Introduction To Atheism And Ideas Of God For Teens – What Would You Suggest?

So -- the challenge over my holidays is to start introducing students to religion! And atheism! This is really going to be a lot of fun!

The program involves ‘Ideas of God’ and ‘Religious and Mystical Experience’. While I can find a variety of useful general texts (the likes of AC Grayling, Stephen J Gould, Julian Baggini, the mandatory ‘The God Delusion’ and even a few chapters of ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ by Dawkins and so forth) -- what would you suggest for holiday reading or viewing?

We’ll be covering topics such as arguments for theism, concepts of naturalism, religious experience and science, interpretation and misinterpretation of experiences, and a few different schools of thought (scholasticism, postmodernism, empiricism and so forth).

Since I recently conducted a Token Skeptic podcast interview with Warren Bonnet of Embiggen Books on ‘36 Arguments for the Existence of God -- A Work of Fiction‘, I’ve popped that onto my list as a useful ‘alternative’ way of looking at the issues. I’m not keen on just making this a ‘dredge through non-fiction works for the holidays’. After all, many of us might watch YouTube short films and monologues, documentaries both online and on DVD and so forth.

There might even be a few comedy routines that you know that could get across an important concept quite memorably -- for example: David Mitchell on Pascal’s Wager – Heaven For Atheists.

So -- what are your recommendations? What would you suggest that would get students thinking?

Here’s an example of a passage that the class might analyse, so they should have the kind of knowledge that would enable them to break down and critique the ideas raised in this (we’re not using this as a task, but it give you an idea):

Atheism does not make a person more rational.  Not every atheist is going to be rational or even be an atheist because of rational reasons. Although gullibility is often attributed primarily to theists, the fact of the matter is atheists can just as easily fall victim to it. Atheism and scepticism should go together, but in reality they often don’t and many atheists are not sceptical when it comes to all sorts of political, social, religious, and paranormal beliefs. There are many atheists who believe in ghosts, psychic powers, astrology, and many other irrational ideas. Being an atheist doesn’t make them totally rational in every sphere.  Sceptical atheists should make a habit of questioning the validity of religious and theist claims by requiring evidence which would allow for proof or disproof. Assertions should be supported and then the credibility of those assertions should be evaluated. Such sceptical methodology is not immune to problems.

Just because a claim cannot survive close sceptical questioning doesn’t meant that it is false. What it does mean, however, is that we don’t have good reason to believe it, even if it is true. A rational sceptic is someone who insists that we have good reasons to believe something and who rejects a belief simply because it is emotionally or psychologically appealing. A person who believes something without having good reasons for it is not rational — and that includes both atheists and theists. That is why people who are atheist are not always rational.

If you like -- feel free to respond to that too!

Tagged as: atheism, belief, comedy, Critical Thinking, Education, Embiggen Books, ethics, introduction to atheism, Literature, news, philosophy, resources, Richard Dawkins, teenagers, YouTube