The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle
in the Dark by Carl Sagan, ( @Amazon
, Wiki
book,
author)
Hardcover: Random House; Later
Printing edition January 1, 1995
Paperback: Ballantine Books, February 25, 1997 ISBN-13: 978-0345409461
Carl Sagan (Wiki Carl) "(November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, astrochemist, author, and highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI).
This is the first book that's easy to read and makes a logical case for atheism that I found.
Paperback: Ballantine Books, February 25, 1997 ISBN-13: 978-0345409461
Carl Sagan (Wiki Carl) "(November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, astrochemist, author, and highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI).
This is the first book that's easy to read and makes a logical case for atheism that I found.
Wiki: "He is world-famous for writing popular science books and for
co-writing and presenting the award-winning 1980 television
series Cosmos: A Personal
Voyage, which has been seen by more than 500
million people in over 60 countries.[2]
A book to accompany the program was
also published. He also wrote the novel Contact, the basis for
the 1997 film of the same name. One of the
last books he wrote was Pale Blue Dot. During
his lifetime, Sagan published more than 600 scientific papers
and popular articles and was author, co-author, or editor of
more than 20 books. In his works, he frequently advocated skeptical inquiry, secular humanism, and the scientific method."
May 27, 1996 on Charlie Rose Show -
Part 1,
We live in an age based on science and technology with
formidable technological powers. ... There's no more
than a handful of members of congress with any background in
science at all. The Republican congress has just abolished
it's own Office of Technology Assessment. ... CR: What's
the danger of all this?
There's two kinds of danger, 1) One is what I just talked about. We've arranged this society based on science and technology in which nobody understands anything about science and technology. And this combustible mixture of ignorance and power are sooner or later is going to blow up in our faces. . . . 2) And the second reason that I'm worried about this is that science is more than a body of knowledge, it's a way of thinking. A way of skeptically interrogating the universe, with a fine understanding of human fallibility. If we are not able to ask skeptical questions, to interrogate those who tell us that something is true, to be skeptical of those in authority, then we're up for grabs for the next charlatan, political or religious, who comes along.
CR: There are millions of people that understand that science does not prove religion because religion is faith based and therefore you should not deny the value of it because it is faith based and not scientific.
Let's look a little more deeply into that. What is faith, it's belief in the absence of evidence. I don't propose to tell anybody what to believe, but for me believing when there's no compelling evidence is a mistake. The idea is to withhold belief until there's compelling evidence. .... Where religion gets into trouble is in those cases where it pretends to know something about science. The science in the Bible for example was acquired from the Jews by the Babylonians during the Babylon captivity of 600 BC. That was the best science on the planet then, but we've learned something since then. Roman Catholicism, reformed Judaism, most of the mainstream Protestant denominations have no difficulty with the idea that humans have evolved from other creatures, that the Earth is 4.6 billion years old, the big bang. They don't have any trouble with that. The trouble comes with people who are biblical literalistists who believe that the bible is dictated by the creator of the universe to an unerring stenographer and has no metaphor or allegory in it. ...
Part 2,
CR: You seem to say it's growing, this pseudo science. ...
CS: The problem is that today the technology has reached formidable, maybe even awesome, proportions and so the dangers of thinking this way are larger. Not that this is a new kind of thing.
There's two kinds of danger, 1) One is what I just talked about. We've arranged this society based on science and technology in which nobody understands anything about science and technology. And this combustible mixture of ignorance and power are sooner or later is going to blow up in our faces. . . . 2) And the second reason that I'm worried about this is that science is more than a body of knowledge, it's a way of thinking. A way of skeptically interrogating the universe, with a fine understanding of human fallibility. If we are not able to ask skeptical questions, to interrogate those who tell us that something is true, to be skeptical of those in authority, then we're up for grabs for the next charlatan, political or religious, who comes along.
CR: There are millions of people that understand that science does not prove religion because religion is faith based and therefore you should not deny the value of it because it is faith based and not scientific.
Let's look a little more deeply into that. What is faith, it's belief in the absence of evidence. I don't propose to tell anybody what to believe, but for me believing when there's no compelling evidence is a mistake. The idea is to withhold belief until there's compelling evidence. .... Where religion gets into trouble is in those cases where it pretends to know something about science. The science in the Bible for example was acquired from the Jews by the Babylonians during the Babylon captivity of 600 BC. That was the best science on the planet then, but we've learned something since then. Roman Catholicism, reformed Judaism, most of the mainstream Protestant denominations have no difficulty with the idea that humans have evolved from other creatures, that the Earth is 4.6 billion years old, the big bang. They don't have any trouble with that. The trouble comes with people who are biblical literalistists who believe that the bible is dictated by the creator of the universe to an unerring stenographer and has no metaphor or allegory in it. ...
