Atheism Why God Does Not Exist by Dan Steel

Book Review of Atheism Why God Does Not Exist Atheism Explained by Dan Steel

Why God Does Not Exist by Dan Steel isn’t a book to promote Atheism. Its purpose is not to shatter your faith and turn you into an atheist overnight. Atheism: Why God Does Not Exist by Dan Steel explains the common myths and misconceptions on Atheism also explaining the fallacy of faith. Some people are of the opinion that Atheists are Satan-worshippers. Some believe they are foul-mouthed people who never leave a chance to criticise God. Some even believe that Atheists are depressed sort of people who have a negative evaluation of anything and everything. The aim of this book is to dispel those myths and to place before you Atheism as it actually is. Some are of the opinion, remarks Dan Steel, that Atheism is itself a belief. Well, it’s not. It’s rather an absence of belief, a refusal to take anything for granted as long as some hard evidence proves it otherwise. The existence of God is just one among the various issues that are widely debated among atheists. Whereas theists may believe that anything, even a miracle is possible if one has faith, the atheists argue that this notion is not practical. The basis of any religion is faith, whereas the foundation of atheism is logic.

In his book Atheism: Why God Does Not Exist, Dan Steel explains how in his childhood he started praying. He did it mostly because everyone else did it. Most of us grew up in the same way, learning about God from others, believing in our religion because the society around us disapproved not doing so. We adhered to the tradition without asking questions. However, gradually as we grow into adults we begin to notice the discrepancies. We are asked to pray and were told that our ‘earnest’ prayers will always be answered. But the hole in this argument was in the word ‘earnest’. How can you define earnestness? Can you measure earnestness by any known scale? Does it depend on for how long you pray? Or, does it depend on the strength of words in your prayer?

When we pray for a sick person and the person dies, it leaves us in doubt. We ask the believers, and they justify it by saying that perhaps our prayers were not earnest enough and blame it all on our lack of faith. Sometimes when all logic seem unconvincing, they simply say that the deceased is now in safe hands and that God will take care of him. Atheists find this method of explanation hollow.

They ultimately believe the events that happen to them in their lives are random and that there is no divine purpose in their own life.

Dan Steel also explains various types of atheists – the agnostics, the activists etc. It is not that atheists are not open to the possibility of God’s existence. It’s just that there’s not enough evidence to prove it. For this the theists may argue that just because there’s no evidence to prove it, doesn’t conclude that it is not true. It is same as saying – ‘There is no proof that life forms does not exist in Mars, therefore there is life in Mars’. It is hard to believe that such vapid logic are still presented in debates.

Some raise the question of morality, which they believe is an essential ingredient of religion. It is hardly necessary to provide logic against that, because the daily newspapers give ample examples to refute it. Even the pages of history are bloodied with so many wars fought over religion. You’ll hardly find a religion that doesn’t have blood in its hands. Some religious leaders argue that the words of atheists incite riots. But even a quick analysis of the incidents will prove otherwise. There was a recent incident where in a certain area where Hindus were in majority, all the mosques were asked to paint their outer walls with saffron. Did atheists do the bullying? No, theists did.

To the atheists, morality should come from within and not from intimidation of God. The key to morality is empathy, and religion isn’t at all necessary for that.

After all, we all know that killing, assaulting, stealing and raping is wrong. You don’t need to join a church to figure these things out.

Apart from persecuting atheists and infidels there are other harms caused by religion. Though it is pretty hard to swallow but there still are people who believe God will save them when they fall sick. They even react to their children’s illness with same callousness. Atheists are driven mainly by common sense and a general awareness of things going on around them. If you fall sick, you need to see a doctor. An atheist’s logic is as simple as that.

Atheism: Why God Does Not Exist, Atheism Explained by Dan Steel is a good book and one can learn a lot from it, provided one is willing to put aside one’s religious and political prejudices while reading it. I have not read a book that so briefly yet conclusively puts down all the fundamentals of atheism. Even as a casual reader you’ll enjoy the method of logic employed to explain most of the issues that are debated by atheists.

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