This version of the book has been reviewed in English(11) by readers.
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What are readers saying about 50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God?
| Reviews of 50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God - Page 1 of 2 |
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-03-06 12:22:08.
(Language: English)
  
While I don't think the author is as kind to believers as he purports, it's still an excellent, well-reasoned read, and provides great responses to common reasons for belief in god(s). Some of the arguments end up being somewhat repetitive (particularly the dismantling of "I believe because MY god or MY book...." because there are many incompatible "my god"s and "my book"s in the world), but it's a minor quibble with an otherwise excellent book.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-08-18 11:32:52.
(Language: English)
Awsome book; I wish everyone would read it.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-06-05 18:46:58.
(Language: English)
A very objective look at the reasons people give for belief and the responses.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-05-24 03:15:20.
(Language: English)
An entire book on atheist apologetics. YAWN! YAWN! YAWN!
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-05-05 00:35:40.
(Language: English)
Harrison claims that the tone of this book is supposed to be nicer than that of books written by Dawkins, Hitchens or Harris. That is a lie. This book drips with sarcasm aimed at the religious. Not only that, Harrison will use unnecessary adjectives that will only anger those who are religious. For instance, take the following sentence from the last chapter of the book. He is talking about believers here: "There is no shame in being flat out wrong..." Couldn't he have removed "flat out" from the sentence? I thought this book was supposed to be a "respectful reply to the friendly people" who shared their reasons for believing in God to him (paraphrase from Introduction)? The book is filled with sentences like that. There are so many things wrong with the answers provided to the 50 questions in this book. Here are a couple: Chapter 19: Harris claims that the Jesus story is not unique by citing the story of Apollonious of Tyana who died in 98 A.D., over 60 years after Jesus' death. Could not a simple explanation simply been that Appollonius was simply a copy cat of Jesus? Chapter 36: Harris claims that "there are no historical records that verify the events of Jesus's life beyond the Bible." What about the writings of Josephus? Or Cornelius Tacitus? Harris also claims that all prophesies are vague so that anything could satisfy it. What about the prophesies concerning the Jewish Messiah: virgin birth: Isaiah 7:14 being pierced: Isaiah 53:5 born in Bethlehem: Micah 5:2 Those (and many others) seem pretty specific to me. Trust me, there are many more things in this book I could write about. This book is just awful. But the biggest complaint I have with this book is Harrison's insistence to have evidence confirming God's existence using the scientific method. Of course we all know that we don't prove the existence of someone or thing necessarily by scientific methods alone. We don't use the scientific method to prove the existence of George Washington. In this instance we would have to rely on historical documents and artifacts. You would think a historian would know this. OK, I lied, I think the biggest thing that bothers me about this book is the fact that he treat all believers as uneducated or misguided fools who have never heard of the concept of evolution. I suppose this is understandable since in Chapter 18 he mentions that he never learned about evolution when he was in school during the 1970s. Well, here's news to you Harrison, anyone who grew up in America and is under the age of 35 has learned about evolution in public school. To me, it seems as though Harrison had his own conversion experience when he discovered evolution and just assumes everyone who doesn't believe in what he does has yet to have this experience. We're not all misguided Mr Harrison. For someone who has traveled the world (which he brags about constantly in his book) I would think he would know a little bit more about what they teach in public schools in America. If you want to read a book that about atheism go ahead and read The God Delusion by Dawkins. At least Dawkins doesn't lie to me and tell me he is respectful of my beliefs only to ridicule me every chance he gets. And that book is actually written by a scientist, not a historian attempting to be one.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-03-28 11:58:12.
(Language: English)
Very kind, meaningful and insightful.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-02-28 23:16:17.
(Language: English)
Great stuff. Not confrontational. Makes you think. I'd have this guy over for dinner.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-02-21 12:59:34.
(Language: English)
Interesting book with several chapters that I particularly enjoyed reading, although this is not a book that needs to be read cover to cover.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-02-10 08:34:42.
(Language: English)
This is a book that should be read by everyone, regardless of belief system. Harrison systematically discusses 50 reasons why people believe in gods, countering each one with reasoned arguments and examples. I was particularly struck by the number of historical gods (thousands), the higher quality of life in countries with fewer religious folks, and the historical destructiveness of religions in general. The most religious come across as hate-mongering zealots, willing to kill anyone who disagrees with their particular philosophy. When you combine many such groups on earth, massacres are inevitable. Amazingly, innocent and moral nonbelievers are often the bad guys and/or victims in these scenarios despite being disproportionately represented among the historically most notable and successful people and despite being highly underrepresented in the prison population. To this author, the negative aspects of god belief over history far outweigh the positive aspects.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-01-15 22:59:31.
(Language: English)
Definitely the best skeptic book of the past year! The colloquial writing style is fitting for this type of book as one only needs the basics of the 50 counterarguments to theistic devotees. Every person should read this book
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| Reviews of 50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God - Page 1 of 2 |
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