Showing titles in Agnosticism

Incorporating his own thoughts along with those of noted academics, philosophers, and theologians, Loftus is able to properly define "miracle" and then show why there's no reason to believe such a thing even exists.

A “funny, gently touching, and brutally honest” memoir, I Hope I Was Wrong About Eternal Damnation is a story about how to adjust when you realize that your life is built on false beliefs. In the 1990s, Evangelical culture was an outrageous mishmash of Christian ska concerts, sexual abstinence pledges, and mega-church worship services. Thrust into Christian leadership in his youth, Tim Mathis built his entire life around that sort of thing. By his twenties, religion provided his career path, his identity, and a tight-knit social circle of priests, missionaries, and evangelists. His only...

A guidebook for living a life without religion, combining sociological insight and personal inspiration. Over the last 25 years, "no religion" has become the fastest growing religion in the United States. Around the world, hundreds of millions of people have turned away from the traditional faiths of the past and embraced a secular - or nonreligious - life, generating societies vastly less religious than at any other time in human history.

I grew up in the Assembly of God, product of small town charismatic Pentecostal pastors, terrifying televangelists and a rod not spared. My flavor of fundamentalism demanded love of a detestable deity and condemned critical thought, inflicting it’s scars with both the message and its mediators. Evangelist apologist in youth, tormented by purity culture and grasping at a Rapture pass, I couldn’t compartmentalize my thinking anymore at age 22, and left the Evangelicals. My journey from faith began with growing intrigue in the natural world, gnawing need to understand history, and ...

"Forty-four percent of the American population is convinced that Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead sometime in the next 50 years," writes Sam Harris. "Imagine the consequences if any significant component of the U.S. government actually believed that the world was about to end and that its ending would be glorious. The fact that nearly half of the American population apparently believes this...should be considered a moral and intellectual emergency."

Based in the idea that social phenomena are best studied through the lens of different disciplinary perspectives, Empty Churches studies the growing number of individuals who no longer affiliate with a religious tradition. Coeditors Jan Stets, a social psychologist, and James Heft, a historian of theology, bring together leading scholars in the fields of sociology, developmental psychology, gerontology, political science, history, philosophy, and pastoral theology.

From the perspective of an unbeliever, Fear and Trembling explores the paradox of faith, the nature of Christianity, and the complexity of human emotion. Kierkegaard examines the biblical story of Abraham, who was instructed to sacrifice his son Isaac, and forces us to consider Abraham's state of mind. What drove Abraham, and what made him carry out such an absurd and extreme request from God? Kierkegaard argues that Abraham's agreement to sacrifice Isaac, and his suspension of reason, elevated him to the highest level of faith.

In layered prose and with thoughtful, accessible scholarship, Aslan narrates the history of religion as one long and remarkably cohesive attempt to understand the divine by giving it human traits and emotions. According to Aslan, this innate desire to humanize God is hardwired in our brains, making it a central feature of nearly every religious tradition. As Aslan writes, "Whether we are aware of it or not, and regardless if we are believers or not, what the vast majority of us think about when we think about God is a divine version of ourselves."

Christopher Hitchens continues to make the case for a splendidly godless universe in this first-ever gathering of the influential voices past and present that have shaped his side of the current (and raging) God/no-god debate. With Hitchens as your erudite and witty guide, you'll be led through a wealth of philosophy, literature, and scientific inquiry, including generous portions of the words of Lucretius, Benedict de Spinoza, Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Mark Twain, and more.

Moving from the Paleolithic age to the present, Karen Armstrong details the great lengths to which humankind has gone in order to experience a sacred reality that it called by many names, such as God, Brahman, Nirvana, Allah, or Dao. Focusing especially on Christianity but including Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Chinese spiritualities, Armstrong examines the diminished impulse toward religion in our own time, when a significant number of people either want nothing to do with God or question the efficacy of faith. Why has God become unbelievable?

