I am new to being a Atheist and I keep having people mostly family question me over and over again.  I find I am at a big disadvantge  because I  don't have a lot of knowledge about the facts and the proof of no god( im not sure if that made sence).  

When I say to them" I just dont believe that is all"  that is not good enought for them. And they keep throwing things at me like bible verses and so forth.  I have not read the bible enought to counter what they are saying.   I feel totally dumb when it comes to those who question me and I hate that.   I think it makes me and other Atheist look bad.  I have made a few attempts to explaine that I do not see any proof for a God and that it is just what I believe.  I have come out and even asked why it matters so much to them what I believe, I am not hurting them in any way. And they say to me prove there is not god.  The best I can say to them is prove there is a god.  They say to me we have faith and then tell me I also have faith for me to belive there is no god it takes faith.  That is just plan crap to me.  But I end up being shut down and I feel it is the lack of my information.

I have tried to read books like  The Making of the Fittest by Sean B. Carroll, Darwin, Christopher Hitchens and to be honest they are hard reads for me.  I have found a book called The homemade Atheist by Betty Brogaard  " A Former Evangelical woman's Freethought Journey to Happiness"  That is a little easier to read. But it does not state many facts or im just missing them.

What I would like help with is, is there some books out there that have facts and information that is a somewhat easy read that will help me stand up to those who come at me. 

I want to learn as much as possible for myslef and so I can have a intelligent conversation.

My husband is a Atheist and we have some really good talks but he is way above my head in his knowledge and I at times feel like im just not getting it.  But I will keep trying.

If anyone has any ideas for some reading I could do to help me out here I would love it. 

I will even keep tying to read the ones that seem hard to me to understand but maybe a few books that are a little simpler to start out with.

I am sorry for the any words not spelled right I am in a hurry and also a bit frustrated as I was hit with questions once again just last night.   I did my best but feel I fell short. 

Thanks for your time and any advie given

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Ok I just found a book called  The Counter- Creationism Handbook.  by Mark Isaak . Looks like tuns of information has anyone read this?  Also found the book Thank God For Evelution by Michael Dowd any thoughts on this book?

Welcome CJ to the world of atheists and atheism. Read Dan Barker's book "Godless" about his journey to atheism: He was an ordained preacher and did the winning of 'souls' since the age of 15 then reason started kicking in and now he's one of the world's best known atheists. There is also "Courage to Doubt" by a friend of mine, Steve Hurlin who was also a preacher turned atheist.

You probably also know Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion" and others; When I wrote my SciFi novel "Moses was a Liar" I read quite extensively including the Bible, Qu'ran etc and also works by theologians such as Karen Armstrong (Google her) She wrote an excellent biography of the bible (she was a catholic nun), who wrote it it's weaknesses etc. the life history of Muhammad etc Another book I enjoyed that explains the whole evolution etc in easy to understand and humorous language is Bill Bryson's :"History of just about everything" You get an illustrated version too.

Good Luck and remember the chances are believers are not inclined to accept reason, logic etc...they have "faith". 

Thank you so much I am going to look into these books today.

library was not helpful.  It is a small time library will keep looking

My library has an awesome service tucked away on their website called the Interlibrary Loan Program.  You can get almost any book, as long as some college or private library who is in the Program has a copy to lend through your library.  Ask your librarian next time to see if your library participates.  It is really great!

Ok thanks

I can understand your frustrations. I had the same issue with my family, I still do to this day. They are pretty hardcore Catholics, and when I woke up and realized it's all bologne, and expressed my opinions, I was looked at like a fool, but I was prepared. Over the years I have done a ton of research on the history of the Christian faith, and when you study the history, you very quickly realize it's all fake. So, I started my conversation with a group of family members saying this "Tell me how the catholic religion started". Wow, the answers I got were like speaking to 4 year olds, everyone was clueless!! I got answers like "After Jesus died his disciples started the religion"...LOL! WRONG!!! I quickly told them their religion was started by saul, AKA St. Paul the apostle, with a schizophrenic vision he had about a divine being named Jesus. (BTW, some of them though St. Paul was a disciple, he wasn;t, he never knew Jesus). I said St. Paul then went on a pilgrimage through peasant towns and villages and then up to rome, spreading a story about this divine being, which grew in popularity, and like broken telephone, the story grew bigger, and changed rapidly. In some of St. Paul's writings, he says "If Jesus would have lived on earth, he would not even have been a priest"..meaning, this vision he saw never lived on earth. about 60 years later a guy named Mark wrote a gospel based on St. Pauls teachings, and filled in the massive gaps with Pagan beliefs, such as the virgin birth...etc. Mathew, Luke and John gospels were identical copies years later of the Gospel of Mark. So, let's fast forward about 200 years. A roman emperor decides that he wants this peasant religion called Christianity to be the new state religion, and forces it upon all of our ancestors (We are Italian). The pagan temple which once stood in our little village in Italy was destroyed and a church built over it. The emperor stated anyone conduction pagan rituals would be killed. I also told my family that there are over 100 famous historians that lived in the Holy land around the time they say Jesus lived, not one of these historians mentions jesus or anything of that nature, and they recorded just about everything that happened in and around that area.


their tone quickly changed, but a few stupid ones still said "Well, Jesus still is the son of God". They also believe in Adam and Eve and the talking snake, and trying to explain evolution to them and natural selection is impossible. These are grown ups with children, that believe in talking snakes. It's scary.

see that is the kind of knowledge I need to share when asked about god and religion.  Research is what I must do.  And a lot of it. Thanks for sharing

You're welcome. In no way am I trying to take faith away from family members, but when they look at me with disgust, I have to back myself up.

A word of advice: never enter into an argument unless you're sure of your facts...nothing worse than being challenged on the facts, your sources etc and you're unable to reply. I've often responded to the  flat authoritarian statement :"I read it in the bible" or "Revelation says..." with "Show me where it says that...". You are invariably met with a blank stare or some excuse...Christians generally are highly ill-informed about their Bible...

I agree, I always back my arguments up with sources, regardless, my sources will always be based on evidence and known facts, catholic sources are based on the bible.

I agree so how then do I communicate with those who ask me about being a Atheist?


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