Part 2,
CR: You seem to say it's growing, this pseudo science. ...
CS: The problem is that today the technology has reached formidable, maybe even awesome, proportions and so the dangers of thinking this way are larger. Not that this is a new kind of thing.
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins (his web page) ( @Amazon
,WiKi
on Richard)
Hardcover:
Paperback: Mariner Books; Reprint edition (January 16, 2008) ISBN-13: 978-0618918249
Richard sets out to make a case for atheism in this book but does not include the arguments for Evolution here. By using evolution Richard explains the development of complex life forms.
This book was very well received, prompting two books written to try and refute Richard's arguments, they are:
Paperback: Mariner Books; Reprint edition (January 16, 2008) ISBN-13: 978-0618918249
Richard sets out to make a case for atheism in this book but does not include the arguments for Evolution here. By using evolution Richard explains the development of complex life forms.
This book was very well received, prompting two books written to try and refute Richard's arguments, they are:
God is No Delusion: A Refutation
of Richard Dawkins by Thomas Crean (Paperback - Oct 31, 2007)
and
The Dawkins Delusion?: Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine by Alister E. McGrath and Joanna Collicutt Mcgrath (Hardcover - Jun 8, 2007)
There is an hour and 10 minute video where Dawkins and McGrath "debate" the issues, but in many cases McGrath will not answer Richard's questions.
and
The Dawkins Delusion?: Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine by Alister E. McGrath and Joanna Collicutt Mcgrath (Hardcover - Jun 8, 2007)
There is an hour and 10 minute video where Dawkins and McGrath "debate" the issues, but in many cases McGrath will not answer Richard's questions.
" And I thought and thought and
thought. But I just didn't have enough to go on, so I
didn't really come to any resolution. I was extremely
doubtful about the idea of god, but I just didn't know enough
about anything to have a good working model of any other
explanation for, well lift, the universe, and everything to
put in its place. But I kept at it, and I kept reading
and I kept thinking. Sometime around my early thirties I
stumbled upon Evolutionary biology, particularly in the form
of Richard Dawking's books The Selfish Game and then The
Blind Watchmaker, and suddenly (on, I think the second reading
of The Selfish Gene) it all fell into place. It was a
concept of such stunning simplicity, but it gave rise,
neutrally, to all of the infinite and baffling complexity of
life. The awe it inspired in me made the awe that people
talk about in respect of religious experience seem, frankly,
silly beside it. I'd take the awe of understanding, over
the awe of ignorance any day." Douglas Adams (pg 116)
Six Numbered Points: (pg 157, 158)
- One of the greatest challenges to the human intellect, over the centuries, has been to explain how the complex, improbable appearance of the design in the universe arises.
- The natural temptation is to attribute the appearance of design to actual design itself. In the case of a man-made artifact such as a watch, the designer really was an intelligent engineer. It is tempting to apply the same logic to the eye or wing, a spider or a person.
- The temptation is a false one, because the designer hypothesis immediately raises the larger problem is who designed the designer. The whole problem we started out with was the problem of explaining statistical improbability. It is obviously no solution to postulate something even more improbable. We need a "crane", not a "skyhook", for only a crane can do the business of working up gradually and plausibly from simplicity to otherwise improbably complexity.
- The most ingenious and powerful crane so far discovered is Darwinian evolution by natural selection. Darwin and his successors have shown how living creatures, with their spectacular statistical improbability and appearance of design, have evolved by slow, gradual degrees from simple beginnings. We can now safely say that the illusion of design in living creatures is just that - an illusion.
- We don't yet have an equivalent crane for physics. Some kind of multiverse theory could in principle do for physics the same explanatory work as Darwinism does for biology. This kind of explanation is superficially less satisfying that the biological version of Darwinism, because ti makes heavier demands on luck. But the anthropic principle entitles us to postulate for more luck than our limited human intuition is comfortable with.
- We should not give up hope of a better crane arising in the physics, something as powerful as Darwinism is for biology. But even in the absence of a strongly satisfying crane to match the biological one, the relatively weak cranes we have at present are, when abetted by the anthropic principle, self-evidently better than the self-defeating skyhook hypothesis of an intelligent designer.
