In recent years a number of bestselling books have forcefully
argued that belief in God can no longer be defended on rational or
empirical grounds, and that the scientific worldview has rendered
obsolete the traditional beliefs held by Christianity, Judaism, and
Islam. The authors of these books--Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett,
Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and Victor J. Stenger--have come
to be known as the "New Atheists." Predictably, their works have
been controversial and attracted a good deal of critical
reaction.
In this new book, Victor J. Stenger, whose God: The Failed
Hypothesis was on the New York Times bestseller list in 2007,
reviews and expands upon the principles of New Atheism and answers
many of its critics. He demonstrates in detail that naturalism--the
view that all of reality is reducible to matter and nothing
else--is sufficient to explain everything we observe in the
universe, from the most distant galaxies to the inner workings of
the brain that result in the phenomenon of mind.
Stenger disputes the claim of many critics that the question of
whether God exists is beyond the ken of science. On the contrary,
he argues that absence of evidence for God is, indeed, evidence of
absence when the evidence should be there and is not.
Turning from scientific to historical evidence, Stenger then
points out the many examples of evil perpetrated in the name of
religion. He also notes that the Bible, which is still taken to be
divine revelation by millions, fails as a basis for morality and is
unable to account for the problem of unnecessary suffering
throughout the world.
Finally, he discusses the teachings of ancient nontheist sages
such as Buddha, Lao Tzu, and Confucius, whose guidelines for coping
with the problems of life and death did not depend upon a
supernatural metaphysics. Stenger argues that this "way of nature"
is far superior to the traditional supernatural monotheisms, which
history shows can lead to a host of evils.
The New Atheism is a well-argued defense of the atheist position
and a strong rebuttal of its critics.
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