“Atheists are the last of the minorities in America to come out of the closet, and like other civil rights movements this one began with leaders like Dan Barker and his Freedom from Religion Foundation defending the civil liberties of godless Americans. who deserve equal protection under the Constitution. In his new book, Godless, Barker recounts his journey from evangelical preacher to atheist activist, and along the way explains pecisely why it is not only okay to be an atheist, it is something of which to be proud.” - MICHAEL SHERMER publisher of Skeptic magazine, author of How We Believe, Why Darwin Matters, and The Mind of the Market.
I can commend this book, Godless, as an exellent source of reference material
I will definitely get it. I bought this book of his about 4 years ago - ‘Just Pretend: A Freethought Book for Children’ - and have been waiting for my kids to grow up a little. I gave it to them last week to read… I went to Joburg for the week so I don’t think anything was read. Going to have a Q&A afterward to see what they think…
btw For young children I personally like the Buddhist approach of teaching them to respect nature’s small animals and plant-life and to extend the same feelings to larger animals and human life and then to emphasise the symbiotic relationship which exists between organisms in nature.
Have a nice day!
Cool, thanks. I also gave them this book to read through - Humanism, What’s That?: A Book for Curious Kids. I think it is a pretty cool book. Again, letting them know that there is more out there than what the school advocates!
Just finished Barker’s book…got it from Amazon…it’s good although I found some parts tedious where he discusses the details of the Bible (possibly because I’m familiar with most of this). His chapter 9 'Dear Theologian" is hilarious where god addresses believers and complains his lot…made me ask myself “If god created man in his image, why did Adam have a navel and tits?” Interestingly, I found some of his experiences similar to mine but also to Steve’s journey from being a preacher to atheism.
Nice quote: “If salvation is the cure, then atheism is the prevention” (Barker Dan “Godless”, 2008.)