Michael Sherlock - The Gospel of Atheism and Freethought—According to Sherlock

THE GOSPEL OF
ATHEISM AND
FREETHOUGHT

ACCORDING TO SHERLOCK

THE GOSPEL OF
ATHEISM AND FREETHOUGHT

ACCORDING TO SHERLOCK

MICHAEL
SHERLOCK

First Published in Great Britain 2014
by Dangerous Little Books

Michael Sherlock

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE

The title of this book may upset both atheists and theists, to varying degrees, so I thought I would use this preface to briefly explain why I selected the title and at the same time, explain how this book is structured. The Gospel of Atheism and Freethought According to Sherlock is a parody title, so before theists get too excited and accuse atheism of being a religion complete with its own Gospel, I must disabuse them of this fallacious notion. Atheism is not, and cannot be, a belief system, for two fundamental reasons. Firstly, atheism is not a system and secondly, it has no beliefs and is therefore not a belief system, but an unsystematic absence of god-belief. For this reason, I do not call myself an atheist, and as shocking as it may be to some, nor do I call myself a non-figure skater. In my humble opinion, the correct title for a person who does not believe in the supernatural should be sane.

The word gospel stems from the Greek, evangelion, meaning good news and once again, in my opinion, given the tragic nature and history of god-belief, the growing number of non-believers and the proliferation of their godless literature is good news. Women are being afforded more rights, same-sex couples are suffering less persecution and science has been granted an increased freedom to express its more rational methodological naturalistic philosophy, to the benefit of our species as a whole.

This gospel is set out in three parts, which I call books and in the first two parts, the Book of Atheism and the Book of Freethought, the reader will find a diverse range of anti-theistic memes, quotes and musings, written in both personal and impersonal speech. I chose to write these sayings in both personal and impersonal speech to mimic and mock the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas, which is also a book of sayings. The final part of this book, the Book of Heresy, is a series of atheistic articles, essays and pieces, written in a more narrative style to parody, albeit abstractly, the four official gospels of the New Testament.

FOREWORD

Michael Sherlock is new on the scene but has a lot to say. But perhaps most importantly, his studies in social anthropology and comparative mythology make his an interesting and much-needed perspective to religious criticism.

Sherlocks The Gospel of Atheism and Freethought is a well-sourced work that accomplishes what many books in the marketplace of secular non-fiction have failed to do: it presents a coherent and thorough analysis of the major flaws, inaccuracies, and moral dilemmas present within the Abrahamic faiths, while putting forth a strong case for abstinence from faith all together.

The Gospel of Atheism is wide-ranging, tackling some of the biggest problems with the major world religions while at the same time analyzing their histories from an academic perspective. Sherlock even tackles common arguments put forth by Christian apologists like C.S. Lewis, who argued that at the heart of Christianity is a myth which is also a fact. The books extensive coverage of seemingly semi-related topics is a breath of fresh air in what is often a monotonous genre.

Sherlock also goes out of his way to educate and inform readers, while keeping it interesting as a means to drive home his arguments. Sherlocks 7 Parenting Tips for God , for instance, include such seemingly obvious gems as, Dont kill your children, and, Dont allow your children to suffer for your shortcomings. Keeping the readers interest and hammering home point after point, The Gospel of Atheism puts the final nails in the coffin of a wide variety of widely held, but false, religious beliefs.

Sherlock pulls no punches in extolling the virtues of skepticism and critical thinking, refusing to treat any religion or denomination as a sacred cow beyond reproach. His approach is to bombard the reader with facts and reasonable conclusions, and I think hes accomplished that. Filled with questions and sourced facts that would make any believer think twice, his newest book presents some of the most comprehensive arguments against the great faiths and in favor of non-belief.

DAVID G. MCAFEE

David G. McAfee is a journalist and author of Mom, Dad, Im an Atheist: The Guide to Coming Out as a Non-believer and Disproving Christianity and other Secular Writings . He is also a frequent contributor to American Atheist Magazine. McAfee attended University of California, Santa Barbara, and graduated with dual-degrees in English and Religious Studies, with an emphasis on Christianity and Mediterranean religions. www.DavidGMcAfee.com | www.facebook.com/AuthorDavidGMcAfee

THE BOOK OF ATHEISM

SEVEN PARENTING TIPS FOR GOD

TIP 1

Dont Kill Your Children This may seem obvious, but having thoroughly read the Bible , it is something I think God could work on. The idea is to raise your children, so killing them for disobeying or irritating you, is not advisable.

TIP 2

Consistency Rules must be consistent. If you make rules, like dont eat pork, relax on Saturday, whatever, and then you turn around and say, well, dont worry about all that, it is going to undermine your childs perception of you as an authority figure and leave them confused, particularly if you have gone against the first tip and killed some of them for breaking these flimsy rules.

TIP3

Punishment Related to tip 1. If you are going to use timeout as a means of disciplining your children, it should be for a specified period of time, not an eternity. Timeout is useful for allowing the child to think about what they have done wrong and how they can improve in the future, so setting them on fire for an eternity, contravenes this, and the first tip and is counterproductive to the development of the child.

TIP 4

Be fair Dont bestow rewards on some of your children and punishments on others, for no apparent reason. For example, if you have a girl and a boy and you dont allow the girl to share the same rights and privileges as the boy, she may eventually suffer from low self-esteem and this is only going to undermine your desired outcome. Needless to say, it is also going to create unwarranted tension between the two. Further, try not to favour one child over another, for example, dont constantly say to one, You are my favourite, as it is not only going to lead them into decadence, but it will cause the others to resent both you and your favourites.

TIP5

Respect Respect is a two way street, so if you want your child to respect you, you must be deserving of that respect and also return it. Demanding respect simply because you created them, is not fair, as they had no choice in their manifestation and also, it is going to make you appear tyrannical, which will eventually cause your children to lose faith in you.

TIP 6

Dont allow your children to suffer for your shortcomings An example might be; you have made a mess at work and everything appears to be going wrong, so you hatch an idea to kill your child to fix it all. This is a definite no no.