What are the Best Atheist Books?

I am a follower of John Smith at Facebook, who writes some very good provocative stuff. This Facebook post of his to the left provokes some thought too. He suggests a few works he considers to be the best defenses of atheism. They are all sophisticated philosophical treatises.

Sure, I'm a gadfly, but there are people who think the best atheist arguments come from atheist philosophers. Who or what is the source of this ignorance? Where does it come from? I think it comes from Christian philosophers themselves, because it can and does serve as a red herring leading people away from some powerful atheist arguments.

When I show up and offer a different perspective they treat me with a touch of tribalism, and/or they ignore me. It doesn't have to be that way. There is room for all types of argumentation from Biblical/Religious scholars and especially scientists.

Alex Pinkney graded philosophical arguments, since apparently, he considers them the best that atheists have to offer. He wrote: 

Although I’m not an Atheist, I made a brief tier list of the best (and worst) arguments for Atheism. Here it is:

S Stephen Maitzen Divine Hiddenness (Geographical Distribution)
A Everything Graham Oppy says. Not just his book, "Arguing about gods” I mean anything he has written is evidence against God.
A- Felipe Leon’s arguments against Divine Aseity. (Abstract Objects)
B+ William Rowe’s Evidential Argument from Evil.
B Paul Draper Evidential Argument from Evil. Daniel Lewis has a good paper on the response against Draper’s AFE but most theistic responses aren’t plausible to explain gratuitous evil.
C+ Arguments for Physicalism. Oppy has the best argument for Physicalism in my view, but I’m sure there are others I’m not aware of but overall arguments for Physicalism are relatively strong.
C Felipe Leon’s Material Causality
C- J.L. Schellenberg Divine Hiddenness. Daniel Howard Snyder, Elenore Stump, and Michael Rea have good responses so I give his argument a C. A Theist could object to Schellenbergs underlying assumption(s) that you need to have a (doxastic) belief in God in order to have a Relationship with God. Overall, it’s a interesting argument.
D Most objections against WLC’s argument for the A theory of time. In all seriousness, I’m not convinced of WLC’s a theory of time but I think many objections I see online to Craig’s A theory of time are unwarranted.
F J.L. Mackie Logical Problem Of Evil

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Whenever I'm asked what is my favorite color, or food, or the best exercise, or the best sport, or best rock band, I always say that it depends. One must state the criteria first. 

Perhaps I can state Smith and Pinkney's criteria for the best atheist books. It is "the most sophisticated philosophical defenses that only other philosophical intellectuals can understand."

Am I wrong? The criteria certainly isn't "that which has done the most to change the minds of the most believers." That's my goal. I recommend atheistic books that have some potential to change the minds of college students, and educated readers in the pulpit or pews. I will do so later this week.

Furthermore, rather than chasing religionists down the ever receding hole of definitions, I talk in terms of concrete examples. Do it and you too will have better, more fruitful discussion/debates. This is my counter-apologist stance.

You want to talk about miracles? Let's look at the virgin birth. You want to talk about evil? Let's look at the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. You want to talk about morality? Let's look at the biblical view of genocide and child sacrifice to Yahweh.

To prime the pump here are some of my previous posts on this below:

--Julian Baggini Concerning Philosophy of Religion "What the Hell Are You Doing?"

--Jaco Gericke: "Christian philosophy of religion as nonsense on stilts"

--Graham Oppy On the Five Best Atheist Philosophy of Religion Books

--Paul Draper on "What is Philosophy of Religion?"

--The Five Most Important Books That Changed My Mind!

--5 Best Books To De-Convert A Christian

--What Apologetics And Counter-Apologetics Books Do I Recommend?

--Real Atheology Wonders if Philosophy, Not Science, Is the Very Paradigm of Rationality

--My Jaded Response To More Philosophical Disproofs of God

--How Should Atheist Critics and Counter-Apologists Be Ranked?

--Recent Trends in Apologetics

--I've Written Three Books On How To Honestly Seek the Truth

--Quote of the Day On the Philosophy of Religion, By David Madison

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John W. Loftus is a philosopher and counter-apologist credited with 13 critically acclaimed books, including The Case against Miracles, God and Horrendous Suffering, and Varieties of Jesus Mythicism. Please support DC by sharing our posts, or by subscribing, donating, or buying our books at Amazon. As an Amazon Associate John earns a small amount of money from any purchases made there. Buying anything through them helps fund the work here, and is greatly appreciated!