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My sister, a christian, is curious about athiesm. I told her to watch Zeitgeist but is there any good books someone can recommend?

BlakeA 4 June 22
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36 comments

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6

Tell her to read the bible, cover to cover and then ask her if she still thinks that God is fair, hones, good and also ask her if she still believes that he loves all people not just his "chosen" ones.

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I don't think Zeitgeist was the best recommendation to be honest. Has quite a few inaccuracies hasn't it? For books I would recommend two; the best in my opinion. 1) God is not great by Hitchens and 2) the god delusion by Dawkins. They both are fantastic. Especially the first one.

@Quazi because its basically the narrator talking about his acid-trip of a book. Its basically as factual as the religion itself is. Literally makes things up to support its argument and can easily be dismantled with the barest familiarity with the referenced material. The only thing its accurate to is the book of the same name - which is self-published drivel, published by the narrator, director, and producer of the movie.

5

Any video on YouTube of Seth Andrews.

Why can't people think for themselves and explore themselves? Are people just empty sponges just waiting to soak up what's offered them.

5

I would pick something positive. Maybe Stephen Pinker.

Denker Level 7 June 22, 2018
4

No sacred Cows   by David McAfee
Atheist Manifesto by   Michel Onfray
and The Portable Atheist by Christopher Hitchens

4

Anything by Voltaire.

3

Check out Dark Matter videos on YouTube. They are hilarious and highly entertaining but also brings up very valid points.

3

The Bible, if that doesn't turn you into an atheist nothing truly will.

I agree with that to a point... I think you have to also be exposed to other ideas too. Radignthe bible made me an atheist, but had I nto been exposed to other ideas before reading it, it may not have worked by iteself, or had been anywhere near as quick and effective.

If a person is totally emeshed in a belief system and spurns allother ideas reading the bible probably won't work.

3

Have her read Good Without God, a book about the humanist beliefs many atheist share.

I just added this one to my reading list.

3

Tell her to read the whole bible. She'll come away an atheist.

If she is emeshed in her beliefs, that doesn't work. A prsonalso has to have been exposed to alternate ideas. for it to work well.

3

first person account of how one Christian left the faith and why, became Atheist.

3

Tell her to read bible then read Hitchens God is not Great.

3

Another option is The Evolution of God. It's a factual and gentle introduction to the history of Christianity. From an archeological perspective. It will help her to understand the true history (in a positive way) of Christianity and that it's really mythology.

Thanks for the tip, I might read it myself 🙂

2

Ask her to join here and I am sure our pooled resources can give respectful responses to any queries with clarity. There may be questions that challenge our personal viewpoints which can only be good. Books of that kind are great for information but informed discussion is a much better way to understand a topic I have found.

2

Suggest that she watch "Letting Go of God", by Julia Sweeney. It's a hilarious and entertaining story of a woman's journey from a good Catholic girl to an Atheist.

Here's the trailer:

Wow. That was a logn video, but definitely worth watching.

This was a one-woman show in LA for years, and then it was made into a DVD. Yes, it's over 2 hours long, but probably takes less time than reading a book.

2

I tell my Christian friends to think about the thousands of gods people around the world believe in, and understand that they believe in just one more god than I do.
All the gods are imaginary to me, just like all the other gods are imaginary to my christian friend.

Photog Level 4 June 22, 2018
2

Easy but thought invoking read for me was 'Letter to a Christian nation' Sam Harris

1

What has already been said plus:

God's Debris by Scott Adams

Sock by Penn Gillette.

Both are quick reads and super easy to digest.

1

I wouldn't advise her to watch Zeitgeist. There are a lot of made up facts presented in it. If she is curious, she'll be better advised to seek out honest books or sources.

1

Have her read "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle

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Bill Maher's movie "Religulous" is good too. Penn Gillette has a great collection of essays "Every Day is an Atheist Holiday". [goodreads.com]

zeuser Level 9 June 22, 2018
1

The important thing to understand is that atheism is not an "ism", in terms of being a dogmatic ideology. It is simply the rejection of religion and deities. I would recommend that she read about existentialism.

1

The God Delusion
God Is Not Great
God- The Failed Hypothesis

1

The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine - an easy-to-read narrative of biblical inconsistencies, written by a former Quaker. Zealot: the Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan - doesn't deny the birth of Jesus and explains the genesis of the bible. The End of Faith by Sam Harris - explains how organized faith cannot mesh with rational thought and its role in terrorism. Should probably also be said that these aren't atheist guides, but rather analytical pieces to provide insight as to why some might reject Christianity, and as such, not as combative or as antagonistic as someone like Richard Dawkins.

0

Thanks for the input, everyone. I actually tried to recommend Carl Sagan and his work but she said that he is hard to understand. Not sure why..

BlakeA Level 4 June 23, 2018

That's why I recommended the comedy video by Julia Sweeney. It's really easy to watch. When someone doesn't really want to understand something they resist reading it.

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