The Happy Atheist
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3.8 • 31 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
“I’m an atheist swimming in a sea of superstition, surrounded by well-meaning, good people with whom I share a culture and similar concerns, and there’s only one thing I can do. I have to laugh.” —PZ Myers
On his popular science blog, Pharyngula, PZ Myers has entertained millions of readers with his infectious love of evolutionary science and his equally infectious disdain for creationism, biblical literalism, intelligent design theory, and other products of godly illogic. This funny and fearless book collects and expands on some of his most popular writings, giving the religious fanaticism of our times the gleeful disrespect it deserves by skewering the apocalyptic fantasies, magical thinking, hypocrisies, and pseudoscientific theories advanced by religious fundamentalists of all stripes.
With a healthy appreciation of the absurd, Myers not only pokes fun at the ridiculous tenets of popular religions but also highlights how the persistence of Stone Age superstitions can have dark consequences: interfering with our politics, slowing our scientific progress, and limiting freedom in our culture.
Forceful and articulate, scathing and funny, The Happy Atheist is a reaffirmation of the revelatory power of humor and the truth-revealing powers of science and reason.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this collection of punchy essays, Myers, an associate professor of biology at the University of Minnesota (he also happens to be the voice behind the popular blog Pharyngula), takes on what he deems the many contradictions and absurdities of religious thought. As Myers puts it, "religion is a parasite of the mind that makes people do stupid things and think stupid thoughts," and it "breeds the most disgustingly vile haters in our country." Written in an accessible, informal style, the author lashes out at the Catholic Church for its sexual-abuse scandals, at the faulty science employed by anti-abortion activists, and at proponents of intelligent design. Particularly scathing is his dismissal of Christianity as a fundamentally misogynist, patriarchal system, in which "women are treated as chattel to be abused and misused." Myers is able to deftly present serious scientific and philosophical counterarguments to belief in God, but he also acknowledges the necessity of humor of fighting fire with fire: after all, "religions sure do promote some goofy stuff." Effectively kicking the legs out from beneath the wobbly logic that undergirds religious thought, he ultimately argues that "meaning is derived from the reality of what we see and feel, not from some convoluted vapor and self-serving puffery about the abstract concept of God.' "
Customer Reviews
Best of PZ
This is mostly a collection of his blog posts from 2010 and before. I liked the book because it highlights how PZ became an important voice in the atheist movement.
The Fearless Atheist
I've been waiting for PZ to write this book ever since we spoke on the Queen Mary!
And don't be afraid, this book will unscare you.
Of course they removed my review
I’ll repeat my review again, since the heralds of reason was afraid people would see the silliness behind being a “happy” atheist.
First off, it is aptly put in the religious section of iBooks since you truly have to have faith that nothing created everything. There’s absolutely no scientific law that could ever support that theory, you see, but don’t worry it’s true. Then this bunch of blown up stuff, said “lets organize ourselves and create a habitable planet where life can form from non-life.” Wait it didn’t say that at all, as matter doesn’t have an intelligence to think and do anything.
But lets skip over that major little detail and move on to “happy.” What is happy? The atheistic worldview cannot even define the word as there has to be a set standard of happiness to compare something to and in their whole theory everything is an accident and has no purpose or meaning. So kid yourselves if you want, but one thing an atheist is not gonna be is happy once they truly ponder and reflect on how hopeless and meaningless their life is according to their own beliefs.