Irreligion: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don't Add UpAre there any logical reasons to believe in God? The mathematician and bestselling author John Allen Paulos thinks not. In Irreligion he presents the case for his own worldview, organizing his book into twelve chapters that refute the twelve arguments most often put forward for believing in God's existence. Interspersed among these counterarguments are remarks on a variety of irreligious themes, ranging from the nature of miracles and creationist probability to cognitive illusions and prudential wagers. Despite the strong influence of his day job, Paulos says, there isn't a single mathematical formula in the book. |
Contents
PREFACE | ix |
FOUR CLASSICAL ARGUMENTS | 1 |
The Argument from First Cause and Unnecessary Intermediaries | 3 |
The Argument from Design and Some Creationist Calculations | 10 |
A Personally Crafted Pseudoscience | 23 |
The Argument from the Anthropic Principle and a Probabilistic Doomsday | 27 |
The Ontological Argument and Logical Abracadabra | 34 |
SelfReference Recursion and Creation | 44 |
The Argument from Subjectivity and Faith Emptiness and Self | 74 |
The Argument from Interventions and Miracles Prayers and Witnesses | 83 |
Remarks on Jesus and Other Figures | 90 |
FOUR PSYCHOMATHEMATICAL ARGUMENTS | 97 |
The Argument from Redefinition and Incomprehensible Complexity | 99 |
The Argument from Cognitive Tendency and Some Simple Programs | 106 |
My Dreamy Instant Message Exchange with God | 116 |
The Universality Argument and the Relevance of Morality and Mathematics | 122 |
FOUR SUBJECTIVE ARGUMENTS | 49 |
The Argument from Coincidence and 911 Oddities | 51 |
The Argument from Prophecy and the Bible Codes | 60 |
An Anecdote on Emotional Need | 71 |
The Gambling Argument and Emotions from Prudence to Fear | 133 |
Atheists Agnostics and Brights | 142 |
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