The God Argument: The Case Against Religion and for Humanism
AC Grayling
The God Argument: The Case Against Religion and for Humanism
There have in recent years been a number of books that have taken issue with religion and argued against it. Both sides in the debate have expressed themselves acerbically because there is a very great deal at stake. The God Argument examines all the arguments and associated considerations offered in support of religious belief.
1.8 out of 5 based on 4 reviews
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Omniscore:
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| Classification |
Non-fiction |
| Genre |
Society, Politics & Philosophy, Religion & Spirituality |
| Format |
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| Pages |
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| RRP |
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| Date of Publication |
February 2013 |
| ISBN |
978-1620401903 |
| Publisher |
Bloomsbury |
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Reviews
The New Statesman
Bryan Appleyard
“The broad point is that Grayling, like the other horsemen, goes too far. He narrowly defines religion as a system of physical beliefs and then says such a system has nothing to offer the world. When another atheist, Alain de Botton, gently suggested that non-believers might have something to learn from religion, he was immediately trampled on by the horsemen. But what religion has to offer is a great mountain of insights into the human realm.”
28/02/2013
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The Guardian
Jonathan Rée
“Grayling sees himself as a champion of the Enlightenment, but in the old battle over the interpretation of religious texts he is on the side of conservative literalist fundamentalists rather than progressive critical liberals. He believes that the scriptures must be taken at their word, rather than being allowed to flourish as many-layered parables, teeming with quarrels, follies, jokes, reversals and paradoxes. Resistance is, of course, futile. If you suggest that his vaunted "clarifications" annihilate the poetry of religious experience or the nuance of theological reflection, he will mark you down for obstructive irrationalism. He is, after all, a professional philosopher, and his training tells him that what cannot be translated into plain words is nothing but sophistry and illusion.”
09/03/2013
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The Spectator
Peter Hitchens
“This work is full of negative, petti-fogging narrowness, devoid of sympathy for opponents, empty of generosity or modesty, immune to poetry or mystery. Seeking enjoyment in its pages is like trying to quench your thirst with dry biscuits. The rudest thing that I can say about it is that it is pretty much the same as all the other anti-God books. Like Scandinavian crime series on TV, these volumes trundle off the production lines every few months, asserting their authors’ enlightenment and emitting a nasty undertone of spite and intolerance.”
02/03/2013
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The Sunday Telegraph
Tom Payne
“What’s most lamentable about this book is not the quirks of tone, the infelicities of emphasis or the inconsistency, indeed occasional lack, of method. It’s the façade of appreciating how believers have created great art, without recognising the imaginative process behind it, and indeed behind faith.”
27/02/2013
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