From the bestselling author of Jews Don't Count ' A hugely heartfelt, funny, kind, fascinating, human and clever book ' ALAIN DE BOTTON ' Magnificent. Breathtaking. And shockingly rare ... another one-sitting wonder' STEPHEN FRY David Baddiel would love there to be a God. He has spent a lot of time fantasising about how much better life would be if there actually was such a thing as a Superhero Dad who chased off Death. Unfortunately for him, there isn't. Or at least, that is Baddiel's view in this book, which argues that it is indeed the very intensity of his, and everyone else's, desire for God to exist that proves His non-existence. Anything so deeply wished-for we will, considers Baddiel, make real. The admission of his own divine yearnings makes for a book that is more vulnerable - and more understanding of the value and power of religion - than most atheist polemics. A philosophical essay that utilises Baddiel's trademarks of comedy, storytelling and personal asides, The God Desire offers a highly readable new perspective on the most ancient of debates.

The God Desire

Humor & Entertainment

Baddiel, David

Humor

TLS Books

This volume of the Macmillan Interdisciplinary Handbooks series on gender studies engages feminist, queer, and transgender perspectives on religion. Gender: God offers a critical examination of diverse conceptualizations of God and explores the roles they play in society and which have practices and assumptions about gender and sexuality at their heart. Its 23 chapters examine such topics as the imago Dei, Goddess Spirituality, the imitatio Christi, origin myths, postcolonial, queer, critical race, and disability theologies, sacred spaces, and blasphemy. Chapters are written by eminent scholars, are peer reviewed, include illustrations, and offer bibliographies to encourage further research. The volume concludes with a glossary and a comprehensive index.

Gender: God

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Macmillan Reference, USA

Born again at sixteen, John Marks later abandoned his faith. In Reasons to Believe he attempts to cross a deep cultural barrier to understand those who now condemn his way of life. He speaks at length with missionaries, political activists, theologians—the rich and powerful, the poor and broken, and the pastors who have turned small congregations into megachurches. The result is a remarkable, intimate portrait of evan-gelicals, one of the most influential forces in America today, and the unforgettable story of how a lapsed believer came to terms with his faith.

Reasons to Believe: One Man's Journey Among the Evangelicals and the Faith He Left Behind

Marks, John

Ecco

Why Faith Matters is an articulate defense of religion in America. It makes the case for faith and shows its relationship to history and science. Refuting the cold reason of atheists and the hatred of fanatics with a vision of religion informed by faith, love, and understanding, Rabbi David J. Wolpe follows in a literary tradition that stretches from Cardinal Newman to C. S. Lewis to Thomas Merton—individuals of faith who brought religion and culture together in their own works. Wolpe takes readers through the origins and nature of faith, the role of the Bible in modern life, and the compatibility of God and science, concluding with a powerful argument for the place of God, faith, and religion in today's world.

Why Faith Matters

Wolpe, David J.

HarperOne

Publishers Weekly “Best Books of 2016”
Spirituality &amp; Health Magazine Best Book of 2016
Nautilus Gold Award Winner 2016: Religion and Spirituality of Other Traditions
Religion News Association, First Place: Excellence in Nonfiction Religion Books
Meet “the Nones”—In this thought-provoking exploration of secular America, celebrated journalist Katherine Ozment takes readers on a quest to understand the trends and ramifications of a nation in flight from organized religion.
Studies show that religion makes us happier, healthier and more giving, connecting us to our past and creating tight communal bonds. Most Americans are raised in a religious tradition, but in recent decades many have begun to leave religion, and with it their ancient rituals, mythic narratives, and sense of belonging.
So how do the nonreligious fill the need for ritual, story, community, and, above all, purpose and meaning without the one-stop shop of religion? What do they do with the space left after religion? With Nones swelling to one-fourth of American adults, and more than one-third of those under thirty, these questions have never been more urgent.
Writer, journalist, and secular mother of three Katherine Ozment came face-to-face with the fundamental issue of the Nones when her son asked her the simplest of questions: “what are we?” Unsettled by her reply—“Nothing”—she set out on a journey to find a better answer. She traversed the frontier of American secular life, sought guidance in science and the humanities, talked with noted scholars, and wrestled with her own family’s attempts to find meaning and connection after religion.
Insightful, surprising, and compelling, Grace Without God is both a personal and critical exploration of the many ways nonreligious Americans create their own meaning and purpose in an increasingly secular age.

Grace Without God: The Search for Meaning, Purpose, and Belonging in a Secular Age

Ozment, Katherine

Harper

Harper-perennial

Mary Eberstadt, “one of the most acute and creative social observers of our time,” (Francis Fukuyama) shines a much-needed spotlight on a disturbing trend in American society: discrimination against traditional religious belief and believers, who are being aggressively pushed out of public life by the concerted efforts of militant secularists.
In It’s Dangerous to Believe, Mary Eberstadt documents how people of faith—especially Christians who adhere to traditional religious beliefs—face widespread discrimination in today’s increasingly secular society. Eberstadt details how recent laws, court decisions, and intimidation on campuses and elsewhere threaten believers who fear losing their jobs, their communities, and their basic freedoms solely because of their convictions. They fear that their religious universities and colleges will capitulate to aggressive secularist demands. They fear that they and their families will be ostracized or will have to lose their religion because of mounting social and financial penalties for believing. They fear they won’t be able to maintain charitable operations that help the sick and feed the hungry.
Is this what we want for our country?
Religious freedom is a fundamental right, enshrined in the First Amendment. With It’s Dangerous to Believe Eberstadt calls attention to this growing bigotry and seeks to open the minds of secular liberals whose otherwise good intentions are transforming them into modern inquisitors. Not until these progressives live up to their own standards of tolerance and diversity, she reminds us, can we build the inclusive society America was meant to be.

