Overview

In this classic treatise on atheism,George H. Smith sets out to demolish what he considers the most widespread and destructive of all the myths devised by human beings - the concept of a supreme being. With painstaking scholarship and rigorous arguments, Mr. Smith examines, dissects, and refutes the myriad ""proofs"" offered by theists - sophisticated, professional theologians - as well as the average religious layperson. He explores the historical and psychological havoc wrought by religion in general and concludes that religious belief cannot have any place in the life of modern, rational man. ""It is not my purpose to convert people to atheism . . . (but to) demonstrate that the belief in God is irrational to the point of absurdity. If a person wishes to continue believing in a god, that is his prerogative, but he can no longer excuse his belief in the name of reason and moral necessity.""

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9781633881976

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Reviews

PRAISE FOR THE ORIGINAL EDITION: A hard hitting attack against belief in the Christian God as well as all other supernatural beings.... This book might well be used in a beginning course in the philosophy of religion as a fair representation of contemporary atheistic thought. Students would...find it more provocative and challenging than some other treatment that may be technically more sophisticated. The author's direct and forceful way of making his points has great appeal; clearly, it is a book written with deep intellectual passion.... All in all, Smith's book provides a lively introduction to atheism. --Teaching Philosophy Welcome, hard-hitting. --Publishers Weekly

PRAISE FOR THE ORIGINAL EDITION: A hard hitting attack against belief in the Christian God as well as all other supernatural beings.... This book might well be used in a beginning course in the philosophy of religion as a fair representation of contemporary atheistic thought. Students would...find it more provocative and challenging than some other treatment that may be technically more sophisticated. The author's direct and forceful way of making his points has great appeal; clearly, it is a book written with deep intellectual passion.... All in all, Smith's book provides a lively introduction to atheism. --Teaching Philosophy Welcome, hard-hitting. --Publishers Weekly

PRAISE FOR THE WORK OF GEORGE H. SMITH: .. . welcome, hard-hitting. -- Publishers Weekly (reviewing the first edition of Atheism: The Case Against God ) .. .prose is clear, straightforward, and relatively easy to follow--no small achievement when wading through centuries of epistemology and metaphysics. -- Journal of Church and State (reviewing Why Atheism? ) George H. Smith is an independent scholar who for many decades has lectured and written about the history of classical liberal and libertarian ideas. The System of Liberty is his first extended take on this history to be published by a high-level academic press--a tribute both to Smith's dogged scholarship and to the rise in the respectability of the libertarian tradition he explains and espouses....the information and analysis are always interesting. --Brian Doherty, Reason magazine (reviewing The System of Liberty ) George Smith's lectures on classical liberalism had a profound effect on my thinking. Now, at long last, others may profit from his prodigious learning in this absolutely 'must read' book for anyone interested in modern libertarianism and its historical roots. Clear, accessible, balanced, and powerfully reasoned. --Randy E. Barnett, author of The Structure of Liberty: Justice and the Rule of Law (reviewing The System of Liberty ) This is a lucid, concise, but at the same time a deep overview of the origins and structure of classical liberal thought. With a fluid and engaging style, Smith corrects many of our modern misconceptions about how early liberals understood themselves and the terms on which they debated. Anyone interested in liberal thought, whether in its 'classical', modern 'high liberal', or libertarian forms, will find this a valuable resource. Even critics of classical liberalism will find, thanks to Smith, that classical liberal thought contains a great deal of forgotten wisdom. --Jason Brennan, author of Libertarianism: What Everyone Needs to Know (reviewing The System of Liberty )

PRAISE FOR THE ORIGINAL EDITION: A hard hitting attack against belief in the Christian God as well as all other supernatural beings.... This book might well be used in a beginning course in the philosophy of religion as a fair representation of contemporary atheistic thought. Students would...find it more provocative and challenging than some other treatment that may be technically more sophisticated. The author's direct and forceful way of making his points has great appeal; clearly, it is a book written with deep intellectual passion.... All in all, Smith's book provides a lively introduction to atheism. Teaching Philosophy Welcome, hard-hitting. Publishers Weekly

PRAISE FOR THE ORIGINAL EDITION: A hard hitting attack against belief in the Christian God as well as all other supernatural beings.... This book might well be used in a beginning course in the philosophy of religion as a fair representation of contemporary atheistic thought. Students would...find it more provocative and challenging than some other treatment that may be technically more sophisticated. The author's direct and forceful way of making his points has great appeal; clearly, it is a book written with deep intellectual passion.... All in all, Smith's book provides a lively introduction to atheism. --Teaching Philosophy Welcome, hard-hitting. --Publishers Weekly

Author Information

George H. Smith is a freelance writer who writes a weekly article for the Cato Institute (libertarianism.org) titled ""Excursions into the History of Libertarian Thought."" He is the author of Atheism: The Case against God; Atheism, Ayn Rand, and Other Heresies; Why Atheism?; and The System of Liberty: Themes in the History of Classical Liberalism. Since 1971, he has written more than one hundred articles and book reviews that have appeared in a wide range of publications, including the New York Times, the Arizona Daily Star, Newsday, Reason, Free Inquiry, the Humanist, and Inquiry, among many others. He was formerly senior research fellow for the Institute for Humane Studies, a lecturer on American history for Cato Summer Seminars, and executive editor of Knowledge Products.

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