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| Atheist Universe: The Thinking Person's Answer to Christian Fundamentalism | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 214 reviews)
Sales Rank: 17009
Category: Book
Author: David Mills
Publisher: Ulysses Press
Studio: Ulysses Press
Manufacturer: Ulysses Press
Label: Ulysses Press
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.9
ISBN: 1569755671
Dewey Decimal Number: 322
EAN: 9781569755679
ASIN: 1569755671
Publication Date: August 4, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Clear, concise, and persuasive, Atheist Universe details exactly why God is unnecessary to explain the universe and life's diversity, organization, and beauty. The author thoroughly rebuts every argument that claims to "prove" God's existence ? arguments based on logic, common sense, philosophy, ethics, history and science. Atheist Universe avoids the esoteric language used by philosophers and presents its scientific evidence in simple lay terms, making it a richly entertaining and easy-to-read introduction to atheism. A comprehensive primer, it addresses all the historical and scientific questions, including: Is there proof that God does not exist? What evidence is there of Jesus' resurrection? Can creation science reconcile scripture with the latest scientific discoveries? Atheist Universe also answers ethical issues such as: What is the meaning of life without God? It's a spellbinding inquiry that ultimately arrives at a controversial and well-documented conclusion.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 209 more reviews...
 Mixed January 3, 2009
This book has some excellent qualities, but also some fatal flaws.
Mills presents clear, detailed explanations of the scientific consensus behind such things as the origins of the universe, and points out how common fundamentalist attacks on those theories typically misrepresent them, then argue against the false straw men.
If Mills had been satisfied with this, I'd have given the book five stars. Unfortunately, he seems to have an axe to grind. He repeatedly lumps all Christianity in with the Biblical literalists, and calls them hypocrites and worse when their theories disagree with the literal Bible. This is as unfair on his part as the fundamentalist attacks on science that he spends the other half of the book dismantling so well.
Still, if you discount that part, there's a lot of good information in this book.
 ATHEIST UNIVERSE by David Mills December 22, 2008
3 out of 9 found this review helpful
Atheist Universe: The Thinking Person's Answer to Christian Fundamentalism is a 2006 nonfiction anti-religion, pro-atheism book by David Mills. Ostensibly, this book points out why God is unnecessary to explain the existence and origin of the universe, and rebuts arguments in support of God's existence.
David Mills is not a scientist. What he seems to be, if anything, is a professional atheist. Atheist Universe's "About the Author" section begins, "David Mills has been an atheist for thirty years..." Not surprisingly, then, this book fundamentally isn't about science - it's about atheism as an ideology versus religion as an ideology. Mills is not a historian, either. He's on record that Jesus never lived at all, which shows a profound ignorance of the kind of accepted historical standard we have for that era.
Mills' biggest hang-up with Christianity seems to be the hypocrisy of many Christians and the un-Christian behavior of the Church throughout history. Other problems with God that Mills has include God's punishment of evil, the fact that bad things happen, and God's failure to solve all the world's problems immediately. On the whole, Mills shows himself to have a very juvenile and simple concept of what God should be, and what humanity by implication would be.
Mills does point out some legitimate problems with Christian fundamentalism. Yes, you run into problems when you try to make everything in the Bible completely literal. Yes, you run into problems when you throw doctors and modern medicine away completely. But Mills irresponsibly bases almost his entire argument against all religion on these problems. Mills takes his arguments against those on the fringe and applies them to the whole. Similarly, he takes a few poor arguments that some proponents of intelligent design have made and applies them with broad strokes to the whole of creationism. In Mills' mind, God and science are never compatible at all for any reason.
Mills claims to understand the Bible, but the way he quotes it and uses it shows that he doesn't, on any fundamental level. This is not to criticize him for not believing the Bible; rather, many of his attempts to use the Bible against itself (here's a Bible verse - look how silly that is) are poor, silly, baseless, and stupid. And he's often completely wrong about what the Bible says, period. He frequently attacks those whose pro-Bible arguments boil down to "The Bible is true because it's the Bible", but his criticisms of the Bible often boil down to "The Bible is untrue because it's the Bible."
