Cliff Somers

This book is a straight-up dispute with and rebuttal of the book published by Protestant minister Rice Broocks entitled God’s Not Dead and subtitled Evidence for God in an Uncertain Age. In that book “Pastor” Broocks, as Somers calls him, sets forth many propositions which he deems to be evidence supporting the existence, not only of God, but that God set forth by the Christian religion. As a trial lawyer and an atheist, Cliff deconstructs the pastor’s arguments page by page and proposition by proposition. The book does not, however, proselytize for atheism and does not urge the reader to take any particular position but rather urges the reasoned review of the so-called evidence set forth by the pastor.

The book is organized and its chapters are even labeled the same as the pastor’s in order to make a direct head-to- head comparison easy, except for the last few chapters which take on an objective view of the Gospels of the Bible and a short chapter on Cliff’s personal beliefs. Topics covered range from the origin of the universe, the concepts of “good” and “evil”, evolution, whether human life has a purpose, whether the universe was “tuned” specifically to produce humans and many related topics. The language used is that of the layman except to the extent that a few more esoteric terms are used and defined. Reference is made by both authors to other thinkers and writers. A relatively short bibliography is provided by Somers and cites are made to authors who are also atheists, to very well-credentialed and excellent writers who teach theology and similarly credentialed authors who support the existence of the Christian God. The book pulls no punches and lays out its reasoning in short, declarative sentences.