FULL REVIEW

How To Be A Good Atheist - these days there is a lot written and spoken, usually in the form of spluttering indignation, about the so-called New Atheists. But what is new about them? They have attained a higher public profile as a reaction to increasingly strident and assertive religiosity and not because of any deep need to eradicate religion (a surely impossible task). Triggered by the rise of militant Islam more and more religious groups are claiming the right to influence legislation at a time when, in the UK, fewer and fewer people align themselves with any organized religion. In the USA, a country half-choked on its own religiosity, the term atheist, to the majority at least, is anathema and a sure bar to political office and yet few people in either country really know anything much about atheism itself.

Nick Harding's book, How To Be A Good Atheist, (Oldcastle Books ISBN 10: 1-84243-237-0) is an excellent introduction for those who wonder just what makes someone an atheist - and particularly those that who find no comfort in religion. and feel alienated. As Harding's dedication states "For font dodgers everywhere - there are more of us than we think". In the first chapter he defines the term (you may be surprised to know there are several different shades of atheism) and also takes on the claim that not to believe in a deity somehow makes you immoral. In doing so he, as in the other chapters, offers further reading. His book is short and to the point but if anyone wishes to further discuss the points he makes these reading recommendations are invaluable.

In the second chapter he offers a brief history of atheism that is concise and informative. As in the rest of the book Harding leavens his writing on what could be quite heavy subjects with a waspish sense of humor. In Defending Atheism, chapter 3, he brings us to the present day and includes an interesting sidelight on the lack of evidence for a historical Jesus, although here he slips up by not including Earl Doherty's excellent The Jesus Puzzle in his recommendations for further reading. He also demolishes the old Nazism/atheism connection which religionists repeat (with no shred of evidence) ad nauseam. One interesting item he includes is Hitler's fascination for Catherine Emmerich the visionary/loony whose idiosyncratic and anti-semitic version of the Passion story was the basis for Mel Gibson's deeply unpleasant and inaccurate movie. The penultimate chapter, What Is Wrong With Religion?, quite rightly finds nothing admirable in faith - that unsubstantiated belief which religionists seem to think trumps evidence-based inquiry. He uses a courtroom analogy to show that blind faith should have no place in serious deliberations of any kind.

Throughout the book Harding takes the commonsense position that religion is a human construct and should be no more immune to criticism, rational inquiry and ridicule than any other cultural artifact.

The book ends with a short list of prominent atheists past and present. In a book of this length one cannot expect an exhaustive study but the amount of information contained belies the volume's 150 odd pages and can be used as springboard for further study enabled by Harding's inclusion of further reading. Any quibbles about the book concern minor errors of fact (Galileo did not invent the telescope and images of a beardless Jesus were certainly around before the eighth century) and are of no great consequence. If someone were to ask me for a good introduction to the subject I would not hesitate in recommending Harding's book as easy to read and effortlessly informative.

Ross W. Sargent

The View from Number 80