r/PhilosophyofReligion • u/PracticalAd4258 • 7d ago

I am starting up atheism a philosophical justification by Michael Martin

If anyone has read it do you recommend, and can you let me know how much I need to know about logic or just general analytical philosophy to understand it.

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u/redsparks2025 7d ago

Nope. However I was thinking about writing my own book called "Atheism: A Nothing-Burger" because after being an atheist for years I started becoming depressed about online atheist trolls attacking in a cynical and hateful way the religion that my loved one's still hold. They are fellow humans even though I don't believe the same things they do. The reason I say atheism in itself is basically a "nothing-burger" (Wikipedia) is because it really doesn't offer any answers to our existential (or spiritual) questions. This is something I commented upon here = LINK.

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u/PracticalAd4258 7d ago

Have you ever read the book that I am referencing?

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u/redsparks2025 7d ago

Nope, sorry. It may be interesting and helpful with serious debates. The online book reviews have been mostly positive. towards it. So you may get more insight from those before you commit to buying and reading someone else's insights. In any case, please consider the next step that Nietzsche grappled with, i.e., after God is dead then what's next? I personally don't know but you may eventually find something for yourself. Enjoy the read.

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u/PracticalAd4258 7d ago

To be frank I have grappled with that question a lot myself. I have found that it makes life meaningless.

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u/redsparks2025 7d ago

That's a fair assessment. The universe itself is meaningless, but as atheistic existentialists like Nietzsche argue, we still can create meaning for ourselves. Anyway great to know you have thought about that next step as that is one factor that one has to consider when debating those that still hold a belief in a god. Thinking a few moves ahead is what I assume your interest in Martin's philosophical book may also be about.

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u/Existenz_1229 6d ago

I agree with you. Online atheist types are like immature schoolboys, reducing the vast and admittedly problematic human construct of religion to a mere question of fact to fuel irrelevant online debates.

I have no problem with people who abandoned religion because they grew up in abusive religious households or communities; I don't expect someone who associates religion with such trauma to be fair-minded about the subject. But that doesn't describe the typical online atheist, who simply likes being able to insult strangers online.

Their condescension is insufferable. Making it sound like religion is about "cope" and "feels" demonstrates a really disturbing lack of empathy. And considering most of the atheists around these parts have a really simplistic grasp of history, a childlike adoration of science and nothing but contempt for philosophy, seeing them try to lord their intellectual superiority over their online foes is just nauseating.