*Or how a hapless believer lost her faith and became a happy atheist. As you can see from this list, I didn’t read the traditional books to shake off the shackles of my faith.
The Name of the Rose
– A novel written by Umberto Eco that opened my eyes, first with the movie, then with the book. It isn’t the easiest read, but I found it well worth it. I’d watch the movie first, to make the book easier to read.
The New Oxford Annotated Bible – Reading all these historical books, I realized I needed a bible to refer to. I picked this one because it’s annotated. I still use so that I can be informed about christianity. Unfortunately as an atheist you might be called upon to know more about christianity than christians, who are known to misquote the bible.
Holy Blood, Holy Grail – Nonfiction written by 3 British historians, this book reads like a novel and is quite fascinating. Very controversial, to say the least, it doesn’t refute the life of Jesus, but it does look at the bible in a totally different way, as a historical text. This book pried my eyes open wide and rocked my foundation. This is the book that Dan Brown obviously read to write that awful formulaic novel, The Da Vinci Code, which I snored through.
The Sign and the Seal – another nonfiction book, this one about the lost ark of the covenant, also reads like a novel. I found it fascinating. Again, this book looks at the bible as a historical text.
*At this point, Fruitloop begins to seriously put together the fact that all religions have been created by men. While Judaism has no set beginning date, christianity and islam are very much dated in time.
Monty Python’s Life of Brian – Ok, this is a movie, I know, but it chronologically belongs here. This movie takes something deadly serious, the birth of christianity, and hilariously shows how easy it is to make sheeple believe and follow just about anyone, if given the right formula.
*Fruitloop takes a World History class in college to get the facts. The textbook is not that exciting but several things stand out:
- All religions are created by men, two of the top religions have specific creators and time periods of when they started.
- Old religions are somehow mysteriously converted to myths over time.
- Religions steal from one another, christianity being the worst culprit. (See the Stolen Stories page)
I’m now searching for a great, objective book of world history, as well as one of the United States. Feel free to recommend some.
Now I ask you, what books did you read to redefine your belief system? What books would you recommend to others and why?
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