Atheism - A Very Short Introduction

It has been a pleasure and a privilege to write this book for the (until
now at least) excellent Very Short Introductions series. In keeping
with the ethos of this series I have aimed to keep the book readable
and enjoyable, avoiding academic dryness, whilst at the same time
endeavouring to maintain a high standard of intellectual rigour
and integrity. It is for others to judge whether I have succeeded.
To avoid scholastic sterility, I have not followed strict academic
conventions of referencing and footnotes. Instead, I have listed at the
end of the book my main sources along with suggestions for further
reading. I hope that these provide sufficient credit to the many writers
and thinkers whose ideas have informed this work.
This book is intended for a variety of different readers, including
atheists looking for a systematic defence and explanation of their
position, agnostics who think that they might be atheists after all,
and religious believers who have a sincere desire to understand what
atheism is all about. The guiding idea has been to produce a book which
atheists will be able to give to their friends by way of explanation for
their beliefs, after having used it themselves to help organize their
thoughts.
There are many people to thank for their contributions to making
this book happen. Primarily, they are Marilyn Mason for her initial
suggestion that I might give it a go, Shelly Cox for commissioning it,
and Katharine Reeve and Emma Simmons for seeing it through to
publication. Marsha Filion deserves special mention for fighting the flab
in the penultimate draft. Colleagues in the Humanist Philosophers'
Group have also helped enrich my understanding of positive atheism
over recent years. I would also like to thank David Nash and Roger
Griffin for their advice on reading for the history chapter.

Preface viii
List of illustrations x
1 What is atheism? 1
2 The case for atheism 12
3 Atheist ethics 37
4 Meaning and purpose 57
5 Atheism in history 73
6 Against religion? 91
7 Conclusion 108
References and further reading 113
Index 117