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Critiques of God: Making the Case Against Belief in God
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As the only collection of essays to present, in a comprehensive way, the case against belief in God, this classic volume rejects the view this moral values and human purpose require divine sanction. The arguments for God's existence, the validity of mystical experience, and the importance of the God concept for the development of morality and meaning in life are critically evaluated by sixteen well-known philosophers and psychologists. Integrated are works by Kurt Baier, John Dewey, Paul Edwards, Antony Flew, Sigmund Freud, Erich Fromm, Sidney Hook, Walter Kaufmann, Corliss Lamont, Wallace I. Matson, H J McCloskey, Ernest Nagel, Kai Nielsen, Richard Robinson, Bertrand Russell, and Michael Scriven. Integrated are discussions of the meaning of the existence of God, the relationships between faith and mysticism, reason and technology, fate, the problem of evil, ethics not including God, and immortality.

Customer Reviews
Customer rating is 5 of 5  An excellent set of essays   2005-05-01
By Jill Malter (jillmalter@aol.com)
This book has plenty of interesting essays by some fine authors (who do not always agree). It is not totally comprehensive on the issue of arguments about the monotheist god (for example, the Kalam argument is not included). And there is virtually no discussion of the Pagan Goddesses and Gods. But I still like what the book does contain.

I've always despised the monotheist god as powerless and unworthy of respect. This articles in this book make a case against it, so I like it for that reason already.

My strongest complaint (but far from my only complaint) about the monotheist god is that it is supposed to be The First Cause. Well, I do not like that concept much. It is similar to saying that the world rests on the back of a large turtle. Well, what does that turtle rest on? A larger turtle! And do not worry, there are turtles all the way down, each one larger than the previous one!

The analogy with a First Cause is obvious, there are causes all the way down, with god being the biggest! Infinitely big. But I think this begs the question. We are trying to explain the simple in terms of the complex, not a good idea philosophically. The only way to get any sense out of this is for the causes to be simpler as you go down. And that makes the first cause infinitely weak, small, and powerless. And not strong at all.

On top of that, I think the monotheist god not only has too many inconsistent qualities, it is also a little too talented at opposite kinds of things. What does it mean to be perfectly patient and perfectly impatient at the same time?

Anyway, the book starts with Kant's fine attack on the ontological argument for the existence of god, which happens to be one of the few pro-god arguments that I actually think is worth reading about. It then makes a more serious point, namely that a benevolent and omnipotent god is inconsistent with observed reality.

There are, of course, discussions of the First Cause argument. And the argument from Design. There is also a discussion of the idea that when one thinks about god, one ought to avoid reason, logic, and facts!

There is a great chapter about ineffability. I think this is an interesting argument, namely that belief in god is a reasonable, helpful, and self-consistent concept, but it is just hard to explain it to everyone! And that leads into arguments about religious experience.

I like the section about free will and evil. The argument is often made that god has a choice between making us Good by force and allowing us the Freedom to be Bad. But that is surely a false choice. We could be more rational!

Then there is a section on morality without god (a concept I think we all need to ponder on, given that the monotheist god surely does not actually exist as described by the major monotheist religions). A section on illusions of immortality. And on the "meaning" of life, of the cosmos, and of existence.

Finally, there is an article about religious claims that an honest and scholarly search for truth is in fact malicious.

I highly recommend this book.
Customer rating is 5 of 5  Representative   2003-08-15
By Douglas Doepke (Claremont, CA United States)
On the whole, this is a good representative collection of arguments against belief in God (the Christian variety). None are cutting edge, however several can lay claim to places in the modern canon, (Baier's, Flew's, Nielsen's). The editor is an acolyte of Thomas Nagel and as such the volume presents not only the case against God, but a stout defense of scientific method as an explanation of why things are the way they are.There's nothing wrong with this, except that unwary readers should not risk confusing the two. Moreover, the collection concentrates exclusively on arguments against the truth of God's existence. Some of the more interesting recent critiques, however, examine not the truth of the God concept, but whether the concept even makes sense or not. Happily, readers do not need a graduate philosophy degree to benefit from these articles. Most are accessible to any person of thoughtful, literate background. Their refutation, however, will require more than a simple profession of faith or creedal belief, so be prepared to engage intellectually in well-reasoned arguments, and the possibility that atheists too may lead happy, fulfilled lives.
Customer rating is 5 of 5  AtheistWorld.Com Book Review   2003-07-24
Is a God concept really necessary for humans to enjoy a sense of significance and a life of value and dedication? Does human kind really live in a purposeful universe with a divine creator, upon which we can rely to reshape things to come? These questions and many others have been pondered for centuries by the great minds in their day. This noted collection of essays rejects the view that moral values and human purpose require divine sanction.
Critiques Of God is the only collection of writings to present, in a comprehensive way, the case against belief in God. The arguments for God's existence, the validity of mystical experience, and the importance of the God concept for the development of morality and meaning in life are critically evaluated by sixteen well-known philosophers and psychologists. Included are works by Kurt Baier, John Dewey, Paul Edwards, Antony Flew, Sigmund Freud, Erich Fromm, Sidney Hook, Walter Kaufmann, Corliss Lamont, Wallace I. Matson, H. J. McCloskey, Ernest Nagel, Kai Nielsen, Richard Robinson, Bertrand Russell, and Michael Scriven.
In no other volume are the most fundamental questions of religion explored with such force and conviction. Included are discussions of the meaning of the existence of God, the relationships between faith and mysticism, reason and science, fate, the problem of evil, ethics without God, and immortality.
Peter A. Angeles is retired from the Philosophy Department at Santa Barbara City College (California). He is the author of The Problem Of God: A Short Introduction.
Customer rating is 4 of 5  pretty good   2002-03-31
By Phantaz Sunlyk (Missoula, MT United States)
this book was pretty good. it covers a lot of ground, and many of the finest philosophers of the past couple hundred years give some decent arguments contra the existence of God.
but the price of the book may be a bit much. i say that because there has been such a great resurgence in theistic arguments within the philosophy of religion over the past few years; hence this book is almost outdated. but philosophers of religion, no matter how far they have brought the argument, always return to the classical arguments, and herein you will find those classics articulated with rational vigor. in sum, its a fine addition to the philosophy of religion library.
Customer rating is 4 of 5  Hard-hitting anthology of atheist essays   2001-09-10
By jlowder@infidels.org (USA)
_Critiques of God_ is a hard-hitting, comprehensive anthology of essays by leading atheist philosophers. My only complaint is that Prometheus Books should have updated this book to reflect recent developments in the philosophy of religion since the book's original publication in 1976 (e.g., the kalam cosmological argument, the fine-tuning argument, the evidential argument from evil, etc.).


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