Customer Reviews

2000 Years of Disbelief: Famous People with the Courage to Doubt

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Those who'd like to challenge the founding fathers as to religion, - maintaining that they were Christians , would do well to read this book. America was NOT founded upon Christianity, but upon Deism- the idea that there might have BEEN an original God , but that he was only the watchmaker who created the earth , but left it to it's own devices once it was wound up; not giving humans dominance nor establishing faiths. Thus the idea of revealed religion was false and open to skepticism. The true focus of this book however , is to expose the reader to a VAST number of humanity's greatest thinkers they might have not known were skeptics and doubters of their times and ours. Full of quotes -from ancient through modern times- this is an extremely well researched compilation .Truly a gold-mine for those who'd like to know what Aristotle ,Shakespeare, Decartes, Franklin , Twain , Voltaire , Jefferson, Edison , Einstein , Freud , Asimov , Roddenberry actually said- to mention only a few of at least forty other great minds that have shaped us into the humans and societies we are today. 2000 Years of Disbelief is a MUST-READ for any student of philosophy or religion . Progress has never been measured by blind adherence , but careful study of minority thinking , as that is the only true road to growth ;both personal and societal , and this book realizes it's goal - to expose the myths and introduce us to the even GREATER original thinking of the minds we hold dearest in our historical psyches.DO READ!!

This book, while not extremely in-depth, does a great job of showing that people need not be religious in order to be good, accomplished, human beings. While some consider it to be a mere anti-religious diatribe, what the book does is serve as a quick glance at some of history's greatest freethinkers. There are great theists and atheists; morals, virtue, and ethics are not restricted to either. This book goes far in showing that. Also, one point about the quotes. The "Booklist" review says that they may have been taken out of context. But further research into many of the people Haught listed in his book show that the quotes he uses are usually supported by the true views of their author's. I suspect that Booklist did not research the people, or the quotes, at all, which explains their shortsighted review.

This book is very good. It is chronologically ordered, so that one can read what various freethinkers throughout history thought of religion, often at the threat of social disdain (at the very least) or death. Although a great many ancient minds thought the Earth was flat and posessed by various gods of a Draconian religion, there were those precious few that were surprisingly ahead of their time. This book chronicles this nicely.

Even theists that have the slightest bit of doubt will enjoy this book, perhaps unwittingly. There are some great minds listed throughout such as: Voltaire, Copernicus, Magellan, Einstein, Freud, Mark Twain, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony, John Adams, Ben Franklin, Darwin, Ayn Rand, Louis Pasteur, Thomas Edison, and lots more.

Also littered throughout the book are various snippets of historic events, such as atheists who were murdered for their beliefs. Makes one realize how serious people were and are about their pet mythologies.

This book is a must have for the atheist seeking some fun arguments by authority or for the theist who is impressed by such. In any event, it is VERY insightful!

Dan The Burke

Christians are going to go through the roof when they read of people like Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, Adams and other founding fathers (and mothers) that had no use for organized religion.

The chapter on James Madison is especially interesting in its depiction of Madison and Jefferson's battle to pass Jefferson's Religious Freedom Act. This action was necessary since a tax bill was on hand (1784) to give sums of American tax dollars to Christian churches, thus establishing a federally funded religion. Had this occurred, the religious freedom so many people had died for would have evaporated. Jews, atheists or otherwise would have been out of luck. Fortunately, that bill was defeated and the tenets of Jefferson's Religious Freedom Act were sewn into our Bill of Rights in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

I find it important to illustrate the fact that one does not have to be an atheist to find value in this book. For those of us that are interested in human history, this text lends great insight into the minds of many people that have impacted our world's past, present and future. Its claims are exhaustively researched and documented on the pages. If the inclination to dispute or research is felt, all one has to do is have a pen and paper handy.

The Booklist review suggests this book lacks "balance" because it doesn't offer the "positive aspects of Western culture" wrought by religion. One wonders if a book critical of the Third Reich would be unacceptable to Booklist if the author failed to offer "balance" by mentioning that the Nazi's made the trains run on time.

