One Reason Why the Angry Atheist Approach Doesn't Work

Previously I argued the the angry atheist era is over. Now it's true that most believers will see angry atheists no matter what atheists say. But there are atheists who rant against religion, who refuse to treat it respectfully. There is room for venting. I understand that. Sometimes it can even be effective. But generally speaking if we want to reach out to believers we'll have to respect their beliefs to the extent that we can. Here is a recent review of my book WIBA from a doubting Christian who says it best:

As a Christian with doubts who is honestly searching for answers, I found this book helpful. There are many other authors out there writing arguments against Christianity and religion; however, many of these authors are snide in their tone and make emotional, rather than intellectual, arguments against religion and the Christian faith. John breaks the mold and presents arguments in a way that is logical without going for the "cheap shots".

After spending years moving between different Christian denominations and reading dozens of works on Christianity, apologetics, and Catholicism (not to mention having read the Bible many times through in a span of nearly two decades), I finally came to a point where I could not resolve the internal doctrinal contradictions on several critical issues (not the least of which being that of salvation). Being finally open to consider the once-repulsive idea that Christianity might not be true, I looked for something that could address my concerns from my perspective. John managed to do so - probably because he himself was a sincere, studious Christian for so many years.

This book is not an emotional rant along the lines of "this is why Christians are fools" or "this is why religion is the source of all evil." Rather, it gets into the tough questions and presents arguments that are meant to win over thoughtful Christians who have, like me, come to a crisis of faith and and are looking for answers.

My only criticism (and the reason for 4 stars instead of 5) was that there were some cases where the book did not adequately acknowledge the stronger philosophical arguments for the Christian position on that issue - but most of the book does not proceed in that way so it doesn't detract from the book as a whole.

I would recommend this for sincere, devoted Christians who are willing to face an honest challenge to his or her deeply held beliefs or convictions. Link