The Irrational Atheist: Dissecting the Unholy Trinity of Dawkins, Harris, And Hitchens [Hardcover]

Vox Day (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 11, 2008

A perceptive examination of modern day atheism, this book challenges the argument that religion and reason are fundamentally at odds—a contention made by three prominent scholars on atheism: Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and Sam Harris. While other religious apologetics have challenged atheism on theological or biblical grounds, this book fights fire with fire, disproving the scholars' logic through modern, secular reason. Rigorously documented and supported by hard factual data, this careful analysis is critical reading for any religious person seeking to rebut the assertions of new atheists and essential information for any open-minded atheist who wants his beliefs to stand on firm ground.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Day does us all a service by exposing as false some of the glib slogans of atheism."  —Todd Seavey, American Council on Science and Health

"Good polemical stuff."  —nationalreview.com

"Whether you embrace Day’s theology or toss it, there is no avoiding the cumulative force of the author's counter assaults or the sting of his wit when it comes to the true focus of the book—atheism’s continuing love affair with nonsense."  —First Things

About the Author

Vox Day is a writer, columnist, software designer and the author of Rebel Moon,

The World in Shadow, and The War in Heaven: Eternal Warriors Book 1. He is the CEO of a technology corporation, writes a popular weekly political column, and maintains an active blog, Vox Popoli, which has 2,500 daily readers.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 305 pages
• Publisher: BenBella Books; 1ST edition (March 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933771364
• ISBN-13: 978-1933771366
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 0.9 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (84 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #406,374 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Vox Day is a game designer who writes epic fantasy as well as non-fiction about religion, philosophy, and economics. His literary focus is historical verisimilitude and realistic characters who represent the full spectrum of human behavior. He speaks three languages and is a three-time Billboard top 40 recording artist.

He reaches up to 80,000 readers a day through his popular blog, Vox Popoli. ("Non exspecto tuum consensum, ne intellectum quidem" is the slogan on its home page.)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

111 of 135 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, interesting and slightly bizarre May 1, 2008

By M. D. Colebourne

Format:Hardcover

Despite approaching this from the perspective of a (weak) atheist who has admired Dawkins greatly over the years I enjoyed this book. Anyone who doesn't want to slip into the comfy zone of only ever debating and discussing with people who concur might disagree but, personally, I think that knowing your opponent is preferable. And, when your opponent manages to strike some good blows AND entertain you into the bargain it has to be a good outcome.

Vox Day has, in general, steered clear of cant and, instead, directly addressed the facts and assertions employed by Harris, Dawkins and Dennett and it is here that, for me at least, the book had the most value. Vox has done his research and lucidly sets out his facts. I think that there are clearly flaws in some of the argumentation, as has been pointed out in other reviews, with a-priori assumption of that to be proved being the most common complaint. However, it's entertaining if you like the mental exercise.

Having said that, I would love to have a book from Vox that addresses the fundamentals; my view is that the impact of a fact, for good or ill, has no bearing whatsoever on its veracity. One can argue that atheism or theism leads to better or worse outcomes but it is fundamentally irrelevant to the argument. Ultimately, there is or there is not a God - period.

Therefore it is entirely pointless for either side to argue for or against the existence of God on the basis of whether that means people behave better, do or do not persecute other races or any other consequence; benign or malign. The consequences are our problem.

In fact, I would love to have books from both sides that directly address the fundamentals rather than long treatises on who behaves better, produces better laws etc etc.

However, given that this book does exactly what it sets out to do (attack Dawkins, Dennett and Harris and try to rebut some of their assertions), does it humerously and does it intelligently I would recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone interested in the debate.

359 of 529 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars A users guide to logical fallacies. February 4, 2008

By Brian E

Format:Hardcover

I only managed to read the first 3 chapters of this book. Vox Day employs so many logical fallacies and so much dishonest rhetoric that it's a difficult read.

The author employs ad-hominems against all atheists (atheists are parasites), but reserves especial vitriol against Dawkins (an old grump with asperger's), Hitchens (a drunk), and Harris (an extasy-popper who hasn't finished his Ph.D). This is a good example of going the man, not the argument. By painting all atheists, wrongly, as bad, he hopes he doesn't have to present any argumentation against the atheist position (that there are no gods).

Day also misrepsents the positions the popular atheist authors. He creates straw-men arguments that he can knock down. According to Vox, Dawkins says Vox telling his children that God loves them is worse than child abuse. This a lie. Dawkins has said no such thing as a reading of the God delusion will attest. Vox pretends that Sam Harris would think it ethical to kill him. This is also a lie. That is not Harris' position either. Vox goes on in this vein for quite a while that it's obvious that his claims to truth and fact have been long abandoned.

He attacks science for the way people have used scientific discoveries and attacks scientists for having made these discoveries. This, of course, is the genetic fallacy. The fallacy here, that by attacking the origin of argument, he can avoid making a case to support his point of view.

Vox attacks the enlightenment and science as bringers of violence and intolerance. But he misrepresents both. The Enlightenment wasn't French peasants out to get revenge on the French aristocracy nor Nazis using ancient Christian bigotry to exterminate Jews and science doesn't lead to good or bad acts. It's a method that allows us to better understand the world. What people choose to do with the results of science is a political issue. One that is very pertinent to the case Dawkins, et al make against religious dogma and its influence on our societies.

He redefines science to suit his purposes. He presumes to know more than people who really do know what they're talking about. There are many more problems with only this small sample of the book that I would not recommend the reading any of it.

Perhaps the best that can be said for this book is that it may help students understand better abuses of truth, philosophy and argumentation.

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Pretty flawed July 11, 2012

By J. Molley

Format:Hardcover

This was a painful read. I read about 90% of this book but I skimmed through a few of the end chapters because I couldn't take it anymore. I thought about sitting down and writing a big review, but I really have better things to do. Save some time and google the arizona athiest blog for a point by point review. Thankfully it was a library book and I didn't spend money on this!