The fundamental problem with Atheist Universe is that Mills makes little in the way of meaningful arguments to support his positions. He mostly draws from the old "Here's the religious/Bible/Christian position - see how ridiculous it is?" well. Those arguments would carry a little more weight if he had any clue what he was talking about. Either way, debunking something else doesn't prove the point you're trying to make (not that Mills does a good job of debunking anything other than his credibility). On the whole, Mills comes across as petty, juvenile, and not much of a thinker.
Atheists who evangelize are always remarkable. If nothing has eternal bearing, than what's the point converting other people to atheism? It's one thing to say, "God doesn't exist." It's quite another to say, "God doesn't exist, and I hate him." Mills carries on at length about "injustice" and "evil" in the world - Mills, you're an atheist - injustice is relative, and it doesn't matter anyway. Mills doesn't want God judging him, so he judges God and finds him profoundly lacking.
Atheist Universe is poorly reasoned and poorly argued. David Mills is, on the whole, quite content to throw the spiritual baby out with the religious bathwater and grind his axe against God and religion. Calling this book "The Thinking Person's Answer to Christian Fundamentalism" is an insult to thinking people everywhere.
 Very well argued case against religion December 19, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Atheist Universe is a terrific book. Mills skewers creationists/advocates of "intelligent design" with solid logic and compelling arguments. I also liked the fact that Mills adds quotes by famous atheists from Freud to James Watson throughout the book. If you've ever encountered a pro-religious argument that you thought was absurd, but couldn't rebut, simply read this book. I think it's actually more persuasive than the God Delusion or God is Not Great. My one quibble is that I don't agree with Mills that Jesus was fictional; even Richard Dawkins concedes Jesus most likely existed. Notwithstanding this disagreement, I strongly recommend Atheist Universe to atheists and theists alike.
Good but slow... December 2, 2008
As a person that reads at a near-constant and accelerated rate, I figured that the 255 page book plus some forewords and such wouldn't be a challenge whatsoever. Granted, my lifestyle has changed a good deal but I've only gained additional free time with the change, rather than lost it. I breezed through the first half of this book. I feel like the last half is a re-hash of the first, just expanded a minute bit. I've been on the last 100 or so pages for about 4 weeks now and just finished it up today. Having not read any religion-based literature may have impacted my timing as well but I just can't escape the notion that it could've been a bit shorter, better condensed writing.
I've been an atheist for about 3 years now and am just "growing" in my knowledge of the natural world and the reasons/speculations of how it came to be. I've purchased Dawkins' "The God Delusion" so we'll see how this works stacks up with that.
"The fool has said in his heart, there is no God." Psalm 14:1 December 2, 2008
2 out of 25 found this review helpful
Your thirst for answers can only truly be quenched within the Bible. God's inspired, infalliable, and inerrant Word holds answers to scientific questions throughout. Besides creation, the Bible explains truths from the sciences of genetics, isotasy, agriculture, astronomy, paleontology anatomy, medicine, and many more! All of them thousands of years before man discovered them on their own.
The Bible tells us that we were created to give praise to our Heavenly Father. Once you realize that man is wretched and sinful and that only through Christ can we escape God's wrath on Judgement Day, then and only then can you be truly happy, secure in the knowledge of your eternal life.
So, what should a person do to get to Heaven? If you said, "There is no Heaven" or "You just have to live a good life",YOU ARE WRONG. Stay with me and find out why. Let's see if you've been a good person. Jesus said "Whoever looks with lust has committed adultery in their heart". Have you ever lusted? Have you hated anyone(committed murder in your heart)? Have you made a god in your mind to suit yourself(idolatry)? Have you used God's name in vain? Have you ever stolen anything regardless of value? If you have then you are a thief. If you have told just one lie, then you are a liar and CANNOT get into heaven. On Judgment Day you will be found guilty and end up in Hell forever. But that's not God's will. We broke his Law but because Jesus paid our fine by dying on the cross, God can forgive us. If you REPENTand trust the Savior, God will forgive your sins and grant you everlasting life. So confess your sins to God today, put your faith in Christ, and obey God. Read John 14:21
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