Table of Contents

    • Acknowledgments ix
    • Introduction: Now More Important than Ever - Voices of Reason Russell Blackford Udo Schüklenk 1
    • Unbelievable! Russell Blackford 5
    • My "Bye Bull" Story Margaret Downey 10
    • How Benevolent Is God? - An Argument from Suffering to Atheism Nicholas Everitt 16
    • A Deal-Breaker Ophelia Benson 23
    • Why Am I a Nonbeliever? - I Wonder ... J. L. Schellenberg 28
    • Wicked or Dead? Reflections on the Moral Character and Existential Status of God John Harris 33
    • Religious Belief and Self-Deception Adèle Mercier 41
    • The Coming of Disbelief J. J. C. Smart 48
    • What I Believe Graham Oppy 50
    • Too Good to Be True, Too Obscure to Explain: The Cognitive Shortcomings of Belief in God Thomas W. Clark 57
    • How to Think About God: Theism, Atheism, and Science Michael Shermer 65
    • A Magician Looks at Religion James Randi 78
    • Confessions of a Kindergarten Leper Emma Tom 82
    • Beyond Disbelief Philip Kitcher 86
    • An Ambivalent Nonbelief Tarter Edis 97
    • Why Not? Sean M. Carroll 105
    • Godless Cosmology Victor J. Stenger 112
    • Unanswered Prayers Christine Overall 118
    • Beyond Faith and Opinion Damien Broderick 123
    • Could It Be Pretty Obvious There's No God? Stephen Law 129
    • Atheist, Obviously Julian Baggini 139
    • Why I am Not a Believer A. C. Grayling 145
    • Evil and Me Gregory Benford 157
    • Who's Unhappy? Lori Lipman Brown 161
    • Reasons to be Faithless Sheila A. M. McLean 165
    • Three Stages of Disbelief Julian Savulescu 168
    • Born Again, Briefly Greg Egan 172
    • Cold Comfort Ross Upshur 177
    • The Accidental Exorcist Austin Dacey 182
    • Atheist Out of the Foxhole Joe Haldewan 187
    • The Unconditional Love of Reality Dale McGowan 191
    • Antinomies Jack Darin 197
    • GivingUp Ghosts and Gods Susan Blackmore 200
    • Some Thoughts on Why I Am an Atheist Tamas Pataki 204
    • No Gods, Please! Laura Purdy 214
    • Welcome Me Back to the World of the Thinking Kelly O'Connor 220
    • Kicking Religion Goodbye... Peter Adegoke 226
    • On Credenda Miguel Kottow 230
    • "Not Even Start to Ignore Those Questions!" A Voice of Disbelief in a Different Key Frieder Otto Wolf 236
    • Imagine No Religion Edgar Dahl 252
    • Humanism as Religion: An Indian Alternative Sumitra Padmanabhan 259
    • Why I Am NOT a Theist Prabir Ghosh 263
    • When the Hezbollah Came to My School Maryam Namazie 270
    • Evolutionary Noise, not Signal from Above Athena Andreadis 274
    • Gods Inside Michael R. Rose John P. Phelan 279
    • Why Morality Doesn't Need Religion Peter Singer Marc Hauser 288
    • Doctor Who and the Legacy of Rationalism Sean Williams 294
    • My Nonreligious Life: A Journey From Superstition to Rationalism Peter Tatchell 300
    • Helping People to Think Critically About Their Religious Beliefs Michael Tooley 310
    • Human Self-Determination, Biomedical Progress, and God Udo Schüklenk 323
    • About the Contributors 332
    • Index 338