Book recommendations for an Atheist/Agnostic? And a Narnia question.

[Marelo]

I'll second American Gods. That book's one of my all-time favorites, with a very interesting take on how religion works.

[Magus]

Originally Posted by Kaneda

I certainly recommend His Dark Materials, and while some people were unhappy with the third installment, I was fine with it, and even then you can get a perfectly good stand alone novel with just the first book.

Wha? I heard the movie cut some of the ending (still haven't been able to sit through the whole thing), but Compass definitely has a cliffhanger at the end if I remember correctly (only read through that series once, though, but Wikipedia seems to agree with me at the moment, anyway).

As for the secular part, pretty much, yeah, in that it takes Christian theology/mythology and puts it to use in Pullman's own universe for a "secular" purpose which is sort of anti-religion, although it seemed more anti-organized religion or something. Pullman wasn't all that convincing since those animal beings with the home-made wheels that they find in that other dimension which have no knowledge of organized religion and thus live in peace an harmony were actually really extremely lame, actually, but it was a good series nevertheless. Pullman seems like an atheist but if you want more of the background on his particular beliefs you can read the transcription of a panel where he discusses the books with the Archbishop of Canterbury in front of an audience.

[RickZarber]

Thanks for that link, Magus. I really enjoyed reading that.

[Hobo Phoenix]

Thanx for all the suggestions. My book list has expanded. :-)

To clarify to the smart asses, when I said Atheist/Agnostic, I wasn't implying there were the same thing, I meant that I haven't decided which group I wanna fall under.

I'm probably gonna end up reading Narnia anyway, so I'll have an effective point of reference.

Thanx all.

[BitVyper]

I wasn't implying there were the same thing, I meant that I haven't decided which group I wanna fall under.

You can be both. In fact, from a certain perspective, agnostism could necessitate atheism. The vocal minority has people convinced that atheism = repeating some kind of "there is no god" mantra to yourself every ten minutes, and going to atheist church, whereas most of us are perfectly capable of not believing without constantly focusing our thoughts on it. People get the same ideas about being religious. You can believe in a deity without it consuming every aspect of your life. Hell, you can be an atheist who practices religion.

The thing is, you can not believe in something, and still be open to possibility, which is pretty much what agnostism is. Agnostism is just acknowledging your lack of knowledge.

[MFD]

Not to put too fine of a point on this in the Books and Comics Forum, but an agnostic believes that there's no way of knowing whether or not there is a God. An atheist believes that there is no God. You can't both not be sure and believe there isn't a God.

And if you're an atheist who practices religion, well. Either you don't believe and are just fulfilling some obligation to friend or family, or you completely miss the point of religion.

[BitVyper]

An atheist believes that there is no God.

I had a response typed up for this, but I'm not getting into a religion fight over semantic nonsense, so I thought better of it.

And if you're an atheist who practices religion, well. Either you don't believe and are just fulfilling some obligation to friend or family, or you completely miss the point of religion.

All I'm going to say is that there are a whole lot of Shinto practicioners who would disagree with you. And a good number of Buddhists, for that matter. And probably quite a few Taoists.

[MFD]

Depends on the religion, obviously. I guess. The focus in this topic was on Christianity. I'm sorry.

Anyways, I recommend, um... not the Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons. Read Out of the Silent Planet but not Perelandra nor That Hideous Strength (all CS Lewis). Read The Circus of Dr. Lao by Charles Finney and not Gladiator by Philip Wylie (seriously, the ending drives me nuts, and I'm Christian).

That's it from my recent readings.

[BuckyKatt42]

If you like fantasy/adventure stories I recommend The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I also recommend Timeline by Michael Crichton and A Confederancy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.

[Fifthfiend]

Has anyone said Small Gods by Terry Pratchett? Because if they have then I'm repeating it.