The Atheist Bible
An atheist view on life, the universe, and everything
CC-BY 2006-2023 Fabian M. Suchanek
This book describes a worldview without gods and the supernatural. Unlike a number of other books, it does not merely argue that God does not exist or that religion is harmful. Rather, it offers an atheist view on life, the universe, ethics, truth, and the meaning of life — inspired by Secular Humanism. The book also explores the history, functioning, tenets, diversity, benefits and liabilities on the individual and society of the major world religions. It thus aims to be a comprehensive handbook that atheists can use to scrutinize, support, and enrich their perspective.
This book is available online for free at https://suchanek.name/texts/atheism. It is licensed by the author, Fabian M. Suchanek, under a Creative Commons Attribution license. See the legal conditions at the end of the book.
Book formats
The Atheist Bible is available in different formats:- The Atheist Bible online (what you are currently reading)
- The Atheist Bible as an EPUB e-book
- The Atheist Bible as PDF
This book is written in English. With Google Translate, this book is available also in other languages: Romanian (Biblia ateistă), German (Die Atheistische Bibel), French (La Bible Athée), and other languages (click the French translation and then choose a different language at the top).
Some chapters (marked with a podcast symbol 
) are available also as an AI-generated podcast produced by Google. For the other chapters, the podcasts were not sufficiently accurate to post them here.
Contents
- Preface
- The preface introduces the book from the author's point of view
- Atheism and Atheists
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- Chapter 1: Atheism
- Defines atheism, responds to common criticisms leveled against atheism, and introduces Secular Humanism as an alternative to religion .
- Chapter 2: Atheists
- Explains what it means to be an atheist and addresses common stereotypes about atheists.
- The World
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Chapter 3: Truth
- Discusses the concept of truth.
- Chapter 4: The Universe
- Gives an overview of what science knows about the universe.
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Chapter 5: Morality
- Discusses morality and ethics from a Secular Humanist point of view.
- Chapter 6: The Meaning of Life
- Treats “the” principal questions of humanity: What is the meaning of life? And what happens when we die?
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Chapter 3: Truth
- Gods
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- Chapter 7: Gods
- Introduces an atheist view on gods.
- Chapter 8: Proofs
- Discusses proofs for the existence of gods.
- Chapter 9: God of the Gaps
- Discusses the idea (often brought forward by believers) that God is the explanation for the unexplained.
- Religion
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- Chapter 10: Religion
- Formally defines religions and gods and shows the diversity of today’s religions .
- Chapter 11: The World Religions
- Traces the history of religion from ancient rites to today’s world religions.
- Chapter 12: Founding of Religions
- Discusses factors that may lead to the creation of a religion.
- Chapter 13: Following Religions
- Discusses factors that may make people believe in religious statements.
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Chapter 14: Memes
- Analyses strategies that religions have developed in order to survive.
- The Abrahamic Religions
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- Chapter 15: The Abrahamic God
- Discusses the god of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Spiritualism, and the Bahai Faith.
- Chapter 16: Christianity
- Discusses the Christian worldview.
- Chapter 17: Islam
- Discusses the Muslim worldview. For security reasons, this chapter is not available here.
- The Effects of Religion
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- Chapter 18: Criticism of Religion
- Criticizes the effects of religion on people and society.
- Chapter 19: Benefits of Religion
- Discusses positive effects of religion on people and society.
- Chapter 20: Conclusion
- Contains a summary of this book, as well as an outlook on the future of religion, Secular Humanism, and atheism.