Customer Reviews

The Ways of an Atheist

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Katz has produced a very delicate, humorous, and scholarly book that more often points out the absurdity of religion then disproving it. In many ways the book is an essential read for many students, in all parts of the world, but especially for Americans and Westerner's in general. Katz outlines the many hypocritical aspects that are often not obvious to the everyday churchgoer.

Among the most striking parts of the book Katz remembers the hypocrisy of the church from his childhood, "I remember when at the height of the Great Depression, when folks hardly had enough to eat, a rabbi would travel to our community from Brooklyn to collect money for Yeshiva students. No doubt they felt it was more important to buttress rabbinical studies than to help those who had empty wallets and empty stomachs. Such experiences let a rotten taste in my mouth."

The short book, only 152 pages, reads fluidly and easily. Among the many interesting chapters, there is a series of questions on God, Morality, Magic, Miracles, and the Bible. There is an interesting chapter on Jesus, where he is depicted as a revolutionist trying to lead the Israeli's into an armed uprising against the Roman Empire. There are many interesting ideas and facts in this book.

The interesting thing about such a book is that it is obvious that many atheists will read this and smile nodding their heads, while the majority who go to church and believe in God will probably never open it. It is doubtful that a Christian or a Jew would be converted through this book, but it is surely a work that will open up some minds to the harsh interpretations that society has created out of the works of revolutionaries, mystics, poets, and everyday workers.

Excellent book, well written, to the heart of the problem, you can see that is written by somebody who has studied the Bible and other sacred text of the 3 most important world religions.
I didn't like the way was edited though. In any case a good introduction of a good first book for somebody who dare to venture in such complicated topic.

The book is interesting with lots of references and facts. I am distressed not being able to find out more about the author... is he the well known Katz or a wanna be? I feel more comfortable when I know I am reading from a scholar other that a writer expressing their opinions.

"The Ways of an Atheist" is certainly a different cup of tea - not a typical defense of a-theism. This is a collection of about 30 two to three page essays ranging from his personel religious opinions to listings of outrageous factiods on the three Abraham religions:Judaism, Christianity and Islam. I checked out on the net some of the presented information in a few of these essays that were most questionable to me such as the Jesus-Buddha mythology and the yoni art designs incorporated in Catholic church art. Sure enough, these parallels exist. While his writing style and argument approach aren't going to win adherents from believers and certainly will piss off some true atheists, his essays will make you think. I recommend buying a used copy and spending a few hours in a coffee shop. Its a quick read.

This is the worst book I've read read on atheism. Katz's conclusions are based on false premises and misinterpreted evidence. This book is a knee-jerk reaction to theism; the very reaction that allows theists to easily dismiss the atheist standpoint. The arguments that Katz sets out to establish have been presented better by other writers, particularly George Smith. Save your time and money--there are better books out there!

Certainly a nice change of pace for a topic of this nature. 5 starts simply for this reason.

This book is so poorly written that I would not even want to give it away. It is composed of scraps about unassociated subjects all the way to Islam, with no cohesive reasoning. A definite throw-away!

Any book that starts out by stating that it is based on sound scholarship is, in my view, immediately suspect. That even a "wah-wah" publisher such as Prometheus would bother to print such drivel is entirely beyond me. It is, as another reviewer has stated, a pointless hodge-podge of at best minimally related subjects. The author's views on various theological and Christian issues are laughable and based on the "argument from outrage", i.e., the idea that the God of the Bible does not exist because he is branded a moral monster. For example, he concludes that God effectively raped various women in the Bible, which is of course both utterly offensive and patently disprovable. This is a claim I have heard stated by atheists before, but I never thought I would actually see it in print. By the time I got through the first twenty pages or so I knew I wasting my time, and souring an otherwise perfectly good shrimp scampi. 1 star is too much for this garbage.

This book is one of the worst books I've ever read. None of the research from the Bible is even remotely close to the context it was written in. Can Katz even do a reasonable job at researching information? It doesn't even deserve one star.