Never Existed At All. So when the missionaries show up on your doorstep, you'll have plenty to discuss with them... Later days, Saints The Complete Heretic's Guide to Western Religion. Because Religion isn't just wrong. It's hilarious.

The remarkable discussions in this book took place between Rudolf Steiner and workers at the Goetheanum in Switzerland. The varied subject matter was chosen by the audience at Steiner's instigation. Steiner took questions and generally offered immediate answers. The astonishing nature of his responses -- their insight, knowledge, and spiritual depth -- testifies to his outstanding ability as a spiritual initiate and profound thinker. Accessible, entertaining and stimulating, the records of these sessions will be a delight to any open-minded reader.

Here Steiner covers topics ranging from elephants to Einstein. Among other things, he discusses ants, bees, shells, skeletons, animal and plant poisons, bodily secretions, protein and fats, potatoes, the human eye, water, animal migration, clothing, opium and alcohol, and thinking.

Religions evolve, not metaphorically, but in a very real way. By applying survival-of-the-fittest principles to religion, we can finally understand how religion became incredibly infectious to the average human. Religion is perfectly adapted to its environment: your brain. In The Religion Virus, you will learn how infectious ideas like the loving father-figure God, the promise that death is not the end, the attraction of heaven, the threat of hell, and many others evolved from prehistoric to modern times. You will finally understand why today's religions survived while thousands of other religions and sects died out. The world's religions have amazing parallels to biological life: they reproduce, mutate, and compete with each other in an ongoing battle for survival of the fittest. Like biological life, over ninety-nine percenty of the world's religions are extinct, but the ones that remain are quite remarkable. They are the strongest and best. More importantly, survival of the fittest does not necessarily mean survival of the truth, but rather the survival of the things people want to believe, whether true or not.

An uncommon look on how religion affects our lives, how we accept limits on our freedom and how we can do better for our children. The author is an immigrant from Holland and has expirienced living in a socialist environment before coming to the USA. Acknowledging that the USA is by far the envy of many in the world, it would be unrealistic to claim there is no room for improvement. The world will never be perfect for everyone, but it never hurts to exchange opinions on how we're doing and how we might improve.