So today, I was having a conversation with my sister and grandma on the topic of religion. Well really, it was me attempting to show them different sides of the argument then their own religions (Lutheran and Protestant) without them listening to what I had to say, but nonetheless it was a conversation. I told my sister that if she just picked up a few books besides the Bible she would start to understand things more; her response was "Um, I don't read atheist books." So I asked her, "What exactly is an 'atheist book?'" And she told me they were "books that attempt to prove atheism." This is where I understood that she did not know what atheism was, and that it was probably the same for many religious people around the world. What, in your guys' opinion, is the best way to approach explaining atheism to someone, and how do we persuade religious (mainly fundamentalist) people to pick up a few books besides the Bible?
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Yes, the word "atheism" or "atheist" is often misunderstood and stigmatised.
The misunderstanding seems to range from "god hater" or even "satanist", all the way to the actual meaning: To lack belief in a god or gods. But most commonly, in my experience, is that the word is misunderstood as anti-theism or anti-religion.
Your sister's comment that she doesn't read atheist books, both reveals an aversion against the word "atheist" (or rather what she thinks the word means) and a willful desire to avoid anything that will not confirm her beliefs.
I don't have any good ideas about books to recommend to your sister, or others like her.
Perhaps books about the history about the Bible and Christianity? Research about who the authors are most likely to be, how the books were composed into the Bible, the first Ecumenic Councils, etc. For those people who are unaware about the history, it could be a real eye-opener.
I find the socratic approach best for interaction with believers. Most people don't respond well when given direct countering arguments of even proof against their position. Research has shown that sometimes it actually has the opposite effect and pushes people further into irrational beliefs. So it's best to ask them questions to make them think about how they reached their conclusions.
For yourself, I would recommend reading Peter Boghossian's book (ignore the corny title): "A manual for creating Atheists". He has taken the socratic approach and refined it on how to talk to people who hold unwarrented beliefs. There's also youtube videos with him and a whole genre called "Street Epistemology" that has grown out from that book.
Remember that this is a process, not a single step.That makes sense because no one should be making a life altering change without really working through it. But if you're having a non confrontational discussion, you might observe that they don't believe in Zeus. The stories might be interesting, they don't 'hate' Zeus, simply do not believe. That's the way you feel about the Christian god.
But then let it go. Your goal there is not to change their minds, or win an argument, but to try to make them understand your position. Even that is a big step for a lot of people, people accustomed to viewing the Biblical god and stories as different from other mythologies.
People come to atheism, like other life changes, through a lot of internal evaluation. Not through an argument in a book.
I agree with this. The Zeus thing is a great illustration. Many Christians tend to insist that our lack of belief is based on some form of resentment/anger, and that's just not necessarily the case. I think making it clear that our hangup is simply that we can't justify this belief on an intellectual level. I think a lot of atheists make the mistake of goading believers in this kind of conversation, which you don't appear to be interested in doing and I commend you for that.
The interesting thing is that I personally relinquished my faith by listening to the perspectives of the most strident atheists in the public sphere (Hitchens, Harris, Dawkins, Dennett). Their use of ridicule was very effective for me, but I think I'm most certainly the exception to the rule.
Actually, reading a lot of books will definitely make you reconsider your religious position. I was raised Catholic, and evolved into an atheist around college age. First, back in grammar school, I'd decided that the bible is bullshit, but I still believed in God. I held on to this belief through high school, and most of college. What really started to turn me around was a philosophy class which was taught by an unabashed atheist. We learned about St. Thomas Aquinas' first cause argument, theory of design, Pascal's wager, etc., and though initially I thought of the professor as a pompous ass who couldn't possibly disprove God, I came to respect him, and I kept reading, and reading, and reading. However, the way this professor gently tore down all those tried and true theories really made me reconsider the whole argument. So the evolutionary steps to becoming an atheist were complete. For eg., most atheists will start off religious, then believe in God, but not religion, then they will become agnostic for awhile, and as they continue to educate themselves, one day they will cease to believe. It's almost like the 5 stages of grief, but a lot more pleasant. Read on!
Outside of this forum and outside of my immediate family, I don't often describe myself as atheist. If someone brings it up, typically by asking what religion I am, my response is, "I don't have any gods." (The added benefit of using this phrase is that I'm reminding them that their's is not the only one conceived of by humans.)
With folks like your sister, just keep asking her questions, a lot of them. It will cause her to have to think...always a good thing.
Would it seem cocky for an atheist to say " I have no gods before me!" ?
It seems your sister has accepted the presumption that atheism is anything that is not religious. And her response to your question of "What is an atheist book?" show she does not understand the difference between gnostic and agnostic atheism. This is just an issue of ignorance or misinformation and the only to solve it is to inform her of the actual definition of atheism.
While I totally agree with you, I also wouldn't be surprised if she paradoxically was one of those people who think atheists are devil worshippers.
Anyway, it reminds me of something that happened to me that I have related here before (sorry to you old school forum members):
Once when I told someone I was an atheist they were shocked and said something like: "I understand the not believing in god part, I don't believe in god either, but why would you want to be an atheist?!?"
People have to be able to accept reality. You cannot convince fundamentalist to "pick up a few books". Their collect minds are closed.
Any time somebody chimes in with a lame quip about Jesus, or God I engage. My favorite seed of doubt is discrediting Noah's arc, mainly because it's subtle. Bill Nye does a fantastic job of destroying Ken hamm in a debate about the alleged sea-faring zoo keeper. You can see that on youtube, If you can get them questioning the narrative they have heard their whole lives suddenly they start wondering what else is bullshit. And the moment they realize they've been lied to, it's over. My buddy was a church going right wing nut job, but every time we saw each other I'd share some nugget of scandal form the church, or a fact about how many people have died in the name of god. Know your shit, and keep at it.