As far as atheism goes, I don’t think The God Delusion is the best way to go since much of it involves arguments showing how religious beliefs are bad for society rather than false (which, in this context, is mostly a distraction). Instead, I would recommend Atheism: A Philosophical Justification by Michael Martin.
I can’t see Oppy or Martin (or Mackie, or Sobel, or Everitt, any of the many other kinda-similar books) being the best recommendation for someone whose choice of Christian book is “Mere Christianity”. (One can do much, much worse than “Mere Christianity”, but it’s not exactly a work of rigorous philosophical investigation.) … At least, that’s if M.C. really was intended to convince rather than merely to describe.
Incidentally, there’s a paperback edition of the Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology coming out real soon now, at something like 1⁄4 of the (eyewateringly high) price of the hardback.
Incidentally, there’s a paperback edition of the Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology coming out real soon now, at something like 1⁄4 of the (eyewateringly high) price of the hardback.
It is highly probable that there is an electronic copy floating around somewhere.
EDIT: I got rid of the link in this comment, since it is now broken...I mean, this comment does not and never did contain any kind of link whatsoever.
True enough. My comment might still be of interest to hypothetical readers who (1) have scruples about copyright violation, (2) worry about the risks of malware when downloading illegally-copied stuff, and/or (3) like physical books and prefer to get interesting things in that form. (I happen to be in group 1 on this issue but not for all, in group 2 on some other issues but not this one, and in group 3.)
If you are looking for the “best argument from the other side”, then The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology by William Lane Craig and James Porter Moreland is probably the best place to start.
As far as atheism goes, I don’t think The God Delusion is the best way to go since much of it involves arguments showing how religious beliefs are bad for society rather than false (which, in this context, is mostly a distraction). Instead, I would recommend Atheism: A Philosophical Justification by Michael Martin.
But, basically nobody will read these huge and technical works.
For atheism, I prefer Oppy’s Arguing About Gods (2006) to Martin’s 1989 book.
I can’t see Oppy or Martin (or Mackie, or Sobel, or Everitt, any of the many other kinda-similar books) being the best recommendation for someone whose choice of Christian book is “Mere Christianity”. (One can do much, much worse than “Mere Christianity”, but it’s not exactly a work of rigorous philosophical investigation.) … At least, that’s if M.C. really was intended to convince rather than merely to describe.
Incidentally, there’s a paperback edition of the Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology coming out real soon now, at something like 1⁄4 of the (eyewateringly high) price of the hardback.
It is highly probable that there is an electronic copy floating around somewhere.
EDIT: I got rid of the link in this comment, since it is now broken...I mean, this comment does not and never did contain any kind of link whatsoever.
True enough. My comment might still be of interest to hypothetical readers who (1) have scruples about copyright violation, (2) worry about the risks of malware when downloading illegally-copied stuff, and/or (3) like physical books and prefer to get interesting things in that form. (I happen to be in group 1 on this issue but not for all, in group 2 on some other issues but not this one, and in group 3.)