"The Books of Enoch Deluxe Collection: Mysteries of the Ancients Unveiled" is a comprehensive audiobook compilation of the ancient texts attributed to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. This collection includes the 1 Enoch (also known as the Ethiopian Enoch), 2 Enoch (the Slavonic Book of the Secrets of Enoch), and 3 Enoch (the Hebrew Book of Enoch). These texts delve into the mysteries of the angels, the heavens, and the workings of the universe, offering insights and visions from one of the most intriguing figures in biblical lore.

One in four Americans rejects any affiliation with organized religion, and nearly half of those under 30 describe themselves as "spiritual but not religious". But as the airwaves resound with the haranguing of preachers and pundits, who speaks for the millions who find no joy in whittling the wonder of existence to a simple yes/no choice? Lesley Hazleton does.

In the ceaseless struggle for the souls of humanity, unseen spiritual forces weave a complex tapestry of influence, temptation, and turmoil. Among the most enigmatic and insidious adversaries in this spiritual battle are the marine spirits, entities that lurk in the depths of the unseen realm, often eluding the untrained eye. It is here, in the shadows of the spiritual world, that Christian prayer warriors are called to wield their spiritual weapons, armed with faith, prayer, and the Word of God. "Unveiling the Depths: A Guide for Christian Prayer Warriors to Expose Marine Spirits" embarks ...

Atheist? Believer? Uncertain? No matter: The Portable Atheist will engage you every step of the way. From the number one New York Times best-selling author of God Is Not Great, comes this provocative and entertaining guided tour of atheist and agnostic thought through the ages with original pieces by Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Each of this book's four chapters covers one of the most important questions a person must ask themselves: What is the purpose of my life? How can I best realize the purpose of my life? Who do I want to be? How do I want other people to think of me? Rather than give you answers to these questions, this guide provides a framework that helps you develop your own answers while equipping you with the neuroscientific tools necessary to transform yourself into whomever you choose to be.

This work is the first letter to my friend Aloysius regarding the “Virtue of the Gods.” It has been made available to you the reader in what shall be multiple formats. In the letter, I discuss the first virtue required to be one with the gods, which is: “a god walks through fire.” This encompasses many ideas, including that a god fears not pain nor suffering, a god has confidence, self-belief, has concern for the present and future of humanity, a god has agency and intent. A god does not succumb to threats of hellfire. A god knows that faith is not a virtue – faith is lazy. ...

Goodbye Jesus is the step-by-step account of a former minister’s journey into and out of faith - the story of a long pendulum swing from the deep commitment of a devout believer to the firm conviction that no personal God exists and that all religions are man-made. This is a relatable and thoughtful listen for those seeking to better understand the evangelical mindset, for Christians who are questioning their faith, for ministers trying to decide whether to stay or go, and for those who have left their faith and are dealing with its loss.

For the millions of people who want spirituality without religion, Sam Harris’s new book is a guide to meditation as a rational spiritual practice informed by neuroscience and psychology. From bestselling author, neuroscientist, and “new atheist” Sam Harris, Waking Up is for the increasingly large numbers of people who follow no religion, but who suspect that Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Rumi, and the other saints and sages of history could not have all been epileptics, schizophrenics, or frauds.

Looking back to the crisis of the Reformation and beyond, Unbelievers shows how, long before philosophers started to make the case for atheism, powerful cultural currents were challenging traditional faith. These tugged in different ways not only on celebrated thinkers such as Machiavelli, Montaigne, Hobbes, and Pascal, but on men and women at every level of society whose voices we hear through their diaries, letters, and court records. Ryrie traces the roots of atheism born of anger, a sentiment familiar to anyone who has ever cursed a corrupt priest, and of doubt born of anxiety.

IS RELIGION DEAD?Who is this group called the Believing Unbelievers, and how do they affect me, my spiritual walk, and my church life? “IS RELIGION DEAD?” is book two in the “They Walk Among Us” series, where I address the growing epidemic of religion within and outside the church's walls. People who are Believing Unbelievers don’t possess genuine faith in God. They operate in mental assent that God is real, and Jesus Christ died for them. In essence, mental assent intellectually agrees with the Bible but does not have faith in God or His Word for salvation. It is a religious head...