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Anthology of Atheism and Rationalism

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Mr. Gordon has drawn from every direction of rational and atheistic thought. To most the reading may appear dry, but it will always challenge your belief system. I found the book to be based upon fact and rational thought and as close to the emperical truth as one can come. Anyone interested in understanding rational thought should read this book.

Dr. Stein has assembled a fine collection of atheist and rationalist essays. For the most part they are unique and adequately prefaced. This collection provides a very complete anthology of rare and well known essays from famous authors such as Bertrand Russell and Voltaire, as well as lesser known authors.

Gordon Stein states that he had two goals in compiling his _Anthology of Atheism and Rationalism_: (1) getting hard-to-find historical atheist and rationalist materials in print, and (2) selecting 'the best written, most concise, cleverest, or more representative' essays on atheism and rationalism. Now certainly (1) and (2) are laudable goals; preserving historical freethought writings is important. Yet it is clear from his comments that Stein not only wants to preserve these historical writings in print, he wants to promote them on par with contemporary writings even when these historical writings wear their date on their face. And his introductions often miss the mark, by refuting simplistic versions of theistic arguments (e.g., the first cause argument instead of the kalam cosmological argument), failing to interact with contemporary scholarship on the issues he addresses (e.g., his suggestion that Tacitus' reference to Jesus is an interpolation), and abusing methodology (e.g., quoting self-described 'atheists' while attempting to define atheism). Stein's book might be of interest to freethought historians and bibliographers, but considered as a book in the philosophy of religion it is very disappointing.

Dr. Stein since the day he debated Dr. Greg Bahnsen has stated that Atheism is true because other men have defined atheism as true at the outset of their discussions as well. What he continually fails to recognize however, is that ahteists and christians alike are all governed by their presuppositions. Dr. Stein continues in this book to prove the impossibility to the contrary. He denies his belief in a God and somehow convinces himself that what he asserts as truthful in his rationalizations are true because of linguistic conventions. Dr. Stein wants to use the laws of logic, laws of morality and science however, his worldview is at odds with both human freedom and dignity. In his attempt to show that the atheist position is truly rational he once again displays to the world that the proof of the Christian God states that without Him you cannot prove anything at all. Dr. Stein's problem like most atheists is that they would rather determine that they are god. They suppress the truth in unrighteousness and convince themselves that there is no God.