The quotations are interesting, engaging and often humorous. Any book offering the following quote can't be all bad:

"I read about an Eskimo hunter who asked the local missionary priest, 'If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?' 'No,' said the priest, 'not if you did not know.' 'Then why,' asked the Eskimo earnestly, 'did you tell me?' " -- Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, 1974

The Booklist Editor review completely misses the point of this book. It's not intended as a debate book on the peasant poetry of the Christian/Jewish holy book; or on the arguments believers make on behalf of their religion. It's intended as a biographical summary of unbelievers throughout history since Christ. And, in that function, the book does a fine job.

2000 Years of Disbelief is a good collection of famous people from the ancients to the modern ones, who criticized religion. The book is organized into time periods such as renaissance, European enlightenment etc and covers a large number of thinkers. There is a short information for each thinker's life, opinions and then comes quotations from his/her books or sayings.

It is a good collection but it is somewhat light in explaining the ideas of the philosophers or the general conditions in their times that lead to their doubt or disbelief. About two thirds of the book consists of the quotations. More detailed information about the lives and ideas of the philosophers would have been nice.

Among some of the quotations that I like:

Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is a ridiculous one. - Voltaire

Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear. - Thomas Jefferson

Gullibility and credulity are considered undesirable qualities in every department of human life, except religion. - Christopher Hitchens

If the philosophers were to form a government, the people, after 150 years, would forgo some new superstition, and would either pray to little idols, or to the graves in which the great men were buried, or invoke the sun, or commit some similar nonsense. Superstition is the weakness of the human mind, which is inseparably tied to it; it has always existed, and always will. - Frederich the Great

Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel. Pray: To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner, confessedly unworthy. Redemption: Deliverance of sinners from the penalty of their sin, through their murder of the deity against whom they sinned. The doctrine of Redemption is the fundamental mystery of our holy religion, and whose believeth in it shall not perish, but have everlasting life in which to try to understand it. - Ambrose Bierce

I have only read about half of the book. But this half has come in only two days, because the book is mainly a quick reference guide to some biographical information followed by quotes. This book is excellent for anyone that wants a starter in the history of religion or actually freethought.

-- Now finished, and am quite pleased with what I read. I will gladly go to 'hell' with these great thinkers than go to a 'heaven' filled with people who blindly follow. I also read Some Mistakes of Moses, another book that is a quick read like this one and highly recommended.

BUT this one is for the history or biography minded out there, it is not a literary work, it is a reference to certain people "wetting the palate" of the reader to go out and read more.

I absolutely loved this book! It features thousands of ways that intelligent people have used to express disdain for the bankrupt theistic beliefs held by the majority. I hate it when bubbleheaded, religious lemmings repeat nonsense that they've been fed, and expect everybody to agree. These "believers" cannot even agree with one another, as has been evidenced by the various religious wars, inquisitions, and witch hunts that have taken place throughout history. Religious differences continue to be the major causes of bloodshed on the planet in our own time. People of moral courage and reason need to continuously resist this dangerous, pious impulse, in the hope that someday it will die out. I was very inspired that these people, many of whom were rich and/or famous, and had a lot to lose, would bluntly state their honest doubts publicly. The book also serves as a good reference for further reading. I intend to investigate more deeply, the views of many of the people featured.

It is perhaps more important to critique the author of the Booklist review who states that Haught "seems to imply that doubt of the supernatural is a credible position simply because many famous people have done so." On the other hand, those of mystic persuasion will often trumpet out the number who claim belief in a supreme being, conveniently forgetting in the same breath that numbers do not make a thing right or valid. The Booklist reviewer then critizies the author for providing a selection of quotations with the short biographical intro's, claiming that they are "taken in isolation and, thus, out of context." This would be amusing if it were not so silly. The quotations ARE the context of that which the book is about. To critize this is to reveal an agenda which is evidenced by claiming that "This work is vitriol, masquerading as a collection of antireligious quotations"...which is an example of a medieval mindset that would sweep aside the opinions of the famous contributors mentioned in the book. Finally, the Booklist reviewer claims Haught's view has an "implicit disdain for people of faith" and "ignores the role religion has played in the development of the positive aspects of Western culture," disregarding, once again, the title of the book. If the positive aspects were aligned with the negative ones over the past 4000 years, the latter would flow with the blood of millions. In contradistinction to the Booklist reviewer's conclusion, this book IS highly recommended. It is meant to make people think and to stimulate intellectual debate, something the Booklist reviewer transparently wishes to avoid.