Atheism is a minority position in today's world. At least in the parts of the globe accessible to pollsters, most people believe in God. The rate of theism has little to do with the level of scientific or technological development of the society in question. Consider, for example, the United States, where, despite the country's constitutional commitment to the ''separation of church and state,'' most institutions of daily life are infused with theism.1 U.S. coins carry the proclamation ''In God We Trust,'' sessions of the U.S. Congress open with a prayer offered by the official congressional chaplain, and national and civic leaders routinely invoke the name of God in campaign and policy speeches.

Editor's Introduction Acknowledgements Part One - Journeys 1. Faith and Reason, the Perpetual War: Ruminations of a Fool, Stewart Shapiro (Ohio State) 2. From Yeshiva Bochur to Secular Humanist, Joseph Levine (U Mass Amherst) 3. Religio Philosophi, Daniel Garber (Princeton) 4. For the Love of Reason, Louise Antony (U Mass Amherst) 5. Life Without God: Some Personal Costs, Daniel Ferell (Ohio State) 6. Overcoming Christianity, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong (Dartmouth) 7. On Becoming a Heretic, Edwin Curley (Michigan) 8. Mere Stranger, Marvin Belzer (Bowling Green) 9. An Atheist's Fundamentalism, James Tappenden (Michigan) 10. Thank Goodness, Daniel Dennett (Tufts University) Part Two - Reflections 11. Atheism and Invisibility, Anthony Simon Laden (U Illinois, Chicago) 12. An Aristotelian Life, Marcia Homiak 13. Without the Net of Providence: Atheism and the Human Adventure, Kenneth Taylore (Stanford) 14. Disenchantment, David Owens (U Sheffiled, UK) 15. Religion and Respect, Simon Blackburn (Cambridge UK) 16. Reasonable Religious Disagreements, Richard Feldman (Rochester) 17. If God is Dead, Is Everything Permitted?, Elizabeth Secord Anderson (Michigan) 18. Divine Evil, David Lewis (Princeton) - edited by Philip Kitcher 19. Meta-Atheism: Religious Avowal as Self-Deception, Georges Rey (Maryland) 20. Faith and Fanaticism, Jonathan Adler (CUNY Graduate Center)

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