The Atheist's Church [NOOK Book]

( 3 )

Overview

When Adam Beard is asked to do a puff piece on the purchase of an old Lutheran church, the young reporter has no idea what he's about to get himself into. The new owner, Lawrence Cooper—a.k.a., Law—draws him in with his charm and intelligence, but then lets slip that he's an atheist, an unpopular position to hold in the conservative town of Ottovon.

Reluctant but bound by his career, Adam includes the detail in his story, inciting a public ...
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The Atheist's Church

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More About This Book

Overview

When Adam Beard is asked to do a puff piece on the purchase of an old Lutheran church, the young reporter has no idea what he's about to get himself into. The new owner, Lawrence Cooper—a.k.a., Law—draws him in with his charm and intelligence, but then lets slip that he's an atheist, an unpopular position to hold in the conservative town of Ottovon.

Reluctant but bound by his career, Adam includes the detail in his story, inciting a public outcry. Yet despite this opposition, Law proceeds as planned and begins a weekly philosophical discussion group for intelligent teens. Adam attends as an observer and is impressed by how engaged the adolescents are, how excited they are to discuss difficult works like Plato's "Apology," a dialogue having a great deal to do with present events.

But things take a turn for the worse when the leader of a fundamentalist group called Christ's Blood discovers that his own son has been attending the discussions. Soon, Adam finds himself in the middle of his own story, and with each misstep he takes in the search for truth he leads everyone around him closer and closer to a violent end.
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Product Details

  • BN ID: 2940014323642
  • Publisher: Prose Atheist Publishing
  • Publication date: 3/14/2012
  • Sold by: Barnes & Noble
  • Format: eBook
  • Sales rank: 1,209,713
  • File size: 209 KB

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 5
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Sort by: Showing all of 3 Customer Reviews

  • Posted March 16, 2012

    The Novel of Ideas is Back!

    I thought the philosophical novel died with Camus, and then I stumbled upon this unknown gem. THE ATHEIST'S CHURCH strips bare the religious pretensions of our times and gives us a straightforward account of what it's like to be an atheist living in modern America. With the erosion of the separation of church and state going on in our current politics, it's nice to see our artists are fighting back. We need more novels like this. (If only we could get our politicians to read them!)

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted March 17, 2012

    A Hidden Gem

    This novel reminds me why novels are still an important and viable form of discourse in America. The Atheist's Church is ultimately a tour de force about tolerance and intolerance, about what happens when people believe their beliefs too strongly. It's a novel about the marketplace of ideas and what happens when people try to suppress ideas, not based on whether they are poor ideas, but merely because they believe those ideas threaten their own mode of thought.

    Whereas most serious fiction these days uses clever language in an effort to cover up its lack of intellectual rigor, this novel presents a plain-spoken style which is both cleverly banal and deceptively emotional. The use of motifs - of darkness and light, of violent verbiage (he SHOT me a look, etc.) - weighs on one's unconscious until one is overwhelmed. Let the story wow you, as it did me.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted March 16, 2012

    I Also Recommend:

    The Catcher in the Rye

    Thought Provoking

    I thought all atheists were evil until my uncle (the AdamZ reviewer) made me read this novel to try to make me become more tolerant of other people's views about things. This novel really makes you think, not in a book-ish way, but like about other people and about how people can become so set in their ways that they forget to think anymore. I really loved the character Junior, who I can really relate to now.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
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