"Fundamentalist religion is hell-bent on ruining the scientific education of countless thousands of innocent, well-meaning, eager young minds. Non-fundamentalist, 'sensible' religion may not be doing that. But it is making the world safe for fundamentalism by teaching children, from their earliest years, that unquestioning faith is a virtue." (pg 286)
"Our Western politicians avoid mentioning the R word (religion), and instead characterize their battle as a war against 'terror', as though terror were a kind of spirit or force, with a will and a mind of it's own. Or they characterize terrorists as motivated by pure 'evil'. But they are not motivated by evil. However misguided we may think them, they are motivated, like the Christian murders of abortion doctors, by what they perceive to be righteousness, faithfully pursuing what their religion tells them. They are not psychotic, they are religious idealists who, by their own lights, are rational. They perceive their acts to be good, not because of some warped personal idiosyncrasy, and not because they have been possessed by Satan, but because they have been brought up, from the cradle, to have total and unquestioning faith." (pg 304)
Appendix
USAAmerican Atheists - "...the premier organization laboring for the civil liberties of Atheists, and the total, absolute separation of government and religion."
American Humanist Association - "Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism and other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity."
The Brights' Net - "Persons who have a naturalistic worldview should be accepted as fellow citizens and full participants in the cultural and political landscape, and not be culturally stifled or civically marginalized due to society’s extensive supernaturalism."
Council for Secular Humanism - "...advocate and defend a nonreligious lifestance rooted in science, naturalistic philosophy, and humanist ethics and to serve and support adherents of that lifestance."
Freedom From Religion Foundation - "...an educational group working for the separation of state and church."
Institute for Humanist Studies - "...we view humanism as having the moral imperative to extend the circle of justice, caring and concern to all. "
James Randi Educational Foundation - "...to promote critical thinking by reaching out to the public and media with reliable information about paranormal and supernatural ideas so widespread in our society today. "
Secular Coalition for America - "...purpose is to amplify the diverse and growing voice of the nontheistic community in the United States."
Secular Student Alliance - "...purpose is to educate high school and college students around the country about the value of scientific reason and the intellectual basis of secularism in its atheistic and humanistic manifestations."
Skeptic - "...is a scientific and educational organization of scholars, scientists, historians, magicians, professors and teachers, and anyone curious about controversial ideas, extraordinary claims, revolutionary ideas, and the promotion of science."
Society for Humanistic Judaism "Humanistic Judaism offers a nontheistic alternative in contemporary Jewish life."
UK
British Humanist Association - "...exists to promote Humanism and support and represent people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs.
International Humanist and Ethical Union - "...the sole world umbrella organisation embracing Humanist, atheist, rationalist, secularist, skeptic, laique, ethical cultural, freethought and similar organisations world-wide."
National Secular Society - "...the leading campaigning organisation defending the rights of non-believers from the demands of religious power-seekers."
New Humanist - "...magazine of the Rationalist Association, promoting reason, debate and free thought since 1885."
South Place Ethical Society - "...the study and dissemination of ethical principles based on humanism and freethought, the cultivation of a rational and humane way of life, and the advancement of research and education in all relevant fields."
Canada
Humanist Canada - "To promote the separation of religion from public policy and foster the development of reason, compassion and critical thinking for all Canadians through secular education and community support."
Australia
Australian Skeptics - umbrella organization for the Humanist societies of Australia
Council of Australian Humanist Societies
New Zealand
New Zealand Skeptics - "...are all interested in examining what objective scientific support there is for claims of such things as psychic abilities, alternative health practices, creationism and other areas where science, pseudo-science and shonky science interact."
The
Humanist
Society of New Zealand - "The Humanist Society of New
Zealand (Inc) is an organisation that promotes Humanist
philosophy and ideals."
IndiaRationalist International - "It aims at representing the rationalist view where public opinion is formed and making the voice of reason heard and considered, where decisions are taken which will shape our future."
Islamic
Apostates of Islam - "We denounce Islam as a false doctrine of hate and terror."
The Dr. Homa Darabi Foundation - to promote the Rights of women and children as defined by the Universal Declaration of the United Nations
Faithfreedom International "No other cause is responsible for more deaths than Islam."
Center for Inquiry - "The mission of the Center for Inquiry is to foster a secular society based on science, reason, freedom of inquiry, and humanist values."
'I Am Offended!' - Richard Dawkins @ UC Berkeley
The Greatest Show on
Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins
( @Amazon
)
hardcover 2009 ISBN 978-1-4165-9478-9This book was written to present the evidence for evolution but is a great book for learning about evolution. It's truly an amazing thing.
On pg 24 is the Hairpin Thought Experiment. The connection between any living thing can be traced by going back (de-evolution) in time to some ancestor, then making a hairpin turn, and then going forward in time (evolution). Note that there is not a horizontal connection between current animals.
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