Here’s a brief review I wrote of A Tippling Philosopher’s new book:
Jonathan Pearce has put together a series of short articles on God. His writing is smart, gentle (believers should appreciate the overall tone of the book, which is never angry or condescending), and filled with lots of good points that you’ll definitely want to use in your conversations with believers (‘ammunition’ is what I call it). As a long-time atheist, it’s kind of shocking to read this book and realize that so many people believe in something that is obviously false, and can be shown false by lots of everyday observations. For instance, believers often think that our lives on earth are like a test before we get to heaven. But if this is so, how come such a huge percentage of pregnancies end in miscarriage? Life can’t be a test if so many who show up for the test aren’t given the chance to take, not when an all powerful being is in charge. Pearce offers some thoughts on why The biblical God is absurd: Emotions, for instance, are very much biological in nature and have evolved often for obvious survival purposes (see his quotes from Stephen Pinker), and so it is therefore beyond belief that a non-physical, infinite being would ever get angry, jealous, etc. This is especially obvious in bible passages like Exodus 33:1-3, in which Yahweh expresses concerns about his own ability to control his anger!
