Books on atheism/freethought.

karamzov brothers - dostoyevski

lots of existentialism literature...

Christopher Hitchens' rant about how religion ruins everything was pretty entertaining and lucid.

One I can't recommend is titled something like In Defense of Eupraxsophy, which sounded interesting and straightforward on paper, but turned into a screed against organized religion. Which, okay, is what Hitchens' book is sure, but he was upfront about it, not cloaking his focus in terms of "defining a non-religious lifestance" or some such (sort of worthy-sounding) phrases.

For its time, Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason was extremely daring and groundbreaking. Still pretty damn good. But he argues for deism, rather than out-and-out atheism. Call it a classic for free thought.

Thanks, guys.

Try reading anything by David Hume--he's great.

Have any of you read PB Shelley's The Necessity of Atheism?

karamzov brothers - dostoyevski

UH

books against atheism, maybe?

yes, but still "against" is also "about" isn't it?

the karamazov book,among other things, compares between religios mind and atheistic mind, trying to show the reader why atheistic is a better way of living.

Bertrand Russell's "A Free Man's Worship" and possibly his "Why I am not a Christian".
I don't recommend Sam Harris' "Letter to a Christian Nation" as it is hysterical. I Highly recommend Anthony Kenny's works, perhaps "The Unknown God: Agnostic Essays" or his later one "What I believe". Anthony Kenny is my favorite living philosopher.