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Real Face of Atheism, The

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Many critics have attacked the work of Ravi Zacharias found here. This book "The Real Face of Atheism" is actually a slightly updated version of his 1990 book titled "A Shattered Visage: The Real Face of Atheism".

I do not consider this to be Ravi's crowning work but he did not write it to be an "exhaustive" argument against Atheism.

In his original introduction he explains his intention for this book---

It was born from a presentation to a group of scientists from Bell Labs. He addressed the topic of "Why I am not an Atheist" as a response to Bertrand Russel's "Why I am not a Christian".

Zacharias goes on to say that the questions that followed were not technical or scientific but rather were "heart-searching questions of men and women in pursuit of meaning in life." He wrote from a perspective dealing with his lecture and the questions of life that followed.

Many reviewers have said that Ravi has not argued effectively against Atheism and for Theism.

He gives a reason for that for those who care to read it---- "Others, who love the process of dialogue, might wish that the arguments were weightier than they are. My hope is that they will not fall into the trap of intellectualism and forget the splendor and power of simplicity. We are neither just brains floating around or hearts bouncing about."

Ravi Zacharias tends to dwell in the realm of bringing the highly philosophical down to the level of the more common reader. This is not always easy. A few here have pointed out that Ravi is not an effective debater. If you will listen to any of his question and answer sessions from various colleges and universities around the world and his lectures from the Harvard Veritas sessions you might think differently. His answers correlate well with his intended audience.

Other works such as "Can Man Live With God" address this topic as well.

Ravi Zacharias has done an excellent job of tackling a huge subject in a manner which creates an enthusiasm for further reading. This book is very well written, with a huge index of quotes and citations from a wide variety of sources. The inclusion of countless viewpoints from across the philosophical spectrum makes for a very engaging and enjoyable read.

The book is segmented into several areas of focus including values, morality, meaning, and more. In each chapter Ravi opens with some contrasting viewpoints that start a dialog about how the logical conclusions of atheism lead to some rather interesting and unavoidable realizations. Nietzsche, who is among the few to truly embrace the full conclusion of his beliefs, suffered tremendously as a result as his worldview neither answered nor solved the dilemma of a world without God. (Page 30). Aldous Huxley, another renowned atheist concluded "science has "explained" nothing". Darwin himself warned against "the presumption of believing that one could, by contemplating nature, be in possession of final truths, either in divinity or philosophy." (Page 38). Yet with atheism, the natural determinism is all that is available to examine such meaning.

Quite often, as Ravi discusses, an atheist often finds him or herself denouncing, yet embracing, a value system that they cannot uphold within their naturalistic worldview. Nietzsche understood this well and stated "When one gives up the Christian faith, one pulls the right to Christian morality out from under one's feet". Another famous atheist Bertrand Russell when in a debate on morality confessed the Achilles heel of atheism when he had to respond to the question of how one differentiates between good and bad, by stating he did so on the basis of his feelings. (Page 59) Ravi clarifies his position and the corner atheism paints itself into by stating "not all atheists are immoral, but morality as goodness cannot be justified with atheistic presuppositions" (Page 64).
In hard terms the morality that atheism teaches, implies, or espouses is unlivable. Nietzsche himself bore testimony to that fact.

What of the search for meaning and truth? The face of atheism reveals only the human intellect. G.K. Chesterton warned that the insane man is not just one who has lost his reason; he may be one who has lost everything but his reason. (Page 80). Bertrand Russell recounts with some accuracy that the inevitable conclusion of atheism's search for meaning is "only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair". (Page 91) After a long study of the many who have defined atheism, Ravi states that having in essence killed god, the atheist is left with no reason for being, no morality to espouse, no meaning to life, and no hope beyond the grave. Of what hope he or she may possess, it is does not exist within the framework of their worldview.

In the end Ravi discusses the hope of faith. God has put enough into the world to make faith in him a most reasonable thing, and he has left enough out to make it impossible to live by sheer reason or observation alone. (Page 113). G.K. Chesterton responds to critics of Christianity by saying "The problem with Christianity is not that it has been tried and found wanting, but that it has been found difficult, and left untried." (Page 117). The atheist risks everything for the present and the future, on the basis of belief that we are uncaused by any intelligent being. We just happen to be here. That one is willing to live and die in that belief is a very high price to pay for conjecture. (Page 155).

Overall, this is a wonderful exploration of philosophy, ideology and meaning. There are quotes, citations and input from far too many people to count, and I finished the book with a long reading list for follow up. If you are at all curious about the core differences between atheism and faith, then consider this a great place to get a quick overview.

I found this book to be rather helpful. I appreciate the author's flow of thought in making his case from the point of origins, morality, meaning, and destiny. That line of thought flowed nicely. Of course this book isn't exhaustive, but it was a great introduction to the philosophical problems of atheism, its contradictions, and its uphill struggle for real unifying meaing as a worldview. For me it made me hungry to read the footnoted authors and develop a greater understanding of both sides of the fence.

I appreciate the author for this book. Job well done.

I confess up front that I have not read this book. In the process of deciding whether or not I should, I do what I always do - read the reviews, from 5 stars to 1, and decide if my interest has been piqued enough to purchase.

