The Happy Atheist

The Happy Atheist

On his popular science blog, Pharyngula , PZ Myers has entertained millions of readers with his infectious love of evolutionary science and his equally infectious disdain for creationism, biblical literalism, intelligent design theory, and other products of godly illogic. This funny and fearless book collects and expands on some of his most popular writings, giving the religious fanaticism of our times the gleeful disrespect it deserves by skewering the apocalyptic fantasies, magical thinking, hypocrisies, and pseudoscientific theories advanced by religious fundamentalists of all stripes. Forceful and articulate, scathing and funny, The Happy Atheist is a reaffirmation of the revelatory power of humor and the truth-revealing powers of science and reason. “Presents plenty of interesting ideas and arguments . . . a punchy and provocative read.” — Washington Independent Review of Books “Brilliantly designed and executed to entertain and enlighten. . . . This is a very entertaining and thought-provoking book.” — Booklist “Punchy. . . . Written in accessible, informal style, [Myers] lashes out at the Catholic Church for its sexual-abuse scandals, at the faulty science employed by anti-abortion activists, and at proponents of intelligent design. . . . Myers is able to deftly present serious scientific and philosophical counterarguments to belief in God, but he also acknowledges the necessity of humor—of fighting fire with fire: after all, ‘religions sure do promote some goofy stuff.’ Effectively kick[s] the legs out from beneath the wobbly logic that undergirds religious thought.” — Publishers Weekly “PZ Myers sets himself apart from the rest of the New Atheist authors by talking, not just about the bigger picture of God, but about religion as all of us experience it on a daily basis. Yes, he tackles the philosophers and theologians, but he also reserves energy to take on casual believers and the myths we come across every day. Nothing—not Communion, not the Holy Spirit, not even death—is too sacred to dissect. And that’s what he does, dismantling religious clichés with ease, making you reconsider all those ideas you grew up with (and may still hold). If you’re still religious after reading this book, you didn’t read it carefully enough." —Hemant Mehta, author of The Young Atheist’s Survival Guide and blogger at FriendlyAtheist.com   “With a style that blends confrontation, humor, irreverence, and common sense, PZ Myers has become an important voice for America’s growing nonreligious demographic. The Happy Atheist is quintessential Myers—ridiculing absurdities, exposing contradictions, rejecting claims of authority, and reminding readers that religious dogmatism too often obstructs reason and critical thinking.” —David Niose, Author of Nonbeliever Nation: The Rise of Secular Americans and President of the Secular Coalition for America “PZ Myers is well known as an angry man in the land of 140-characters and blogs where he made his name. That anger is also here in this book, and it's always a righteous anger. But PZ Myers is also a happy man, amused as well as bemused by religious follies.” — Andrew Copson, Chief Executive, British Humanist Association PZ Myers is a professor of biology at the University of Minnesota, Morris. He was named Humanist of the Year in 2009 by the American Humanist Association and received the International Humanist Award in 2011 from the International Humanist and Ethical Union. He has lectured throughout the world on biology, evolution, atheism, and skepticism. His blog, Pharyngula , was named the Best Expert Blog by the Koufax Awards in 2005  and the Best Science Blog by the Weblog Awards in 2006. In 2006, the journal Nature listed Pharyngula as the top-ranked blog by a scientist. Prometheus’s Sin   Why are science and religion in conflict? Because changing ideas and new knowledge are sacrilegious.   Throughout Ken Ham’s Creation Museum, in northern Kentucky, a persistent story is exhibited in display after display. Two ways of looking at the world are shown: “God’s Word,” the ultimate source of knowledge, the Bible; and “Human Reason.” For Christians, human reason is always the fall guy, the error-filled path, while the only truth lies in listening to what God has to say. Christians have an old book with the whole story laid out—literally, as the creationists like to claim—and by their definition, all observations about the natural world must be accommodated to it. In contrast stands human reason, which dares to contradict the Bible, dares to show great truths not encompassed by the Bible’s stories, and most horribly, proposes an alternate, better source of knowledge than a body of ancient myths.   That’s a major theme throughout the “museum,” that science defies the word of God, and that the only valid knowledge must be that which is reconcilable with the Bible; Scripture is the sole arbiter of truth.   According to the Creation Museum,   “In a biblical