Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part I: Understanding What Atheism Is 7

Chapter 1: Meeting Atheism 9

Chapter 2: Unweaving the Rainbow of Disbelief 19

Chapter 3: Recognizing What Atheists Do and Don’t Believe — and Why 37

Part II: Following Atheism through the Ages 63

Chapter 4: Finding Atheism in the Ancient World 65

Chapter 5: Going Medieval 79

Chapter 6: Enlightening Strikes 91

Chapter 7: Opening a Golden Age of Freethought 107

Chapter 8: Growing Up in the Tumultuous 20th Century 121

Chapter 9: Voicing a New Atheism, and a New Humanism, for the 21st Century 145

Part III: Reading the Great Works of Atheism 169

Chapter 10: Uncovering Lost, Secret, Censored, and Forbidden Works 171

Chapter 11: Sampling Important Works: Deep Thoughts, Big Thinkers 183

Chapter 12: Laughing in Disbelief: Challenging the Divine with Humor 203

Chapter 13: Reawakening Passionate Disbelief: Key Works of the 21st Century 217

Part IV: Living a Full Life without Belief in God 233

Chapter 14: Getting Personal with Atheism Today 235

Chapter 15: Being Good with or without God 253

Chapter 16 : Seeing the World Naturally 275

Chapter 17: Being an Atheist in a Religious World 291

Chapter 18: Getting the Best of Religion and Leaving the Rest 311

Part V: The Part of Tens 327

Chapter 19: Ten Surprising Things about Atheists and Other Nonbelievers 329

Chapter 20: Ten (Plus One) Famous People You May Not Know are Nonbelievers 335

Chapter 21: Ten Fun and Easy Ways to Explore Atheism 343

Index 351

About the Author

Dale McGowan, PhD , writes the popular secular blog The Meming of Life, teaches secular parenting workshops across North America, and is executive director of Foundation Beyond Belief, a humanist charitable organization. He has been interviewed in major publications, such as Newsweek and the New York Times, and was 2008 Harvard Humanist of the Year.