The book     Irreligion:  A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don’t Add Up

Review and discussion on

[ richarddawkins.net] —positive; 150+ comments in discussion.

Review in Sunday NY Times Book Review
[ by Jim Holt in NY Times Sunday Book Review ]  attacks Paulos as a new atheist. To paraphrase the reviewer,  “New Atheist” means you don’t reference historical theology enough—if Descrates, Leibniz, and Hegel (what about Newton?) thought the classic arguments for God were nontrivial why is Paulos trashing them a la Dawkins?

NY Times has the first chapter at
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/books/chapters/1st-chapter-irreligion.html

I think that you will find, as I did, that the first chapter speaks for itself.  I think this book complements the God Delusion. But then I’m a mathematician…

I have no opinion on Paulos’s book, but the NYTimes has basically trashed every new-atheist book, with the odd exception of Hitchens, which IIRC got a halfway decent review ... go figure. At any rate, I’d definitely give the book a once-over before taking their review seriously.

I like Paulos’s books, I think that ‘a mathematician reads the newspaper’ is a great book to start to develop critical thinking and I use to give it as a gift.  I didn’t read this, but I agree with the title: the arguments for god just don’t add up.

And, of couse, theology is a “verbal magic show” with no relevance. I don’t get how the theologians spread the belief that their unverifiable speculations add arguments to the existance of god. It reminds me to the UFO way of thinking: a lot of bad evidence makes a little of good evidence.

H’mm not aware of Paulos, but I did like the line,: the arguments for god just don’t add up.

Well it depends on who is making an argument for God, this belief that a Deity is in anyway interested in the foibles of mankind, is probably the worst argument to make.
Then of course the lack of hard evidence, but as they Say there are few atheists in a fox hole, or at sea in a storm.

I do enjoy watching people go about their own personal beliefs, sports & music fans seem more devoted than the average petitioner, better uniforms too.