Recently at a lecture in Philadelphia The Rational Response Squad recorded Richard Dawkins reading his book. Enjoy “The God Delusion” on video

Click here to order the book from Amazon!

The book “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins is a 1# bestseller in the UK. “The God Delusion” also went to the first 3 top bestsellers by The New York Times. It’s a great gift idea for Xmas- Richard Dawkins: The God Delusion.

Socrates was accused of being an atheist for impiety (see Euthyphro dilemma) on the basis that he inspired questioning of the state gods. Although he disputed the accusation that he was a “complete atheist,” he was ultimately sentenced to death.

Another atomic materialist, Epicurus, disputed many religious doctrines, including the existence of an afterlife or a personal deity; he considered the soul purely material and mortal. While Epicureanism did not rule out the existence of gods, he believed that if they did exist, they were unconcerned with humanity.

The Roman poet Lucretius agreed that, if there were gods, they were unconcerned with humanity, and unable to affect the natural world. For this reason, he believed humanity should have no fear of the supernatural. In De rerum natura (”On the nature of things”), he expounds his Epicurean views of the cosmos, atoms, the soul, mortality, and religion.

The Roman philosopher Sextus Empiricus held that one should suspend judgment about virtually all beliefs—a form of skepticism known as Pyrrhonism — that nothing was inherently evil, and that ataraxia (”peace of mind”) is attainable by withholding one’s judgment. His relatively large volume of surviving works had a lasting influence on later philosophers.

The meaning of “atheist” changed over the course of classical antiquity. The early Christians were labeled atheists by non-Christians because of their disbelief in pagan gods. During the Roman Empire, Christians were executed for their rejection of the Roman gods in general and Emperor-worship in particular. When Christianity became the state religion of Rome under Theodosius in 381, heresy became a punishable offense.

(Source: Wikipedia) 

Philosophical scepticism originated in ancient Greek philosophy. One of its first proponents was Pyrrho of Elis (c. 360-275 B.C.), who traveled and studied as far as India, and propounded the adoption of ‘practical’ scepticism. Subsequently, in the ‘New Academy’ Arcesilaus (c. 315-241 B.C.) and Carneades (c. 213-129 B.C.) developed more theoretical perspectives, by which conceptions of absolute truth and falsity were refuted. Carneades criticized the views of the Dogmatists, especially supporters of Stoicism, asserting that absolute certainty of knowledge is impossible. Sextus Empiricus (c. A.D. 200), the main authority for Greek skepticism, developed the position further, incorporating aspects of empiricism into the basis for asserting knowledge.

Greek skeptics criticized the Stoics, accusing them of dogmatism. For the sceptics, the logical mode of argument was untenable, as it relied on propositions which could not be said to be either true or false without relying on further propositions. This was the regress argument, whereby every proposition must rely on other propositions in order to maintain its validity. In addition, the sceptics argued that two propositions could not rely on each other, as this would create a circular argument (as p implies q and q implies p). For the skeptics such logic was thus an inadequate measure of truth which could create as many problems as it claimed to have solved. Truth was not, however, necessarily unobtainable, but rather an idea which did not yet exist in a pure form. Although skepticism was accused of denying the possibility of truth, in actual fact it appears to have mainly been a critical school which merely claimed that logicians had not discovered truth.

Rene Descartes is credited for developing a global skepticism, as a thought experiment in his attempt to find absolute certainty on which to base as the foundation of his philosophy. David Hume has also been described as a global skeptic.

(Source: Wikipedia)

One of the most common criticisms of atheism has been to the contrary—that denying the existence of a just God leads to moral relativism, leaving one with no moral or ethical foundation or renders life meaningless and miserable. Blaise Pascal argued this view in 1669.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Common topics that scientifically-skeptical literature questions include health claims surrounding certain foods, procedures, and medicines, such as homeopathy, Reiki, Thought Field Therapy (TFT), vertebral subluxations; the plausibility of supernatural entities (such as ghosts, poltergeists, angels, and gods); as well as the existence of ESP/telekinesis, psychic powers, and telepathy (and thus the credibility of parapsychology); topics in cryptozoology, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster, UFOs, crop circles, astrology, repressed memories, creationism, dowsing, conspiracy theories, and other claims the sceptic sees as unlikely to be true on scientific grounds.

Most empirical or scientific skeptics do not profess philosophical scepticism. Whereas a philosophical skeptic may deny the very existence of knowledge, an empirical sceptic merely seeks likely proof before accepting that knowledge.

 (Source: Wikipedia)

Practical atheism can take various forms:
Absence of religious motivation—belief in gods does not motivate moral action, religious action, or any other form of action;
Active exclusion of the problem of gods and religion from intellectual pursuit and practical action;
Indifference—the absence of any interest in the problems of gods and religion; or
Ignorance—the complete absence of the idea of gods from one’s life.

Historically, practical atheism has been associated with moral failure, willful ignorance and impiety. Those considered practical atheists were said to behave as though God, ethics and social responsibility did not exist; they abandoned duty and embraced hedonism. According to the French Catholic philosopher Étienne Borne, “Practical atheism is not the denial of the existence of God, but complete godlessness of action; it is a moral evil, implying not the denial of the absolute validity of the moral law but simply rebellion against that law.”

(Source: Wikipedia)