Customer Reviews
Thoughts from a reluctant Atheist - By: Mr Rob Barnes, 02 Jan 2009 
I have a lot of respect for Dan Barker. He was the real deal. He lived a genuine life of faith until his restlessly insatiable mind got the better of him. He scratched beneath the surface, began to engage with the numerous problems with Christianity, & emerged from a long & painful journey convinced that God was a myth. This is the kind of book that theists should read, yet one that I fear that few will. My message to them is simply this; challenge your own assumptions. Spare this book a few hours of your life. It might just change it.
I describe myself as a reluctant atheist because I would love to be able to believein Christianity as I once did. The Christians I know are a fine bunch, loving & generous & outward looking. Alas I fear that the central tenets of their belief are not historically grounded, whilst problems such as the doctrine of hell, the problem of suffering, & the absolute certainty of the truth of evolution further add to the likelyhood that the existence of God is but a man made myth.
Finally a book that I can recommended to christians - By: a human, 21 Nov 2008 I have read dozens of books exposing the problems with christianityin search of a book that I could recommend to my family, all of whom are staunch christians. Many of the books out there are written by people that do not have a strong personal experience of christianity themselves & though they may be brilliant books, the christians I know could dismiss them all because the writers haven't "received the calling of the holy spirit". The few books that I have read on the subject that have been written by ex-christians may have excellent content but contain angry undertones which I know would turn the christian reader off.
Enter Dan Barker, a man who was a true believer who has escaped from the prison of christian thinking into the real world with an appreciation for the importance of genuine humanistic morality & the credibility & beauty of observable reality. He has a deep & thorough knowledge of the bible & has truly beheld the christian "experience" first hand. He cannot be accused of taking scripture out of context. He also knows much about the background of the various translations, including the original Hebrew & Greek.
I bought his previous book, "Losing Faithin Faith" hoping that it would be the book that I could pass to my family but though it had great content, I wished that it had been written as a single piece of work rather than a collection of essays & short articles.
In this new book, "Godless", he retells the best parts of "Losing Faithin Faith" as well as newer content & contains a greater emphasis on what I think is important for christians to understand about christianity. His writing was always very good, but 20+ years after his first book, it is even better & this time it is structured as a single, flowing work.
I have bought copies for my family & hope they will read this book with an open mind, if not to liberate themselves from christianity, then at least to understand that there are valid reasons for rejecting it & that life, truth & morality can be appreciated & enjoyed without religion.