It's Dangerous to Believe: Religious Freedom and Its Enemies

History

Eberstadt, Mary

World

In this fascinating collection culled from teachings never before brought together in book form, Krishnamurti offers wise reflections and fresh perceptions on love, politics, society, death, self-censorship, relationships, solitude, meditation, spiritual growth, and much more.
Through provocative meditations and in-depth answers, Krishnamurti answers such timeless questions as:
<ul><li>What is meditation?</li></ul>
<ul><li>What are love and loneliness?</li></ul>
<ul><li>What should our relationship to authority really be?</li></ul>
Meeting Life also features a number of Krishnamurti's talks, delivered in Switzerland, India, England, and California, Here is the profound wisdom of a beloved teacher who moved millions with his words. This thought-provoking and inspirational volume will provide strength and encouragement to anyone searching for insight.

Meeting Life: Writings and Talks on Finding Your Path Without Retreating from Society

KRISHNAMURTI, JIDDU

Philosophy

On God contemplates our search for the sacred. "Sometimes you think life is mechanical, and at other times when there is sorrow and confusion, you revert to faith, looking to a supreme being for guidance and help." Krishnamurti explores the futility of seeking knowledge of the "unknowable" and shows that it is only when we have ceased seeking with our intellects that we may be "radically free" to experience reality, truth, and bliss. He present "the religious mind" as one that directly perceives the sacred rather than adhering top religious dogma.

On God

“A humane and sensible guide to and for the many kinds of Americans leading secular lives in what remains one of the most religious nations in the developed world.” —The New York Times Book Review Over the last twenty-five years, “no religion” has become the fastest-growing religious preference in the United States. Around the world, hundreds of millions of people have turned away from the traditional faiths of the past and embraced a moral yet nonreligious—or secular—life, generating societies vastly less religious than at any other time in human history. Revealing the inspiring beliefs that empower secular culture—alongside real stories of nonreligious men and women based on extensive in-depth interviews from across the country—Living the Secular Life will be indispensable for millions of secular Americans. Drawing on innovative sociological research, Living the Secular Life illuminates this demographic shift with the moral convictions that govern secular individuals, offering crucial information for the religious and nonreligious alike. Living the Secular Life reveals that, despite opinions to the contrary, nonreligious Americans possess a unique moral code that allows them to effectively navigate the complexities of modern life. Spiritual self-reliance, clear-eyed pragmatism, and an abiding faith in the Golden Rule to adjudicate moral decisions: these common principles are shared across secular society. Living the Secular Life demonstrates these principles in action and points to their usage throughout daily life. Phil Zuckerman is a sociology professor at Pitzer College, where he studied the lives of the nonreligious for years before founding a Department of Secular Studies, the first academic program in the nation dedicated to exclusively studying secular culture and the sociological consequences of America’s fastest-growing “faith.” Zuckerman discovered that despite the entrenched negative beliefs about nonreligious people, American secular culture is grounded in deep morality and proactive citizenship—indeed, some of the very best that the country has to offer. Living the Secular Life journeys through some of the most essential components of human existence—child rearing and morality, death and ritual, community and beauty—and offers secular readers inspiration for leading their own lives. Zuckerman shares eye-opening research that reveals the enduring moral strength of children raised without religion, as well as the hardships experienced by secular mothers in the rural South, where church attendance defines the public space. Despite the real sorrows of mortality, Zuckerman conveys the deep psychological health of secular individuals in their attitudes toward illness, death, and dying. Tracking the efforts of nonreligious groups to construct their own communities, Zuckerman shows how Americans are building institutions and cultivating relationships without religious influence. Most of all, Living the Secular Life infuses the sociological data and groundbreaking research with the moral convictions that govern secular individuals and demonstrates how readers can integrate these beliefs into their own lives. A manifesto for a booming social movement—and a revelatory survey of this overlooked community—Living the Secular Life offers essential and long-awaited information for anyone building a life based on his or her own principles.

Living the Secular Life: New Answers to Old Questions

Self-Help

Zuckerman, Phil

Motivational

Penguin Publishing Group

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books on the Agnosticism subject. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Agnosticism Books

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books on the Agnosticism subject. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The God Desire

Gender: God

Reasons to Believe: One Man's Journey Among the Evangelicals and the Faith He Left Behind

Why Faith Matters

Grace Without God: The Search for Meaning, Purpose, and Belonging in a Secular Age

Grace Without God: The Search for Meaning, Purpose, and Belonging in a Secular Age

It's Dangerous to Believe: Religious Freedom and Its Enemies

Meeting Life: Writings and Talks on Finding Your Path Without Retreating from Society

On God

Living the Secular Life: New Answers to Old Questions