A Shot of Faith to the Head

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 - 5:46 PM CST

If you've ever gotten into an argument with an atheist, you know how hard it is to defend your faith in God. Though most of that is due to human nature and our inhibition to admitting we could be wrong, sometimes we just have no idea how to defend our belief in a God we can't physically see or touch. Here's where Mitch Stokes comes in. With a Ph.D. in Philosophy and an M.A. in religion, he's more than qualified to share his means of protecting his faith while showing holes in atheistic viewpoints as well.

In A Shot of Faith to the Head, Mitch shows how to argue three main points that non-believers use when debating God's existence: "Belief in God is irrational," "Science has shown there's no God" and "Evil and suffering show there's no God." However, if you're looking for a list of scientific findings proving that God exists, look elsewhere. Mitch's book focuses on philosophical arguments, so when someone says, "Show me evidence that God exists," Mitch would reply, "If we have to rely on evidentialism, that makes all of our beliefs irrational" (and if you didn't understand that, this book is the perfect tool to explain it). That said, I haven't met many people with whom I would use such philosophy-based argumentation. While A Shot of Faith to the Head is interesting and educational, it does tend to read more like a philosophy or logic book than a book giving information I would use with a layperson atheist.

Pros: Humorously written, A Shot of Faith to the Head does give good information that can strengthen your own faith and prepare you for defending your faith (and it holds pretty thorough lessons in logic and philosophy).

Cons: While the arguments and defenses in A Shot of Faith to the Head are solid, the entire book seems to have that vibe of: "we can't absolutely prove that God exists, but they can't prove He doesn't." This book also seems to prepare you for arguing with an atheist who is well-educated (think Christopher Hitchens) in philosophy and logic and who wants to argue from that standpoint. If you meet someone who doesn't want to discuss the finer points of Quine's naturalistic philosophy, you might be better off reading C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars