This title features a new foreword by best-selling author Christopher Hitchens. Throughout history, arguments for and against the existence of God have been largely confined to philosophy and theology. In the meantime, science has sat on the sidelines and quietly watched this game of words march up and down the field. Despite the fact that science has revolutionized every aspect of human life and greatly clarified our understanding of the world, somehow the notion has arisen that it has nothing to say about the possibility of a supreme being, which much of humanity worships as the source of all reality. Physicist Victor J. Stenger contends that, if God exists, some evidence for this existence should be detectable by scientific means, especially considering the central role that God is alleged to play in the operation of the universe and the lives of humans.Treating the traditional God concept, as conventionally presented in the Judeo-Christian and Islamic traditions, like any other scientific hypothesis, Stenger examines all of the claims made for God's existence. He considers the latest Intelligent Design arguments as evidence of God's influence in biology. He looks at human behavior for evidence of immaterial souls and the possible effects of prayer. He discusses the findings of physics and astronomy in weighing the suggestions that the universe is the work of a creator and that humans are God's special creation. After evaluating all the scientific evidence, Stenger concludes that beyond a reasonable doubt the universe and life appear exactly as we might expect if there were no God.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Forget about God, Victor Stenger doesn't exist ....
Comment: ...well at least in a few more years he won't. I'm an agnostic and nothing riles me more than a rabid theist, except maybe a rabid atheist.

Nobody knows - or will ever know - how and why we are here. Stenger proves nothing. In fact he offers this take on Leibnitz' questions, "Why is there something, rather than nothing"? Stenger's answer is that "Nothing is unstable". Since physical science is basically inductive and relies on observation and experiment, this is NOTHING more than a guess since it can never be verified. How is this any better than, "God did it".

Stenger also quotes physicist Steven Weinberg,

" With or without religion people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil - that takes religion."

How about my quote,

"With or without physics people can not blow things up or bad people can blow things up; but if you really want to blow up all of Hiroshima - that takes a physicst."

Now here is my cyclic Big Bang theory. First, there is this very old, giant, green monkey with a gastrointestinal problem. Then there is this eruption of a hot,gas cloud. Then the galaxies form ... after awhile critters form ... then another giant green monkey is born and the whole thing starts over again. I'm sure this is right, except the part about the color of the monkeys.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Relief
Comment: Believers will not be swayed by this book of rational arguments, of course, because they are not interested in separating history from mythology when it comes to their beliefs. Their faith is blind faith and most will defend it to the death, usually someone else'. So this book is not for them. But the few rest of us will find great comfort in this book. You are not crazy to disbelieve in the unprovable despite the enormous pressure to do so. You are rational, sane and the only real hope for the future.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Best of its kind
Comment: Although it is rather presumptuous of me to say this, I believe that Stenger's book is THE BEST OF THE LOT of recent books poo-pooing God. I read the Stenger book in its entirety, and just loved it, even though I am something of a "lapsed atheist" or whatever. I found his discussions thorough, entertaining, and illuminating. I have read extensive excerpts from and reviews of the other books, and none of them tempted me. This one did. I'm glad I succumbed to the temptation. It's a great read.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A Pantheist's take on this book
Comment:
As my title indicates I'm a Scientific Pantheist & have been for roughly 10 years although I didn't know the term for what I am until reading Paul Harrison's work a few years ago. I grew up in a family where my mother's side were Pentecostal & my father's were Later Day Saints, so from an early age I knew something was wrong because both groups had very different beliefs, yet each claimed the same god. As a teenager I joined a General Baptist church, because I thought it was a saner creed (no scary talking in tongues or belief in Joseph Smith's bad hieroglyph translations). Later when I was in university I spent a summer abroad in China & that opened my mind, because suddenly I had to reconcile the fact that the vast majority of the human population were not Christian in any way shape fashion or form. How could an all-loving & all-knowing god make such an oversight when it would effectively damn billions of souls to hell for nothing they personally had a choice about? I've read the Bible, Book of Mormon, Tao Te Ching as well as the works of Spinoza all of which put me down the path to where I am today, but this book kind of sealed the deal. It didn't make me an atheist, but it certainly made me uderstand where they are coming from. I found God: TFH to be very good at doing what it had set out to do, which was explaining why the Judeo-Christian-Islamic god doesn't exist. It doesn't 100% rule out the creator god of the deists (but it makes him/her/it seem kind of unimportant) nor does it rule out the universe as god concept that I accept, but it definitely gives some food for thought. I found his arguments to be well-written & easily understood. Those who enjoyed this book would probably also like Dawkins, E O Wilson or even Thomas Paine.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Acceptable reading but provocative material
Comment: Acceptable reading but provocative material. The author is not as clear and for those of us not immersed in the subject the material at times becomes excruciating and frustrating.

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