I can't resist commenting here. I haven't yet read all the reviews, but so far I have not encountered a single 1 star review of this book without mentally recoiling from the vituperation of the reviewer. Had already confirmed Christians given the book 1 star, for reasons of poor readability, sloppy organization, badly researched facts, etc., I would have concluded that perhaps my money would be better spent elsewhere. If those who honestly disagreed with the author's point of view had suggested that better books were available to start a productive dialogue about this important topic, I would have listened with respect. But the reality seems to be that those who are sniping against the book do so because they have an entrenched atheistic world-view that prevents them from honestly considering whether the information in this book is valid or worth genuinely debating. They do not present counter-arguments against the author's logic, or intelligently explain the reasons they believe the book is uninteresting or incorrect; they simply want to bash the author himself, along with his conclusions, because it runs counter to their own cherished dislike of any religious belief.

All of you reviewers who have made your bias painfully evident in your poorly thought out comments do more to convince the potential buyer to get this book, if only to hope it teaches them how to skewer the hate-addled logic of people just like you. If we can truly know a man by his enemies, then Ravi Zacharias is an author with whom I should probably become more familiar. This may be the only case when I was persuaded to purchase a book with so many 1 star reviews due predominantly to that fact alone.

A very good book written by a deep thinker. A slow read, but excellent. This should be required reading for all atheists, but many would probably not want or try to understand much of it. The book spells out the hopelessness of atheism. Zacharias systematically examines atheistic positions on human nature, the meaning of life, the "first cause," death and more.

Ravi Zacharias was born in India in 1946 and educated at Cambridge University in Romance literatures. He then moved to Canada, where he eventually switched from a career in business to one dealing with religious matters.

He has a master of divinity degree from Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois. After earning this degree he founded Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. He rapidly became a popular radio personality and dramatic preacher.

The Real Face of Atheism is a revised and updated version of A Shattered Visage: The Real Face of Atheism, which was originally published by Baker Books in 1990 and then later reissued in cloth and paper.

It was the original version of this book with which he began his literary career.

He does not offer a history of atheism or describe its various varieties, nor does he provide an explanation of its social, political, and intellectual roots. He does not set out the arguments employed by atheists.

Instead, he defends the notion that there is a Christian worldview consisting of, among other things, arguments demonstrating the reality of God and hence furnishing the ground of faith. This worldview provides an emotionally satisfying explanation of nature and history, as well as insuring a sense of meaning, which cannot be done without this worldview.

Zacharias thus provides a homily in support of a worldview rather than a carefully set out argument demonstrating the reality of God. This is a book for believers and not for atheists.

I have not read this book because I know the author's work all too well. Like most who defend Christianity and religion, I know that few have ever been in the shoes of an atheist; however nearly every atheist has at one time been a believer. Atheists often know far more about religion than religionists know about atheism. As I have said many times, it is all relative and simple minded dogma is impossible to reason with.

As Zacharias indicates in the preface to the book, The Real Face of Atheism touches on -- but doesn't go too deep into -- the various philosophical underpinnings for these opposing worldviews. It is a well written, easy to read and understand, informative and even enjoyable book. Zacharias does a pretty good job of highlighted the weaknesses of atheism from various angles.

In spots, he seems to gloss over some of their arguments, in something of a dismissive fashion. But part of that appears to be because the book was not intended to delve deep into any one particular argument or topic. Think of The Real Face of Atheism as a primer or introductory work.

If you're looking for answers to some of man's deepest questions, it's a good starting point. Zacharias cites scores of sources, so if you want further study, just look in his notes/bibliography. He makes abundantly clear those minds whose work he most admires (e.g. Muggeridge, C. S. Lewis) and those with whom he most strongly disagrees (e.g. Nietzsche, Russell.) He leaves it to the reader to make up his or her mind.

I have read 4 of Ravi's books now, and the primary argument of each one is that an atheist has no basis upon which to judge good or bad.

I am no expert on the subject, but my analysis is that Plato adequately debunks this notion. All of the dialogues deal with an abstract quality that humans can intuitively disguinsh. For instance if two people are running, one can intuitively know that one person runs faster or better than the other person.

This is the Greek notion of 'arete' or excellence. 'Good' to an ancient Greek was a person who possessed more of these abstract qualities from strength, speed, endurance, skill in a craft, compassion, humor and so on. A person can make moralistic evaluations based on what leads to more arete, each one being knowable to man through observation and reason.

A circumspect person realizes that being excellent at making money is counterbalanced by being excellent at showing compassion and thus any argument that atheism has no basis for rejecting selfish or destructive behavior seems deeply flawed to me.

An atheist that uses relativism to justify instantaneous gratification is as off base as a Christian who used the Bible to justify something like the Inquisition.

Ravi can see this distinction in the Christian but fails to see this distinction in the atheist.

I give Ravi's books 3 stars for his ability to make you think, but he continues to misunderstand the ancient Greeks. Other reviewers have noted that Ravi tends to tear down opposing arguments without making much of a positive argument for theism. Couple this with his incomplete view of the opposing argument, which is understandable for an apologist, and Ravi's conclusion doesn't have much left to stand on.

I would offer Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig as an entertaining overview on the ancient Greek notion of quality as an alternative point of view.

Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil gives examples of how Christianity inverts the value system of the ancient Greeks in a few places and I think some of the tensions within Christianity today are the result of these inversions. For instance, is it OK to be strong, rich and successful if it is the meek, poor and persecuted that are the blessed ones in the sermon on the mount?

I was an atheist for most of my life and when I became a Christianity through examining truths, this is one of the books I picked up to read. I found it to be strikingly true. My life was pointless before I found God, in fact didn't see the point of living on many occasions. God gives up purpose and being German the chapter on the Nazis really affected me. I would recommend reading this if you are not afraid of truth. If so, probably not the right book for you.