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Does God exist? There's a great deal of debate on this question and theologians have spent hundreds of years developing many sophisticated (and some not so sophisticated) arguments purporting to prove that their god definitely exists. Nonbelievers have been at work on the matter for far less time, but they have a great deal to show for their efforts.

Summary

Title: The Impossibility of God
Author: edited by Michael Martin and Ricki Monnier
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1591021200


Pro:
•  Collects together arguments most people would never have a chance to see
•  Provides a comprehensive view of modern atheological work from many scholars and philosophers

Con:
•  A bit technical at times
•  The title might put off theists who would otherwise consider it

Description:
•  Collection of arguments disproving God, 32 in all
•  Explains how and why traditional beliefs about God cannot possibly refer to a real, existing being
•  Offers good reasons to think more critically and skeptically about theism and religion

 

Book Review

Unfortunately, most people don't know about the many interesting and powerful arguments that have been developed against traditional theistic beliefs. Most of these arguments wouldn't necessarily disprove the existence of any possible "god," but they do tend to disprove the existence of the sorts of gods people the West usually believe in ? or, at the very least, make belief in such a god unreasonable.

People's ignorance of these arguments is probably due to the fact that they tend to be published and discussed in esoteric journals that are generally unknown and, even if they were, are much too difficult for most people to read.

At the same time, they regularly hear about arguments purporting to prove the existence of their god in their churches, from popular apologists, and even sometimes in the mainstream media. It is likely that most people wouldn't even believe you if you told them that there are good, strong arguments against the existence of God.

One possible antidote to this is the recently published book The Impossibility of God, edited by Michael Martin and Ricki Monnier. This impressive volume collects together an incredible variety of arguments written by different philosophers over many years. All of this material has appeared elsewhere, but it's unlikely that most people have seen even a fraction of it before.

There are disproofs based upon contradictions in how God is defined, the existence of evil in the world, contradictions between the supposed nature of God and common religious doctrines, and many more. There are 32 disproofs in all, taking up over 400 pages. I can't describe them all, but there are several which make you want to smack your forehead and say "Of course, that's so obvious ? why didn't I think of that before?" I'd like to share two of them with you.

God, Eden, and Justice

One interesting argument in this book involves the contradiction between the nature of God as commonly described in Christianity and the story of Adam and Eve the Garden of Eden. According to this well-known biblical story, Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden because they disobeyed God when they ate the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. They were allowed to eat anything in the Garden but this, and after disobeying, they had to be punished.

There is just one problem with that story: is it just and fair to punish someone for doing something wrong when they are incapable of understanding the difference between right and wrong? Obviously Adam and Eve didn't know the difference between right and wrong ? the very concepts of good and evil were foreign to them until they ate the forbidden fruit.

Even our flawed justice system at least attempts to avoid punishing people who didn't know right from wrong when they committed a crime, but here we have God punishing Adam and Even despite the obvious fact that they didn't know right from wrong. God is, then, even less fair and just than the American criminal justice system, and that's scary.

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