Summary
Title: Fear, Faith, Fact, Fantasy
Author: John A. Henderson
Publisher: Parkway Publishers
ISBN: 1887905774
Pro:
• Decent, non-technical introduction to the issues for non-specialists and general readers
• Focuses on common beliefs and encourages people to acquire a habit of skeptical questioning
Con:
• Doesn't address common counter-arguments to his own arguments
Description:
• Analysis of popular religious and theistic beliefs
• Argues that religious and theistic beliefs are simply not viable or rational
Book Review
For John A. Henderson, questioning religion and theism are some of the most important things that a person today can do. This is an important reason why he wrote Fear, Faith, Fact, Fantasy, his second book. In this volume Henderson discusses many of the most popular beliefs people have about gods and asks pointed questions about whether such beliefs are reasonable, rational, and even beneficial.
It might be objected that Henderson's criticisms don't necessarily apply to all alleged gods because a change in definitions will lead to a change in what is and is not possible today. This is a fair objection, except that Henderson doesn't specifically claim to succeed in undermining all possible theistic beliefs. To his credit, in fact, he lays out the definition and characteristics he uses and thereby lets people know exactly what sort of god he is addressing. By implication, a different god may not be touched at all by the questions he asks.
A stronger objection is Henderson's failure to address some of the most common counter-arguments offered by theists. He argues, for example, that the existence of God is incompatible with the existence of evil. This is a fairly common argument and one that can be very strong; Henderson could have made his presentation much stronger, however, if he had explained problems with some of the ways theists respond to this argument.
Of course, this isn't designed to be used as a text in philosophy and theology classes. Henderson wrote this book from the perspective of common sense and intended it to be read by average people. Furthermore, it isn't intended so much to completely convert people away from theistic religion as it is to get people accustomed to asking difficult questions about theism and religion. It is thus not a book one should go to for answers to whether evil is compatible with the existence of God, but instead a resource one would use to learn how to ask the question if it's not something one is used to bringing up. It is thus a good book for one who is starting out with questioning religion and gods.
One quarrel I have with Henderson is his insistence on using "god" in lowercase throughout the text of his book. The term "god" is either a personal noun (like a name) or it's a basic noun referring to a class or category of things. When it's the former, it should be uppercase and without definite or indefinite articles: God, Apollo, Odin. When it's the latter it should be lowercase and with definite or indefinite articles: a god, this god, that god.
Henderson tries to do both: he uses "god" in lowercase but without articles: "...the definitions of god are so full of holes..." This is incorrect. Some people insist on writing this way because they mistakenly imagine that capitalizing God accords the Christian deity inappropriate respect in some fashion. There may be other reasons, some more understandable than others, but they will still be mistaken justifications for a grammatical error. Doing this undermines Henderson's credibility by giving the impression that he either doesn't know proper grammar or is being petulantly discourteous.
Despite this, and so long as one does not acquire this habit from reading the book, I would still recommend it as a beginner's book for learning how to think more skeptically and critically about theism, religion, morality, and other related issues. It would be a mistake never to go beyond Henderson's book, but it would probably be helpful for many to get their start here.
