Listen to this article I just discovered (via the Secular Nation podcast, one of the many atheist/anti-theist/secularist podcasts I follow) Margaret Downey’s answer to the Christmas Tree, the Tree of Knowledge – that is, an atheists’ substitute for the religious celebration of Christ.
Downey has a long reading list that represents perhaps the best (?) that skeptics of faith have to offer. I have reproduced the list below.
Downey is a true despiser of religion – she even hates when people exclaim “Oh God!” but you can bet she’s not concerned about taking God’s name in vain.
———————-
The ‘Tree of Knowledge’ Reading List
- Alley, Robert S.
The Constitution & Religion - Armstrong, Karen
A History of God
The Battle for God - Barker, Dan
Losing Faith in Faith
Maybe Right, Maybe Wrong
Just Pretend: A Freethought Book for Children - Barber, Nigel
Kindness in a Cruel World - Berra, Tim M.
Evolution and the Myth of Creationism - Bierce, Ambrose
The Collected Writings of… - Boston, Robert
Why the Religious Right is Wrong about Separation of Church and State - Carrier, Richard
Sense and Goodness Without God - Carroll, Robert Todd
The Skeptic’s Dictionary - Chapman, Matthew
40 Days and 40 Nights: Trials of the Monkey - Cohen, Elliot D.
What Would Aristotle Do? - Conrad, Jane Kathryn
The Pillars of Religion: Ignorance, Indoctrination, Inadequacy - Darwin, Charles
The Origin of Species - Dawkins, Richard
The God Delusion
River Out of Eden
The Extended Phenotype
Climbing Mount Improbable
Unweaving the Rainbow
The Selfish Gene
The Ancestor’s Tale
The Blind Watchmaker
A Devils Chaplain - Dennett, Daniel
Consciousness Explained
Breaking the Spell
Freedom Evolves
Darwins Dangerous Idea - Dobrin, Arthur
Spelling God with Two O’s - Devoto, Bernard
New Uncensored Writings by Mark Twain; Letters from the Earth - Ehrman, Bart D.
Misquoting Jesus - Ericson, Edward
The Humanist Way - Flew, Antony
God; A Critical Enquiry - Flynn, Tom
The Trouble With Christmas - Forrest, Barbara & Paul R. Gross
Creationism’s Trojan Horse - Fruchtman, Jack Jr.
Thomas Paine: Apostle of Freedom - Gaskin, J.C.A.
Varieties of Unbelief - Gaylor, Anne Nicole
Lead Us Not Into Penn Station
The World Famous Atheist Cook Book - Gaylor, Anne Laurie
Woe to the Women, The Bible Tells Me So
Women Without Superstition “No Gods – No Masters” - Grafen, Alan
Richard Dawkins, How a scientist changed the way we think - Green, Ruth Hurmence
The Born Again Skeptic’s Guide to the Bible - Goleman, Daniel
Social Intelligence - Gould, Stephen Jay
Times Arrow Times Cycle - Harburg, Yip
Rhymes for the Irreverent - Harris, Sam
Letter to a Christian Nation
The End of Faith - Hayes, Judith
In God We Trust, But Which One? - Hecht, Jennifer Michael
Doubt; A History - Hirsi, Ayaan Ali
Infidel - Hitchens, Christopher
God is not Great - Ingersoll, Robert G.
Atheist Truth vs. Religion’s Ghosts - Jacoby, Susan
Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism - Johnson, B. C.
The Atheists Debater’s Handbook - Joshi, S.T.
The Agnostic Reader - Kurtz, Paul
Toward a New Enlightenment - Kick, Russ
Everything You Know about God is Wrong - Kurtz, Paul
Living Without Religion
Humanist Manifesto 2000
Science and Religion; Are They Compatible?
The Transcendental Temptation - LaCourt, M.
The Prize - Lalli, Nica
Nothing: Something to Believe in - Lamont, Corliss
The Philosophy of Humanism - Landover Baptist
Welcome to Jesusland - Larson, Orvin
American Infidel: Robert G. Ingersoll - Liedloff, Jean
The Continuum Concept - Ludemann, Gerd
The Great Deception, and what Jesus really said and did - Lynn, Barry W.
Piety & Politics - Lucretius
The Nature of the Universe - Maccoby, Hyam
The Mythmaker - Mackie, J.L.
The Miracle of Theism - McCollum, Vashti Cromwell
One Woman’s Fight - McGowan, Chris
In The Beginning, A Scientist Shows why the Creationists are Wrong - McGowan, Dale
Parenting Beyond Belief - Menendez, Albert
The December Wars - Messadie, Gerald
A History of the Devil - Mill, John Stuart
Philosophy of Scientific Method - Miles, Rosalind
Who Cooked The Last Supper? A Women’s history of the world - Mills, David
Atheist Universe - Moreland, J.P. and Nielson, Kai
Does God Exist? - Morrow, James
Only Begotten Daughter
Towing Jehovah
Blameless in Abbadon
The Last Witchfinder - Murray, Jon G.
Essays on American Atheism - Nickell, Joe
Looking for a Miracle - Nielsen, Kai
Ethics Without God - O’Hair, Madalyn Murray
What on earth is an Atheist!
Why I Am an Atheist
An Atheist Primer: Did you know all the gods came from the same place?
The Atheist World
Atheist Heroes and Heroines
An Atheist Epic - Thomas Paine: The Age of Reason
Part Three: Examinations of the Prophecies - Power, Margaret
The Egalitarians - Randi, James
Flim-Flam!
The Mask of Nostradamus
The Truth About Uri Geller
The Faith Healers
An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural - Ridley, Matt
The Origins of Virtue - Roy, M. N.
Radical Humanist – selected writings compiled by Innaiah Narisetti - Rushdie, Salman
The Satanic Verses - Russell, Bertrand
Why I Am Not a Christian - Sagan, Carl
The Demon-Haunted World, Science as a Candle in the Dark - Sanford, James C.
Great Freethinkers - Scott, Eugenie and Glenn Branch
Not in Our Classrooms; Why Intelligent Design is Wrong for our Schools - Scott, Eugenie
Evolution vs. Creationism - Shermer, Michael
How We Believe
The Science of Good and Evil
Why People Believe Weird Things
In Darwins Shadow
Why Darwin Matters - Shragg, Karen I.
A Solstice Tree for Jenny - Smith, George
Atheism: The Case Against God - Twain, Mark
Letter From The Earth - Stahl, Philip A.
The Atheist’s Handbook to Modern Materialism - Swanson, Diane
Turn it Loose
Nibbling on Einstein’s Brain - Uhl, Stephen Frederick
Imagine No Superstition - Various Authors
Holy Bible
The Koran - Van Buren, Paul M.
The Secular Meaning of the Gospel - Walker, Barbara G.
The I Ching of the Goddess - Warraq, Ibn
Why I Am Not a Muslim - Whyte, Jamie
Crimes Against Logic - Wright, Robert
The Moral Animal - Zindler, Frank R.
The Jesus the Jews Never Knew
