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Atheism, naturally! A review of Natural Atheism, by David Eller.

Article Excerpt
American Atheist Press, 2004

Paperback, 352 pages.

Product #5902, $18.00

I was born an Atheist. All humans are born Atheists. No baby born into the world arrives with specific religious beliefs or knowledge. Such beliefs and knowledge must be acquired, which means that they must first exist before and apart from the new life and that they must be presented to and impressed on the new suggestible mind--one that has no critical apparatus and no alternative views of its own. Human infants are like sponges, soaking up (not completely uncritically, but eagerly and effectively) whatever is there to be soaked up from their social environment. Small children in particular instinctively imitate the models that they observe in their childhood, but I was not compelled to attend or practice any particular religion, and as I grew I never saw any reason to 'convert' to any particular religion. I have thus been an Atheist all my life. I am a natural Atheist. --From the Introduction

With the release of David Eller's Natural Atheism, American Atheist Press is issuing its most important new title since the death of Madalyn Murray O'Hair. After reading the book five times and following it from first draft to polished published product, I feel justified in making this seemingly extravagant claim. It is a book that should be treated as required reading for all Atheists, Agnostics, Humanists, and skeptical thinkers of all degrees of philosophical sophistication. Natural Atheism is also a book that should be read by theists who honestly want to understand what Atheism and Atheists are all about or are themselves experiencing a 'crisis of faith.'

While consistently critical of religion, Eller's writing is never cutting or insulting. Both urbane and humane, Eller is ever respectful of those who may disagree with him, always seeming to realize that his philosophical opponents of the moment could very well be Atheist-activist colleagues some time in the future. He is an anthropologist whose analytical objectivity has helped him to see the substance of the religious culture in which he is immersed--a culture that is invisible to most of its carriers.

The book wastes no time in getting down to what Atheism is all about--and what it isn't. Often there is a gentle humor. After explaining that Atheists are without god-beliefs and do not 'believe in' any of the gods, goddesses, or supernatural entities of the past or present, we are told that

Atheists do not believe...

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