'Hurray for Michael Palmer ' is how Michael Martin, the
distinguished American philosopher, greeted Palmer's 'The Atheist's
Primer' (The Lutterworth Press, 2012). 'Atheism for Beginners', by
providing a 'coursebook for schools and colleges, ' differs from
its predecessor in being designed specifically for teachers and
their students. Yet, although different in focus and format, the
intention remains the same: to reinstate the importance of
philosophy within the debate about God's existence and to act as a
corrective to the largely Darwinian criticisms levelled against
religious belief by Richard Dawkins and the so-called 'new
atheists'. So, in Palmer's lively history of atheism, extending
from the ancient Greeks to the present day, we meet the enduring
philosophical arguments against God and the great literature in
which they are expressed. 'Atheism for Beginners' is user-friendly
and presumes no special grounding in philosophy. Throughout
assistance is given by numerous aids to learning: there are
exercises, marginal notes, essay questions, bibliographies and a
glossary. Also provided are fourteen short biographies of famous
atheists. In these respects Palmer follows the format fi rst
presented in his widely-read Moral Problems of 1991 (2nd edition,
2005), long established as a core text in the teaching of
philosophy. In 'Atheism for Beginners', Palmer covers the main
atheistic arguments, discussing issues such as creation, morality,
evil, miracles and the motivations of belief. Particular attention
is paid to the work of Hume, Marx, Nietzsche and Freud, with a
special chapter devoted to the development of 'disproof atheism.'
Atheism is often criticized for being unduly pessimistic: that
without God there is nothing to look forward to, no life after
death, no final righting of wrongs and no hope of salvation. But
this, Palmer argues, is 'a slander against the atheistic outlook'.
He concludes, therefore, on a positive note, explaining that
happiness and personal fulfilment are to be found in the very
materialism that religious belief rejects. The prominent
philosopher, Dr Michael Palmer, is a former Teaching Fellow at
McMaster University and Humboldt Fellow at Marburg University and
was the founding Head of the Department of Religion and Philosophy
at The Manchester Grammar School. His many publications include
'Moral Problems', 'Moral Problems in Medicine', the two-volumed
'The Philosophy of Religion', 'The Atheist's Creed', 'The Atheist's
Primer', and two books based on lectures delivered at Bristol
University, 'Freud and Jung on Religion' and 'The Question of God'.
His work has been translated into many languages.
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