February: God: The Failed Hypothesis

[leo-rcc]

I've always wanted to read this I shall try and find it in the states.

I'm always amused when people refered to the US as the states. I've noticed it's a European thing. We just call it America (which I've always thought silly since it's continent, not the country and therefore Canadian's, and Mexicans, and Argentinians are American) and we also call it the US or USA. Never the states.

Sorry, tangent. >.>

Be thankful Adrian didn't call it that rebellious colony. { roflol }

[WWLD]

yay! thats what i voted for

[Eilonnwy]

Be thankful Adrian didn't call it that rebellious colony. { roflol }

In that case there'd be a throwdown. -_^

[chatpilot]

I am getting ready to start chapter 4 of this title so far I love it.The way he speaks on several scientific studies conducted on the efficacy of prayer,out of body experiences,the brain etc.Very interesting and not so hard to understand.Still got a ways to go but I will keep you posted.

[Demonaura]

I sadly did not make it through the book in time.

The parts I did get to read however were very informative, Victor did well referencing known studies and how they related to his own work.
When I finish it I'll be able to say more, I really did not get in as far as I wanted to at all.

[Tiberius]

This thread is going to be kept open so that if people do finish the book sometime in the future they can still write a review if they wish

[Eilonnwy]

Yeah, I haven't finished because I had a trip to DC and ended up having to move. Been a crazy month for me.

[leo-rcc]

Ok, here it is, my review of:

God: The Failed Hypothesis―How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist

By Victor J. Stenger

In the preface of the book “God: The failed hypothesis”, author and physicist Victor J. Stenger, wrote the following:

In my 2003 book Has Science Found God? I provided a critique of contemporary claims that science supports the existence of God and found them inadequate. In this book, I go much further and argue that science makes a strong case against the existence a God with the traditional attributes of the Judaic-Christian-Islamic God. My argument is not based simply on the gross absence of evidence for this God. Not only is there no evidence for God, I argue that the evidence we have can be used to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that this God does not exist. Not only does the universe show no evidence for God, it looks exactly as it would be expected to look if there is no God. In a final chapter I show why it is preferable to live in a Godless universe.

(Bolding mine). That is quite an assertion, and I was very skeptical of this claim.

For the sake of brevity I will refer to the author as Stenger, because I do not know him so I will refrain from mentioning him on a first name basis.

Stenger sets of by outlining exactly which god he is referring to. Instead of the broader spectrum wishy-washy almost pantheistic god, he deliberately keeps the focus on the entity described in the sacred works of Jews, Christians, and Moslems, known as God, Jehovah, Allah, Yahweh. This leaves the door open for 99.9999% of all other gods, but by placing the focus on this god alone I feel Stenger is making the right choice. If that god is indeed disproven in this book, it is very unlikely that a former believer persuaded by this book will suddenly start looking into other religions “just to fill that void”.

In all honesty, the book for me at least is not making a great start. Although I can’t really flaw Stenger’s methodology to debunk the argument from design, I get left with the feeling that this has been done before and better by the likes of Richard Dawkins and Kenneth Miller. Probably because it is more in their field of expertise than is the case for Stenger, but Stenger does do a good job of debunking the argument all the same.

The following chapters of the book, particularly Cosmic Evidence and The Uncongenial Universe are the strongest parts of the book. It is very obvious that Stenger is much more in his element there and he uses his expertise to the fullest. All the ‘evidence’ for the existence of a god as presented by the theists, like the origin of matter, and the source of the laws of physics, are presented and refuted in an nothing less than spectacular fashion. These chapters are the jewels in the crown of this book.

The following chapters, he mostly goes into the more familiar arguments of a theological nature. Few of Stenger’s arguments are original, though they are well organized. Again I get the feeling that when the subject moves away from Stenger’s chosen field of expertise, the level of rebuttal is dropping ever so slightly. It is still very much sufficient to counter any argument made in favor of a god, but it is not the top level of debunking I’ve read from the likes of Harris, Dawkins, or even Hitchens (of all people).

So, in conclusion, what do I think of this book and has it fulfilled its promise as set in the preface?

I liked the book less than I did other God debunking books. Though Stenger’s arguments are sound, they did not have much of an impact on me and certainly would not have converted me away from Christianity if I had been a Theist. If I realize that as an Atheist, I cannot say that the book has succeeded in its premise to disprove God. I will grant Victor J. Stenger that he does do a great job on showing the likelihood of a god is very low, as close to zero as you can get.

I would only recommend Stenger's book as a source of reference, apart from the atheist in prison argument that we should be weary of to make I have done some fact checking of other claims and most do stand up and some I just couldn't find on the net.

[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.