February: God: The Failed Hypothesis

[Eilonnwy]

I FINALLY wrote a review to it and it's on my blog: http://candycolouredfrown.blogspot.com/2...hesis.html But I'll quote it here:

This book was a wonderful read. Stenger's writing style is very pleasant and does a good job of explaining the many complicated concepts that he put forths in this book.

It's important to note that Stenger does not attempt to disprove every possible concept of God, instead he puts up a hypothesis as dictated by science, and then goes forth and shows how the scientific evidence disproves that hypothesis. He rejects the notion that science has nothing to say about religion, and that in fact it has everything to say about it. Furthermore, he is able to come to workable hypothesis because when an average person is talking about God they mean the God of one of the three major monotheistic religions known as the God of Abraham. This God is claimed to have specific attributes such as omnipotence, omnipresence, omnibenevolence. He answers prayers and cares about your sex life. He created the world and then decided to flood it on a whim. This is a hypothesis with which someone can use science to systematically disprove and Stenger did a wonderfully job of doing just that.

The evidence that Stenger presents really attacks the God hypothesis from all angles, from the efficacy of prayers to something coming from nothing. While the latter does get into some really hard science that can be hard to understand for someone who is not a scientist (Like me), Stenger does a good job of trying to convey these concepts in ways a lay person can understand. I can't say I'm an expert on the proofs he presents when it gets deep into those cosmological and scientific ideas, but I was able to grasp their meaning and understand what Stenger was trying to put forward.

One thing atheists have been careful to do is to always debate from the negative, meaning we do not assert God's nonexistence and instead challenge the proof of his existence and merits of the religion. This book is an invaluable tool if you do in fact want to make that assertion and argue that fact.

If you haven't read this book, I highly recommend it. It's not too long of a read, only around 200 pages.