That is probably impossible. Most writings against religion aren't. They are attacks upon the practice of that religion at the time and place in which they were written. One can imagine a successful diatribe against religion because it invented witchcraft and murdered people because of the invention. It may have been effective in its time but not today. In the west the most effective was Luther's manifest. It was not anti-religion but anti-catholicism.

If you really want something that works in Afghanistan you will probably have to write it. You can find several books today pointing to science as a great argument against religion. Without widespread knowledge of science they are worthless.

In practice the best way to promote an absence of religion is to make it a mark of social standing. It won't be deep but it will be a start. To make a lasting impression find tangible benefits to the absence of religion.

It is this montheism that created a god interested in war although a Hindu political group seems to have picked up on the idea lately. It is this same monotheism that created a god interested in what people do in the first place. Why a god would be interested is perverted to say the least.

Well, if ALL if took were a book to convince a person, we would not be having this discussion. That said, there are some books that are a good introduction to reason and atheism that won't put off the average open minded person.

I HIGHLY recommend  The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan above all other books. This book is just about the greatest introduction to reason you will find. It is not an atheist book, by the way. Sagan does not argue against the concept of gods, but rather attempts to educate the reader on how to think critically. Teach a person to think critically, and the rest usually comes on its own.

There have been a few, and we've had Muslims on our show as well, they are just a minority, because we primarily reach an audience in the US and there are simply fewer Muslims than Christians in the US. Anyone is welcome to join the forum.

Welcome, I hope you enjoy your time here and learn a lot.

Thanks for taking the time to share that with us.

Well, I am not sure exactly what you need. However, it might help to break the matter down into categories. On the one hand, there is no real loss of material that is critical of religion in general. Then too, there is plenty of material that is critical of specific religions.

I don't really know what things are like in Afghanistan but assuming that there are certain similarities to what is going on in this part of the world, that stuff probably will not be a huge help. After all, the potential audience for such work is probably already on board with the agenda. Those people who are not will probably not want to read such material.

Probably the more fruitful direction would be to get people to open up their minds, even if only for a little bit. If you can do that much, then you stand a fair chance of getting people thinking about different stuff.

“The Demon Haunted World” is a good book but depending on your specific audience, you might want to keep that one in reserve for later. I would start with some works that popularize science while essentially ignoring religion. Isaac Asimov wrote quite a few in his day and he was a very careful author who kept what is already known to be correct in mind, so what he wrote decades ago is “still true” today (it was already known to be true when he was writing it, so new knowledge only adds to his work).

Michael Shermer is another very good author. Start with his book “Why People Believe Weird Things”. Each chapter takes on a different belief that some people hold to despite it being quite deplorable. UFO abductions, Holocaust Denial and the Philosophy of Ayn Rand come to mind. As it was written for an American audience, it holds nothing really critical of Moslem thoughts specifically but it is a good case for leaving religion in general behind.

Oops, since apparently *everyone* has already recommended Demon Haunted World, I'll recommend something a little more controversial.

Since your audience are Muslims, and since you wanted something that critiques all of religion specifically, I would suggest The End of Faith, by Sam Harris. This book is the one that, as far as I can tell, opened the flood-gates of the 'new atheist' (I hate that term) best-seller books. Harris makes the convincing case that it is faith itself which is the enemy of reasonable discourse.

Now, some (especially religious) might find Harris offensive, but he is really not. He is just very frank, and he does not soften up his language when he critiques religion. He also makes the case that religion gets some sort of 'special privilege' that nobody is allowed to criticize it, and that we must stand up and openly criticize it directly, rather than 'respecting' its undeserved special privilege.

Also, he makes the strong case that moderate religious people are a big part of the problem because they do not distinguish their 'faith' from the extremists' 'faith', and so they provide cover for the extremists when they should be standing up and criticizing the extremists as well.

Overall, Sam Harris makes the strongest case for atheist activism out of all the major books recently. His arguments were borrowed pretty much directly by Dawkins and to some extent Hitchens. Dennett's book Breaking the Spell came out a little earlier (if I'm not mistaken), but did not cause such a stir as Harris' book did.

Another recommendation along these lines is Ayaan Hirsi Ali's book Infidel, which is her tale of escape from Islam, and the persecution she suffered. I haven't read it, but I've seen her interviewed, and I'm sure it would be an excellent book against Islam.