A Friendly Letter to Skeptics and Atheists: Musings on Why God Is Good and Faith Isn't Evil | 
 enlarge | Author: David G. Myers
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $8.35
You Save: $8.60 (51%)
New (47) Used (11) from $8.35
Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 76751
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 160
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.8
ISBN: 0470290277
Dewey Decimal Number: 261.21
EAN: 9780470290279
ASIN: 0470290277
Publication Date: September 2, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new book delivered from the UK in 10-14 days.
| |
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
A Friendly Letter to Skeptics and Atheists helps readers?both secular and religious?appreciate their common ground. For those whose thinking has moved from the religious thesis to the skeptical antithesis (or vice versa), Myers offers pointers to a science-respecting Christian synthesis. He shows how skeptics and people of faith can share a commitment to reason, evidence, and critical thinking, while also embracing a faith that supports human flourishing?by making sense of the universe, giving meaning to life, connecting us in supportive communities, mandating altruism, and offering hope in the face of adversity and death.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 Just What the Title Says It Is December 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
An elegantly written and argued book, focusing on finding common ground between skeptics and believers. It argues convincingly that some belief in God is not disproved by science, and that there is room for belief in the modern world.
Myers' religious views are hard for even a skeptic to find very offensive, for they are mild and life-affirming But to make this argument, he cedes a lot of ground (rightfully I think) to the skeptics, dismissing religious views that deny evolution and the like as admittedly beyond the pale of reasonable discourse.(But this dismissal is undercut by his own admission that 43 percent of Americans believe the world is only about 10,000 years old.)
He then argues eloquently that people who hold
religious views of this sort (himself included) are generally happier and enjoy a more fully realized life, so then why shouldn't we just agree to disagree on these points?
Myers' book is a good start towards a rational discussion on religion and whether it makes sense. I would think in the end he might well lose this argument, but at least he sets out reasonable ground rules and provides a good first round of arguments for consideration by agnostics and skeptics of a more reasoned approach to whether or not there is a God. It's a discussion, not a rant.
 Civil, Intelligent Reply to the New Atheist Wave November 21, 2008
The author, a psychologist, responds briefly but well to the "new atheist" wave of Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins et al. At first I thought his approach was, frankly too "friendly," to the point of seeming timid and insubstantial, but as this brief book goes on it gets more impressive. What's really neat is the way Meyers seems to address just about every controversial subject imaginable--evolution, intelligent design, gays, the mind-body connection--without being dishonestly reductive. None of the sections are meant to be thorough explorations of the particular topic: they only offer more inclusive ways to think about each topic so as to allow for faith.
Walking the tightrope October 19, 2008
Myers respectfully defends his faith to skeptical scientists as only a fellow empiricist could. Through a series of short chapters Myers takes up the critical points of the neoatheists with an engaging "Yes, but have you thought about this?" approach. Faithheads will welcome the clarity with which Myers comes to their rescue. However, they too will find themselves challenged, reexamining their beliefs, assumptions and even their practices.
Go to the source September 29, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
"Why can't we all just get along", says Myers, as he dives right into the deep end of the Christian vs. anti-Christian pool. I use these terms specifically, because while consistent skeptics or atheists profess themselves against all "non-scientific" thinking, I have found that in their comments on my Amazon reviews that they have specifically attacked Christianity with a venom only attainable by those who have a faith-based interest in a competing belief system.
Myers does a reasonable job searching for a middle ground defending faith for its human efficacy in areas of physical and mental health, quality of life, charitable giving and volunteerism, civil rights, contributions to science. Myers, a psychologist who teaches at a Christian college, relies heavily on reason, history, and psychological studies in his apologetics. Most of it is familiar territory but in need of repeating in the face of a resurgent body of specifically and aggressively anti-Christian literature from Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion), Christopher Hitchens (God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything), and others.
The main problem, aside from the scorched-earth policy of these writers to invalidate any opposition to their theory, is judging Christianity by the results of human action. Admittedly, religion has a checkered record at times, with slavery, Inquisition, anti-Semitism, and hypocrisy at the hands of ever-sinful men.
But religion is a man made concept only tangentially related to our spiritual condition. The Bible records God's history and plan for salvation that depends on individual acceptance of God's plan through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ. All that eternally matters is how each individual responds to this plan. How man has perverted religion, how atheists have attacked religion, and whether religion has any temporal value is irrelevant.
Each reader must go to the source and deal with it in their own mind and soul.
 Too Friendly September 21, 2008
2 out of 8 found this review helpful
The author appears to be trying too hard to be a "friend" to God's enemies. I find some of his conclusions abhorrent. I will probably finish his book, but I'm in no hurry to do so.
|
|
|
