A Better Life

Three years ago, I supported a Kickstarter project for a book by Chris Johnson called A Better Life: 100 Atheists Speak Out on Joy & Meaning in a World Without God.

Johnson did a great job with it, though I must admit that I didn't read the whole thing. It's a large coffee-table book, so I just browsed it, looking at all of the pictures and reading about the atheists I recognized (from the Internet; I've never met any of them in person), and some I didn't.

After that, he decided to make a movie, which I also backed on Kickstarter, and it's just been released. This is the trailer for A Better Life: An Exploration of Joy & Meaning in a World Without God.

I just watched it yesterday, and it's superb. It was a smaller project than the book, since he only interviews about a dozen atheists, but they're a good cross-section of people - all rather photogenic and at ease in front of the camera, but of different ages and backgrounds.

The film combats claims that atheists are necessarily unhappy without a god and demonstrates that atheist lives are at least as filled with joy and meaning as those of religious believers. It's an hour and a half long, which is just about perfect, I'd say. And it's really beautiful.

What it's not is an argument against theism. This isn't about debates, and it's not even about in depth interviews. It just lets you see and hear from a dozen happy, well-adjusted atheists from different walks of life.

There's humor, too. If you do rent the film, make sure you watch till the very end. He's got some bloopers included with the credits.