The nascent Atheist Movement (USA and elsewhere) (believe, scientific, delusion)

[ParkTwain]

"The Church of the Non-Believers" (Wired mag, Nov. 2006)
Wired 14.11: The Church of the Non-Believers


Webring of Atheist Writers:
Atheist Writers


"Atheists hoping to assert rights in religious era" (S.F. Chronicle, 2/20/2006)
Atheists hoping to assert rights in religious era


"Smackdown" (MSNBC, June 18, 2007)
BeliefWatch: An Atheist Uproar - Newsweek Beliefs - MSNBC.com (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19140641/site/newsweek/ - broken link)


"A Flowering of Doubt in America" (Philadelphia Inquirer, Aug 11, 2007)
A flowering of doubt in America | Inquirer | 08/11/2007 (broken link)


The Brights movement
Brights movement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Brights' Net - Home Page
BrightsOnline.net


"Rational Atheism" (Scientific American, Sept. 2007)
Rational Atheism: Scientific American


Atheism @ Wikipedia.org
Atheism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Further reading

* Berman, David (1990). A History of Atheism in Britain: From Hobbes to Russell. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-04727-7.
* Buckley, M. J. (1990). At the Origins of Modern Atheism. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300048971.
* Dawkins, Richard (2006). The God Delusion. Bantam Press. ISBN 0593055489.
* Flew, Antony (2005). God and Philosophy. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1591023300.
* Flynn, Tom, ed. (2007). The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1591023912.
* Gaskin, J.C.A., ed. (1989), Varieties of Unbelief: From Epicurus to Sartre, New York: Macmillan, ISBN 0-02-340681-X
* Harbour, Daniel. An Intelligent Person's Guide to Atheism. London: Duckworth. ISBN 0-7156-3229-9.
* Harris, Sam. Letter to a Christian Nation. Knopf (September 19, 2006). ISBN 978-0307265777.
* Hitchens, Christopher. God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. Twelve (May 1, 2007). ISBN 978-0446579803.
* Jacoby, Susan (2004). Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism. Metropolitan Books. ISBN 978-0805074420.
* Krueger, D. E. (1998). What is Atheism?: A Short Introduction. New York: Prometheus. ISBN 1-57392-214-5.
* Le Poidevin, R. (1996). Arguing for Atheism: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-09338-4.
* Mackie, J. L. (1982). The Miracle of Theism: Arguments For and Against the Existence of God. Oxford: Oxford UP. ISBN 019824682X
* Maritain, Jacques (1953). The Range of Reason. London: Geoffrey Bles. ISBN B0007DKP00. Retrieved on 2006-10-27.
* Martin, Michael (1990). Atheism: A Philosophical Justification. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. ISBN 0-87722-943-0.
* Martin, Michael, ed. (2007). The Cambridge Companion to Atheism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521603676
* Martin, Michael & Monnier, R., eds. (2003). The Impossibility of God. Amherst, NY: Prometheus. ISBN 1591021200
* Martin, Michael & Monnier, R., eds. (2006). The Improbability of God. Amherst, NY: Prometheus. ISBN 1591023815
* McTaggart, John & McTaggart, Ellis (1930). Some Dogmas of Religion. London: Edward Arnold & Co., new edition. [First published 1906]
* Nielsen, Kai (1985). Philosophy and Atheism. New York: Prometheus. ISBN ISBN 0-87975-289-0.
* Nielsen, Kai (2001). Naturalism and Religion. New York: Prometheus. ISBN 1573928534.
* Oppy, Graham (2006). Arguing about Gods. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521863864.
* Robinson, Richard (1964). An Atheist's Values. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0198241917.
* Sharpe, R.A. (1997). The Moral Case Against Religious Belief. London: SCM Press. ISBN 0-334-02680-6.
* Smith, George Atheism: The Case Against God, (1974).
* Stenger, Victor J. (2007). God: The Failed Hypothesis. How Science Shows that God Does Not Exist. Amherst, NY: Prometheus. ISBN 1591024811
* Thrower, James (1971). A Short History of Western Atheism. London: Pemberton. ISBN 0-301-71101-1.
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RUSSELL's TEAPOT @ Wikipedia.org
Russell's teapot - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Russell's teapot, sometimes called the Celestial Teapot, was an analogy first coined
by the philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), intended to refute the idea that
the burden of proof lies upon the sceptic to disprove unfalsifiable claims of
religions. In an article entitled "Is There a God?",[1] commissioned (but never
published) by Illustrated magazine in 1952, Russell said the following:

“ If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot
revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my
assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed
even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my
assertion cannot be disproved, it is an intolerable presumption on the part of human
reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. If, however,
the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred
truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation
to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the
doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor
in an earlier time. ”

In his book A Devil's Chaplain, Richard Dawkins developed the teapot theme a little
further:

“ The reason organized religion merits outright hostility is that, unlike belief
in Russell's teapot, religion is powerful, influential, tax-exempt and systematically
passed on to children too young to defend themselves. Children are not compelled to
spend their formative years memorizing loony books about teapots. Government-subsidized
schools don't exclude children whose parents prefer the wrong shape of teapot.
Teapot-believers don't stone teapot-unbelievers, teapot-apostates, teapot-heretics
and teapot-blasphemers to death. Mothers don't warn their sons off marrying
teapot-shiksas whose parents believe in three teapots rather than one. People who
put the milk in first don't kneecap those who put the tea in first. ”

The concept of Russell's teapot has been extrapolated into humorous, more explicitly
religion-parodying forms such as the Invisible Pink Unicorn[2] and the Flying
Spaghetti Monster.[3]
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