No Sacred Cows

Many atheists believe in ghosts. David McAfee addresses this in his book No Sacred Cowss. The overarching thesis of this book is that critical thinking should be applied to every aspect of life.

One thing I love about McAffe's book is that he is an atheist who actually loves the study of religion. To make a long story short I  studied to be an ELCA minister and when that did not lead to a job it put me on the path of being cynical of institutional religion. However my parents are ministers and many of my friends work in churches. I do not think that they are irrational people. My experiences have demonstrated to me how the environments that people are involved in and excluded from shape the way they tend to think. But I have never shaken a belief that God exists or a fascination with the study of religion. While McAffe is an atheist I felt like our intellectual approaches to religion are similar.

McAffe would likely challenge me to ask critical questions of people who I am relationship with who are active in churches. I appreciate deeply are the rules he encourages people to follow in light of disagreement. His main point is to respectfully question people. For further detail I would strongly recommend reading the book.

In the discussion of religion he differentiated between appreciating the stories and the histories behind religion and practicing and believing a religious practice. This stress resonated for my quirky reality.

The main point of the book is that stresses that logic should be applied to all aspects of life. Encouraging vaccinations; scrutinizing practices like chiropractics, reiki and other "natural" medicine;  challenging conspiracy theories and questioning the idea of ghosts and the end of times are all things he addresses using the rules of logic and an engaging writing style. I loved when he wrote about pretending to be a psychic and his encounters with people who claimed to be psychic. I loved how he approached the discussions of cults by interviewing Fred Phelps' children.

The book is supposed to be an introduction to skepticism and succeeded. I want to gather more resources and explore other aspects of deconstructing the topics in the book. A continuous need to gather and evaluate information is part of embracing the life of a skeptic.