Irreligion: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don't Add Up

Irreligion: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don't Add Up | John Allen Paulos | Could be much better

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Irreligion: A Math...

	Irreligion: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don't Add Up John Allen Paulos Hill and Wang, 2008 - 176 pages average customer review:based on 46 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Devastating the deity's dozen

Although titled "Irreligion", this book might be better typified by "Irrational". Paulos lines out the litany of weary old arguments in support of the deity now dominating Western society. Reading them simple, straightforward format, they seem more like excuses than arguments. There are a dozen of them, the Classical, the Subjective and the Psyche-Mathematical. Each has been addressed many times, of course, but Paulos' particular style of wit seems to breathe a new, if transient, life into them. Paulos' examination of each proposal is incisive and devastating, relying on a combination of a mathematician's logic and a showman's delivery.

In his Preface, Paulos states his skepticism emerged at an early age. He hasn't let it rest, working it to confront numerous situations. He early recognised the unanimity of things, which made him feel part of everything. Instead of attributing the universal relationship of matter to the supernatural, he turned instead to wondering why others did. In so doing he's accumulated a number of assertions purportedly supporting the notion of a deity. Each sets a condition, proposes an absurd - if frequently forwarded - supportive supposition to reach an unwarranted conclusion. A typical classic runs:

1. The world in general seems to evidence intention and direction

2. There must be a director behind this purpose

3. The entity directing must be a god, thereby proving its existence.

Paulos notes that the teleological argument goes back to ancient Greece, but is best typified today by William Paley's early 19th Century concept of "natural theology". That the idea remains current is a testimony to the failure of today's education or Western society's loss of a sense of logic. Paley influenced Charles Darwin in his early years, but the evidence Nature presented him on his HMS Beagle journey overturned Paley's failed assumption. Complexity means things are complex, but no designer is required, just time and opportunity. Paulos recommends a trumpet fanfare when we consider Darwin's achievement.

The author goes on to consider the remaining assertions, using logic that comes easily to a mathematician. He doesn't belabour the reader with formulae, since such arcane methods would leave one bewildered or exhausted. Instead, he laces his explanations with a wit that must be a wonderful experience in his classroom. He spares none, taking to task the recent works attacking various forms of belief as "arrogant and overbearing". Instead, he presents his refutations of the hoary assertions in a conversational style that can appeal to any level of reader, whether a sceptic or suffused with faith. He doesn't lash out, but presents the arguments for a deity as commonly stated, and shows their flaws without rancour.

As such, this book deserves the widest readership, perhaps starting with every minister of whatever faith permeating your local society. And he is at some pains to get his message across to his many countrymen who seem bent on "repealing the Enlightenment". If nothing else, the presence of such a threat makes this book mandatory reading - at least in North America. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

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Could be much better

The book is an interesting attempt. However, there are cases of superficiality and pseudo-objectivity.
How come for example the author attacks the Bush administration who struggles against irrationalities and dangereous extremism and fanaticism in the world, and not the latest one itself? Prof. Paulos has to notice that if the Islamo-Fascism will prevail in the world instead of the US, he will not be able to write such a book. i guess he will not be able to live.
Opher Liba, Math Educator, Researcher and Author

Perfectly Fine, even Fun, but not much new

Innumeracy made a huge impression on me when I read it years ago. Paulos' writing style is fun, refreshing, and smart. Recently, I've been reading a lot of the "New Atheist" literature, looking for people giving voice to my own beliefs. Irreligion is not much like the others that I've read, but it suffers from some of the same problems, most notably, there's not much new in it. I recommend it if you're looking for an enjoyable survey of traditional philosophical arguments in favor of the existence of God, and quick, smart responses from someone who doesn't buy them. But, as someone who's been exposed to most of those arguments and responses before, this book didn't have a whole lot to offer me. On the other hand, if I had found it before I entered college, it might have been a great discovery. *shrug*

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