Showing titles in Agnosticism

Moving from the Paleolithic age to the present, Karen Armstrong details the great lengths to which humankind has gone in order to experience a sacred reality that it called by many names, such as God, Brahman, Nirvana, Allah, or Dao. Focusing especially on Christianity but including Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Chinese spiritualities, Armstrong examines the diminished impulse toward religion in our own time, when a significant number of people either want nothing to do with God or question the efficacy of faith. Why has God become unbelievable?

From the perspective of an unbeliever, Fear and Trembling explores the paradox of faith, the nature of Christianity, and the complexity of human emotion. Kierkegaard examines the biblical story of Abraham, who was instructed to sacrifice his son Isaac, and forces us to consider Abraham's state of mind. What drove Abraham, and what made him carry out such an absurd and extreme request from God? Kierkegaard argues that Abraham's agreement to sacrifice Isaac, and his suspension of reason, elevated him to the highest level of faith.

"Forty-four percent of the American population is convinced that Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead sometime in the next 50 years," writes Sam Harris. "Imagine the consequences if any significant component of the U.S. government actually believed that the world was about to end and that its ending would be glorious. The fact that nearly half of the American population apparently believes this...should be considered a moral and intellectual emergency."

Humanity consists of coevolving software (our religion and culture), firmware (our hardcoded proclivities, such as language acquisition), and hardware (our brains). Ripping out a third of the equation has led to innumerous unintended—and typically negative—consequences. This book offers a guide to rebuilding or fortifying this increasingly neglected aspect of the human condition.

With every argument for theism long since discredited, the result is that atheism has become little more than the noises reasonable people make in the presence of unjustified religious beliefs. Thus, engaging in interminable debate with religious believers about the existence of god has become exactly the wrong way for nonbelievers to try to deal with misguided - and often dangerous - belief in a higher power. The key, author James Lindsay argues, is to stop that particular conversation.

In Part Two of this series, Rev. John goes deeper into his UU faith. Through fresh sermons, honest reflections, and bold new teachings, he shows what it means to live our faith out loud: to anchor our lives in shared values with Love at the center, to wrestle with our evolving principles and sources, to build the Beloved Community Dr. King dreamed about — right here, right now. Drawing wisdom from history, pop culture, and his own journey as a Black Unitarian Universalist minister, Rev. Crestwell invites new UUs, longtime members, and spiritual seekers alike to remember that this is a ...

Shadows of the Occult: An In-Depth Exploration of Cults, Occult, and Their Rituals" Unlock the Hidden World of Cults and Occultic Practices – A Must-Read for Truth Seekers, Scholars, and the Curious Alike! Are you intrigued by the mysterious and secretive world of cults and occult practices? Do you want to understand the rituals, initiation processes, and the psychological power these groups hold over their followers? Discover the dark and enigmatic truths behind the shadows with "Shadows of the Occult: An In-Depth Exploration of Cults, Occult, and Their Rituals." Why This Book is a Must-...

This personal story about a spiritual journey away from Christianity is an honest examination of what we can know about God. Popular religious beliefs and practices are challenged, with potential new information for those who may be questioning their faith. After formal academic study of religion, Baptist minister David Ramsey became agnostic and left the ministry altogether. In this book, he shares how his search for truth led to personal doubts about the foundation of Christianity, the resurrection of Jesus, and eventually the very existence of God.

Should we believe in God? Do we need God in order to explain the existence of the universe? Do we need God in order to be good? In 12 chapters that address some of the most profound questions human beings confront, Dawkins marshals science, philosophy and comparative religion to interrogate the hypocrisies of all the religious systems and explain to listeners of all ages how life emerged without a Creator, how evolution works and how our world came into being.

Russell once said, "Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric." His views on religion in general, and on Christianity in particular (as in this work), were considered "eccentric" by many of his contemporaries. So were his views on sex, which figures frequently as an example of the misery that Christian leaders and thinkers inflict, and for which he was often vilified. The lectures in this collection leave no doubt about his views on these and related subjects.

