It's often frustrating for some of the more truth-focused atheists -- who wish to share their enlightenment with others -- that the only atheists many have heard of are those like Dawkins, Hitchens or Harris. Not because these atheists have no merit but because of their popularity, they're thought by many to be the best atheism has to offer in response to the intellectual and emotional arguments of various religions. My first real introduction to any argument, whether emotional or intellectual, for atheism was Christopher Hitchens, as is the case for many. As time has gone on, I consider Hitchens to be one of the better emotional opponents to the Christian and Islamic faiths, though he does offer at least some stimulating intellectual arguments at times as well. Dawkins offers, in my opinion, generally weak arguments outside his field of evolutionary biology, which he I think quite objectively skilled in. Harris has, in my opinion, the strongest intellectual arguments of the three and some interesting emotional arguments as well, though I think overall he's far from atheism's best proponent on either front.
I've spent the last five years or so seeking out the ideal opponent to Christianity, since this is the religion I was raised with and have since come to reject on mostly intellectual but some emotional grounds as well.
I've come to believe that Christianity's #1 intellectual opponent is none other than: Richard Carrier.
If anyone has seen a debate with Carrier or read one of his books, one thing becomes perfectly clear immediately regardless of whether or not you agree with him: he's a nerd. Carrier's mind is practically an encyclopedia of well-researched and well-reasoned information. Carrier has a notable respect for what it means to be a "scholar" or "expert" in any given field and holds himself to this same standard of scholarship. What's also notable about Carrier is that he isn't afraid to take unpopular opinions if he thinks they're true. And if he thinks something is true, one thing you can be guaranteed from him is a well-researched and compelling case for it, regardless of whether or not you'll agree with it.
In Sense and Goodness Without God, Carrier provides something essential to every atheist: a positive worldview. Many atheists hope to make the religious give up their faith, not taking into account that it's an incredibly difficult thing to do to give up one's faith in general, but it's especially difficult when you're provided with nothing to really replace it with besides nihilism. In this book, Carrier kills two birds with one stone: he addresses a great many of the most common arguments for the existence of God in cosmology, history and especially philosophy, points out where they fail and explains why Metaphysical Naturalism (MN), as a worldview, provides a better explanation for the fundamental nature of reality with an unmatched simplicity and an approachable writing style for the intelligent layperson.
As previously noted, though the philosophical issues discussed in this book are very vast and often complicated, Carrier does a tremendous job of breaking them down to very simple and easily understandable concepts for those of us who aren't academically trained philosophers. He divides the book into chapters and then further divides each chapter into sub-chapters, making everything even more digestible and organized for the reader.
I've seen some complains that the book starts too slow. I don't think this criticism is false but I also don't think Carrier should have done anything differently. Carrier wanted to leave his audience making as little in the way of assumptions as possible. He wanted to give them as complete of a worldview as he could muster and sometimes this means you need to sit down and really explain things like what the meaning of words are and how we should generally approach truth and knowledge. This isn't over-thinking things, it's all about providing a basis for the rest of the book. Though I struggled through these chapters myself at times, I couldn't have been more thankful that they were there because it gave me something to fall back on when questions of semantics or epistemology within MN arose.
My favorite chapters were the ones on cosmology and how the what we know about the universe makes the most sense under MN, as well as (and especially) Carrier's chapters on morality. So much in the way of pop-apologetics is utterly dismantled in these chapters, in regards to why we should be moral agents, what basis we have to be moral and why being moral makes a difference in our lives and in our society. I found these chapters extremely helpful and practical in my own life as a moral being and reading these chapters made me realize the benefits of morality. I've even already started to apply these principles to my life and have already seen a difference in my personal happiness as a result.
I would recommend this book to anyone. It's one of the most comprehensive and devastating cases against Christianity and religion in general that I've ever read and will likely read it several times over the next few years because there's so much excellent information to be absorbed in this book. It's especially essential reading for atheists. My only regret is not reading it sooner.
Highly, highly recommended.
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