The Logical Atheist

I sadly must report the death of George H. Smith on April 8. He was 73 and had been in poor health. Smith will be no stranger to readers of this blog, which was inspired by his writings. I was fortunate to have known George since the 1970s and to have had many conversations with him. He was self-educated and nothing short of brilliant. He wrote perhaps the best book ever on why belief in gods or God is not just mistaken but illogical: Atheism: The Case against God  (1974). (The 2016 edition has a foreword by Lawrence Krauss.) Smith wrote two other books that deal with the philosophy and history of freethought: Why Atheism?  (2000) and Atheism, Ayn Rand, and Other Heresies (1991) .  He also wrote dozens of essays on the intellectual history of individualism, liberty, and anarchism. Many of these can be found at Libertarianism.org . Some of his essays have been compiled as books, available at Amazon .  As I've pointed out often , Smith's work in my view is far superior...

Why is this supposedly perfect and self-sufficient God so needy?

Why didn't "Thou shalt not buy and sell human beings" make the ten commandments?

This time of year I am always reminded of the famous story from the news industry. A local radio newscaster began his morning program with the words: "Today Christians the world over awoke to celebrate the alleged resurrection of Jesus Christ." The newscaster was fired.

Passover begins tonight, that joyous time of year when Jews the world over remind themselves of how great Yahweh is. At least that's what Yahweh wants them and the adherents of the offshoot religions, Christianity and Islam, to do. In the relevant text, Yahweh repeatedly reminds readers that he is the one who led them out of slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land. The warning is clear: do not forget what Yahweh did for you -- not only your distant ancestors but you  -- or you're a bad person and will suffer severe consequences. But is that the whole story? In this post I am taking the book of Exodus, which is excerpted in the Haggadah, which Jews read at their two seders (I've been there), at face value. Needless to say (?), there is little or nothing of historical accuracy in that book. Archeologists have failed to find evidence of any kind to support the claim that the Israelites were slaves in Egypt or that a mass exodus from Egypt to Canaan ever occurred. But let's w...

Why would Yahweh demand that "his chosen people" celebrate his repeated brutal collective punishment of the Egyptians (the 10 plagues), including his killing of all firstborns, even infants, especially when he himself admits that eight times he "hardened Pharaoh's heart" after Pharaoh promised to let the Israelites go, and Yahweh did this just so he could display his awesome power? (Hint: he's a narcissistic, megalomaniacal psychopath?)

Why did Yahweh not forbid slavery? Did "the Eleven Commandments" not have the same ring? He must not have foreseen This Is Spinal Tap .