Monday, February 18, 2013

Sceptic's Guide to Atheism

I've expressed dismay towards the New Atheists a few times on this blog before (here, here). The major criticism I have is the employment of straw men and acerbic wit in place of careful reasoned arguments and scholarship. This is found in misrepresentations of classic theistic arguments and also in trying to make a case against religion generally as harmful/evil.

I wandered upon what looks to be a very good book -- Sceptic's Guide to Atheism -- that provides a summary and review of the arguments of the New Atheists, with counterarguments. I found it by finding another video involving Arif Ahmed, an atheist philosopher at  Cambridge whose debate style I find quite strong and appealing. The first speaker in the new video I happened upon is the author of this new book, Peter Williams. I've embedded the video below: