God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction

by Dan Barker, Richard Dawkins (Foreword by)

Overview

What words come to mind when we think of God? Merciful? Just? Compassionate? In fact, the Bible lays out God’s primary qualities clearly: jealous, petty, unforgiving, bloodthirsty, vindictive—and worse! Originally conceived as a joint presentation between influential thinker and bestselling author Richard Dawkins and former evangelical preacher Dan Barker, this unique book provides an investigation into what may be the most unpleasant character in all fiction. Barker combs through both the Old and New Testament (as well as 13 different editions of the “Good Book”), presenting powerful evidence for why the Scripture shouldn’t govern our everyday lives. This witty, well-researched book suggests that we should move past the Bible and clear a path to a kinder and more thoughtful world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781633888760
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	05/15/2023
Pages:	370
Sales rank:	480,332
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Daniel Barker was a Christian preacher and minister for 19 years, before leaving Christianity in 1984. Today, he is the co-president of the Freedom from Religion Foundation with his wife, Annie Laurie Gaylor, and is the author of several books, including his memoir, Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists (Ulysses Press). He lives in Madison, WI.

Richard Dawkins is an English ethologist, evolutionary biologist, and writer. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was the University of Oxford's Professor for Public Understanding of Science from 1995 until 2008. He is the author of several New York Times bestselling books, including The Selfish Gene (Oxford University Press), The Blind Watchmaker (W.W. Norton & Co.), and The God Delusion (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). He lives in England.

Editorial Reviews

With a twinkle that belies the canard that atheists are ‘strident’ and ‘militant,’ Dan Barker cheerfully refutes the common claim that morality comes from the God of the bible.”—Steven Pinker, author of How the Mind Works and The Better Angels of Our Nature

“If you thought Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion was hard on religion, gird your loins for Dan Barker’s book on God because he makes the New Atheists sound like diplomatic accommodationists in his unrelenting deconstruction of the Bible, a book he knows better than the Four Horsemen combined since he used to preach from it. You will never read the Good Book the same way again.”
—Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic magazine, monthly columnist for Scientific American, and the author of The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Bend Humanity toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom

“Dawkins and Barker have both written books encouraging readers to become atheists. Who knew all they had to do was direct everyone to the Bible?”—Hemant Mehta, Editor of FriendlyAtheist.com

From the Publisher