How Different Really Are Atheists and Believers?

‘If you want to understand atheism and religion,” writes John Gray in his new book, “Seven Types of Atheism,” “you must forget the popular notion that they are opposites.” The book, just like the rest of Gray's work, is replete with juicy paradoxes of this sort. A master contrarian in the tradition of philosophers Lev Shestov and Emil Cioran, Gray uses paradox not just for rhetorical effect but to a philosophical end. A major unmasking defines his approach: If one is to be an honest thinker and advance knowledge, one must expose and dismantle the web of popular ideas, convenient labels and lazy thinking that makes up the philosophical orthodoxy.