50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God

by Guy P. Harrison

Overview

Many books that challenge religious belief from a skeptical point of view take a combative tone that is almost guaranteed to alienate believers or they present complex philosophical or scientific arguments that fail to reach the average reader. This is undoubtably an ineffective way of encouraging people to develop critical thinking about religion. This unique approach to skepticism presents fifty commonly heard reasons people often give for believing in a God and then raises legitimate questions regarding these reasons, showing in each case that there is much room for doubt. Whether you're a believer, a complete skeptic, or somewhere in between, you'll find this review of traditional and more recent arguments for the existence of God refreshing, approachable, and enlightening. From religion as the foundation of morality to the authority of sacred books, the compelling religious testimony of influential people, near-death experiences, arguments from Intelligent Design, and much more, Harrison respectfully describes each rationale for belief and then politely shows the deficiencies that any good skeptic would point out. As a journalist who has traveled widely and interviewed many highly accomplished people, quite a number of whom are believers, the author appreciates the variety of belief and the ways in which people seek to make religion compatible with scientific thought. Nonetheless, he shows that, despite the prevalence of belief in God or religious belief in intelligent people, in the end there are no unassailable reasons for believing in a God. For skeptics looking for appealing ways to approach their believing friends or believers who are not afraid to consider a skeptical challenge, this book makes for very stimulating reading.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781615920044
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	09/18/2009
Series:	50 series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	354
Sales rank:	915,550
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

GUY P. HARRISON (San Diego, CA) is an award-winning journalist and the author of Think, 50 Simple Questions for Every Christian, 50 Popular Beliefs That People Think Are True, 50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God, and Race and Reality: What Everyone Should Know about Our Biological Diversity. Find him on online at www.guypharrison.com, www.facebook.com/guypharrisonauthor, and on Twitter @Harrisonauthor.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     7
Introduction     13
My god is obvious     17
Almost everybody on Earth is religious     23
Faith is a good thing     27
Archaeological discoveries prove that my god exists     37
Only my god can make me feel significant     45
Atheism is just another religion     49
Evolution is bad     57
Our world is too beautiful to be an accident     65
My god created the universe     71
Believing in my god makes me happy     77
Better safe than sorry     85
A sacred book proves my god is real     91
Divine justice proves my god is real     101
My god answers prayers     107
I would rather worship my god than the devil     117
My god heals sick people     123
Anything is better than being an atheist     131
My god made the human body     139
My god sacrificed his only son for me     147
Atheists are jerks who think they know everything     153
I don't lose anything by believing in my god     161
I didn't come from a monkey     169
I don't want to go to hell     175
I feel my god when Ipray     179
I need my god to protect me     183
I want eternal life     191
Without my god we would have no sense of right and wrong     197
My god makes me feel like I am part of something bigger than myself     207
My religion makes more sense than all the others     213
My god changes lives     221
Intelligent design proves my god is real     225
Millions of people can't be wrong about my religion     231
Miracles prove my god is real     235
Religion is beautiful     241
Some very smart people believe in my god     247
Ancient prophecies prove my god exists     251
No one has ever disproved the existence of my god     263
People have gone to heaven and returned     267
Religion brings people together     273
My god inspires people     281
Science can't explain everything     287
Society would fall apart without religion     295
My religion is so old, it must be true     303
Someone I trust told me that my god is real     309
Atheism is a negative and empty philosophy     315
Believing in a god doesn't hurt anyone     325
The earth is perfectly tuned to support life     331
Believing is natural so my god must be real     337
The end is near     343
I am afraid of not believing     349

What People are Saying About This

James A. Haught

"Deep wisdom and patient explanations fill this excellent book. The author-a journalist with worldwide experience and thorough scientific knowledge-doesn't ridicule supernatural beliefs. He seems fond of believers. But he quietly employs logic to show that invisible gods, devils, heavens, hells, miracles and the like belong in the superstitious past, and cannot be taken seriously by educated modern people."--(James A. Haught, author of 2,000 Years of Disbelief and editor of West Virginia's largest newspaper, The Charleston Gazette)

Michael Shermer

"There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but now Guy Harrison has given us 50 ways to believe in God, or not if you care to read this engaging and enlightening book in light of what it says about the cultural and psychological power of belief. If the number one predictor of which God someone believes in is what culture and time period they happened to have been born in, what does that say about the actual existence (or not) of a deity? Read this book to explore the many and diverse reasons for belief."--(Michael Shermer, Publisher of Skeptic magazine, monthly columnist Scientific American, author of Why Darwin Matters)

Frans de Waal

"Religion is as universal as language, which hints at a biological basis. Why did our ancestors evolve an attraction to the supernatural? The fundamental question is not whether this attraction is rational or not - which is the subject of a dozen recent provocative books -- but what exactly faith delivers to those who possess it. The present book treats this question respectfully, listening to the answer of the believers themselves, which seems an excellent place to start."--(Frans de Waal, leading primatologist, author of Our Inner Ape (Riverhead, 2005))

Nick Wynne

"Guy P. Harrison has written a persuasive and frequently humorous book about an important topic . . .This thoughtful work should be read by religious practitioners, political leaders, and the general public and should be taught as a foundation for explaining the role of religion in society. I recommend it heartily."--(Nick Wynne, PhD; Executive director of the Florida Historical Society)

Editorial Reviews

"There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but now Guy Harrison has given us 50 ways to believe in God, or not if you care to read this engaging and enlightening book in light of what it says about the cultural and psychological power of belief. If the number one predictor of which God someone believes in is what culture and time period they happened to have been born in, what does that say about the actual existence (or not) of a deity? Read this book to explore the many and diverse reasons for belief.” —Michael Shermer, Publisher of Skeptic magazine, monthly columnist for Scientific American, author of Why Darwin Matters “There's an excellent American publishing house, Prometheus Books, which specializes in agnostic and atheist subjects. I've just finished reading Fifty Reasons People Give for Believing in a God, by Guy P. Harrison. In this thought-provoking book, Harrison makes a powerful case against religion without the need for name-calling, contempt or condescension.-The Herald, Glasgow, Scotland “Harrison has hit the right mix. He does not coddle or kowtow to believers, but he has a pleasant way of writing. One can almost imagine that he is smiling as he writes—not a sardonic smile but a real, life-affirming, comfortable-with-who-I-am smile. His joyful embrace of the natural world and humanity in all its triumphs along with low points and his admission that he does not understand everything he encounters makes this author's atheism a very happy state of being.”-Free Inquiry

From the Publisher