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An Atheist Manifesto (2000)

by Joseph Lewis(Favorite Author)

3.52 of 5 Votes: 2

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English

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review 1: Well, first, I'm an atheist, therefore it's supposed that I should agree with most of the ideas of this book, right?. Well, not exactly. There are a lot a points where I agree with the author, but I disagree with the way he expressed most of his thoughts (and also disagree with his thoughts)The book is written as many shorts sentences, many of those sentences are nice ideas, very well expressed. I like the idea of the author focusing on science, and how science did a lot more for the humanity than religion.At many times, the author is a too pugnacious, calling believers as lunatics, or with quotes like this:"There is no other word in the human language that is as meaningless and incapable of explanation as is the word 'God'. It is the beginning and the end of nothing. It ... moreis the Alpha and Omega of Ignorance" Sounds like a war declaration to a believer. Isn't?I loved the way he wrote about the goals of the science, like the anesthesia:"Do you know what it means to relieve man of his pain and suffering? Anesthesia is the most human of all of man's accomplishments, and what a merciful accomplishment it was" (I totally agree with this)Now the cons of the book. I cannot agree 100% with his ideas. For example: Along human history, religion made many wrong choices for the humanity: burning witches, stoned Hypatia, condemned Galileo, etc. I think it's a bit unfair to criticize past mistakes to judge them in the present. Sometimes, the author uses some arrogant point of view without arguments, like "the bible is wrong" without any argument to sustain this. (And yes, I don't like the Bible neither, but at least must be an argument on the book to support his idea)The book threats in a superficial way the mindset of an atheist. While I agree with many of his ideas, I cannot share all of them. At least, I cannot share the way his manifesto is a look-all-those-things-religion-did-wrong.
review 2: This book has several strong characteristics working in its favor. I think the general idea the author attempts to get across is accurate and concise. I agree with the principle behind his ideals. I found his attempt to free human kind from intellectual slavery is admirable and necessary. One way this book could have been written more effectively would have been to exclude personal opinion, derogatory adjectives describing God and to take a less insulting approach to condemning the church. It seems to have a great potential for alienating readers who do not feel as strongly as Lewis does. However, I suppose when you write your own manifesto, you can write whatever the heck you want. It is not that I do not agree with Lewis's criticism of religion, but at times his words sound a bit preachy; something I find a bit hypocritical. Despite these drawbacks, I still feel this book portrays a positive message and is an important read for all humanity. less

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