Atheist Manifesto: The Case Against Christianity, Judaism, and Islam https://www.amazon.com/Atheist-Manif...dp/B0052ZO7BQ/
If you'd like to know how a communist attacks the concept of religion (Abrahamic religion only, mind you) and would like a well written book, this is actually worth the read. Don't be too picky about facts, mind you, and intellectual honestly is a bit short. Of course the book is going to be biased, the title is what you get, and I expected some stripping of context or twisting. The Bible blesses cooking with human feces, he says. He doesn't explain the symbolism of Ezekiel nor explain the fact that burning animal feces for fuel is a matter of necessity in many times and places, and that this was a reference to extreme deprivation yet to come when even cattle's dung would be unavailable. The protestant reader might be surprised to find he's not really a Christian since he doesn't believe in papal infallibility, because something about picking and choosing which Bible verses you'll believe. Similarly, somehow the Ayatollah speaks for all Muslims because reasons that aren't really fleshed out. Some things are strictly wrong. He states that all three holy books state Eve gave Adam the fruit of original sin and this is important to him because it helps him "prove" the misogyny he sees as inherent to the religions. This isn't the case for the Qu'ran. 30 seconds with Google will confirm that Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan together and elected to disobey God together. https://quran.com/7/20 I noted others that were incorrect for the Bible as well, and I suspect someone with better familiarity with the Torah would find similar there as well. On a side note, prohibitions on prostitution and pagan ritual sex cults while celebrating mothers and wives are further "proof" of misogyny. That's an argument that's not really fleshed out, but I guess I'm just too brainwashed by Judeo-Christian thinking to celebrate prostitution and ritual orgies as "feminism".
He, of course, goes to lengths to point out the evils done in the name of religion or by the religious to prove religion is bad (again, only Abrahamic religions though). There's no questioning of what it means when atheists do the same acts. It must also be puzzling to him how a time and place like feudal Japan wasn't an idyllic land without Abraham and his ilk polluting the population's thoughts. 9/11 and the resulting GWOT is simply Jews+Christians vs Muslims. He must be puzzled as to why we have Muslim allies, and must be truly puzzled why American Indians fought amongst themselves or why China, Korea, and Japan haven't always been besties who just used their words to hash out differences.
Perhaps my most “WTF” moment was his railing against the concept of free will and punishment by secular authorities. Apparently we shouldn’t jail child molesters because they lack free will or something. In his reality we just throw them in jail to get raped then let them out without treatment.
Atheists aren't atheistic enough if they still embrace Judeo-Christian values. The following quote is reference France, post-Revolution through modernity: "Moral handbooks in republican schools preach the excellence of the family, the virtues of work, the need to respect one's parents and honor the old, the rightness of nationalism, patriotic obligations, mistrust of the flesh, the body and passions, the beauty of manual labor, submission to political authority, duty to the poor. What could the village priest obect to here? Work, Family, Fatherland: the holy secular Trinity of Christendom...and of Vichy France.
Finally, despite the name the author doesn't spend much time at all dealing with the concept of the existence or non-existence of God. He just assumes it to be fact and doesn't appear to have much worry about it. Which is fine, mind you, but the title sort of led me to expect a bit more meat on that particular bone would be gnawed at.
I did no research on the author until after finishing the book, but he seems quite enthralled with Marx. A cursory bit of research shows he is some sort of anarchist-communist hybrid, which I'm not even sure how to begin to fathom. On one hand bashing the idea that even the family should be the most basic unit, only the individual matters but then backing a communist political candidate seems like shouting the merits of veganism while handing out t-bones to the masses. I am 100% certain you can be a moral and just person without believing in any given concept of God, but I frankly doubt I would find the author to be someone I'd consider moral and ethical. Not because of atheism, but because pedophile defense and communism.
Now, what I will agree with the author on is you should question your own beliefs and certainly not simply accept faith like a hand-me-down sweater. He seems to have no idea that religions aren't monolithic and we all just believe what the Pope or Ayatollah (?) tell us, but the basic lesson still applies. And that yes, humans do shitty things to each other. I think that's more in spite of religion then because of it, but again the lesson holds.
A point by point rebuttal would be much to lengthy and beyond the scope of this thread, so I'll just sum up with a recommendation. If you believe in a literal interpretation of your holy book of choice and have no interest in an opposing view, this book will likely only be a source of anger or boredom for you. If you're not threatened by a systematic attack on what you probably don't believe to begin with (if you don't believe two of every animal literally rode around in an ark to escape a global flood) and are already familiar with the Council of Nicaea, there's probably nothing in here that's going to get you too worked up or "de-convert" you. It is a technically well-written, eloquent, and informative read *if* you don't mind doing some fact checking here and there and want to see how "the other side" characterizes the argument.
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Originally Posted by BehindBlueI's
