Another One Bites the Dust: The Value of Books In a Deconversion

Here lies one of the most comprehensive lists of recent atheist books out there. The writer says "the 190 books below have largely (re)shaped my world view", then chooses the top 80 books from them. Mine made the list!

This former Seventh-Day Adventist from Australia began looking into atheism out of curiosity, beginning in 2008. What led this nurse away from faith entirely? "Books mostly, that's what did it. Only after that year did I see some videos, hear some podcasts, read some blogs, join some Facebook groups, attend an atheist convention, go to some meetup groups etc." And then an all too familiar sounding story played itself out:

My journey begins. The train pulls out of the station from outer suburban Melbourne. I am on it, I begin reading my "book one". The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. I felt awkward, embarrassed even and read it behind a magazine to disguise the fact. I had picked it up on a whim, seemed many others were reading it. My motivation was curiosity, my expectation was that it was all rubbish and I knew better as a Christian, my hope was to be able to refute everything with an apologetic stance etc. Questions were raised.

Then the author says what so many of us have repeatedly said: "Consider reading "both sides", some apologetic books and rebuttals etc."

Notice the value of books here! Yes, books, not soundbites, not pithy sayings or pictured memes, not podcast interviews, not YouTube videos, not blog posts or Facebook updates. Books alone, out of the other media available, allow an author to produce a lengthy sustained case for something. Books are also the source for many of the ideas found in the other media.

Christian, have you done this? I've said it before and will say it again, if all you read are Christian defenses of your faith then you're not really interested in the truth. It would be like a Mormon who read nothing but the Book of Mormon, or Mormon defenses of the Mormon faith. It would be like a Muslim who read nothing but the Koran, or Muslim defenses of the Muslim faith. Get the picture? And if you don't read the books recommended by those of us who have rejected faith then you're not interested in the truth either. I say this to jolt you into making a conscious choice. I want Christians to make a conscious decision. Either start reading the books we recommend, or admit you really are not interested in the truth. I have produced a monthly book reading program for readers in what I call The Debunking Christianity Challenge. Read these twelve books. Start this week! [I really should update this challenge for 2016, but by the end of this year I will have published ten books, which means my ten choices for twelve months would be my books, and that ain't right, right?]