This is a passionate but breezy polemic that seeks to expose the harmful nature of religious orthodoxy, whether it be Christian, Jewish, or Moslem, which it contrasts with polytheism, specifically Greek polytheism, altogether a more relaxed system. It is also a forceful plea for the use of reason in pursuit of the biggest questions that confront us. An Ordinary Man’s Letter to God is not an attack on faith, nor does it advocate for atheism. It argues passionately for the use of reason to establish a universal doctrine of tolerance, decency, common sense, and love.

In this first book of his Ten Tough Problems series, David Madison shares three critical problems in Christian belief. Problem One: God is invisible and silent. This fact forces humanity to rely on ineffective ways of knowing God — common knowledge, sacred books, visions, prayer, personal feelings, and theologians. But all these sources of God knowledge fall short as evidenced by a world of disagreement, not just between Christians and other religions, but within Christianity itself.

El Dios de los Ateos es una exploración profunda de la visión de Baruch Spinoza sobre Dios, la religión y la razón. Rechazando la noción de un Dios intervencionista, Spinoza redefine la divinidad como la Naturaleza misma, eterna e inmutable. Critica la fe ciega en milagros y supersticiones, proponiendo en cambio una devoción basada en el amor intelectual y la búsqueda del conocimiento. El libro analiza la separación entre filosofía y teología, la defensa de la libertad de pensamiento y la democracia, y ofrece una crítica radical al poder político y religioso. Una obra ...

Sound interesting? The author thinks so too! Listen to Contraduction and learn a new way to think about the world.

In the tradition of Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian and Sam Harris' The End of Faith, Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate case against religion. With a close and erudite reading of the major religious texts, he documents the ways in which religion is a man-made wish, a cause of dangerous sexual repression and a distortion of our origins in the cosmos.

A guidebook for living a life without religion, combining sociological insight and personal inspiration. Over the last 25 years, "no religion" has become the fastest growing religion in the United States. Around the world, hundreds of millions of people have turned away from the traditional faiths of the past and embraced a secular - or nonreligious - life, generating societies vastly less religious than at any other time in human history.

Unlock the Secrets Behind History's Most Powerful and Mysterious Forces! In SHADOWS OF POWER: THE MAFIA OCCULT AND WITCHES: Unveiling the Hidden Forces of Power, dive deep into the shadowy world where the Mafia, occult practices, and witchcraft intersect, revealing the secrets and strategies that have shaped the course of history. This book uncovers the hidden alliances, clandestine rituals, and the dark underbelly of societies that have remained shrouded in mystery for centuries. From the blood-soaked initiation rites of the Mafia to the secretive ceremonies of occult societies, and the ...

Incorporating his own thoughts along with those of noted academics, philosophers, and theologians, Loftus is able to properly define "miracle" and then show why there's no reason to believe such a thing even exists.

There is but one form of human enslavement more villainous and more detestable than the chains of the tyrant or the shackles of the despot, and that is the enslavement of the human mind under ecclesiastical tyranny, whose cowering and crouching victims at the crack of the priestly lash are driven from the cultivation of their own intelligence, from the custody of their own thoughts, from the guardianship of their own souls, and who, like whipt dogs, trembling and whining in abject submission at the feet of the oppressor, lick the very hand that wields the lash.

Ever felt a nagging doubt about your own choices? If an all-powerful, all-knowing God truly holds the reins, how much freedom do you really have? Are you just a character in a cosmic script, or the genuine author of your own story? In "God and Free Will? Unchain your mind, embrace your Freedom," we dive headfirst into one of humanity's oldest puzzles. Forget the dense theology and dry philosophy you might expect. This book cuts straight to the core, offering a refreshingly direct and empowering perspective on what it truly means to be free. This isn't about telling you what to believe. ...