Product Description

In the new mega-anthology from best-selling editor Russ Kick, more than fifty writers, reporters, and researchers invade the inner sanctum for an unrestrained look at the wild and wooly world of organized belief.

Richard Dawkins shows us the strange, scary properties of religion; Neil Gaiman turns a biblical atrocity story into a comic (that almost sent a publisher to prison); Erik Davis looks at what happens when religion and California collide; Mike Dash eyes stigmatics; Douglas Rushkoff exposes the trouble with Judaism; Paul Krassner reveals his "Confessions of an Atheist"; and best-selling lexicographer Jonathon Green interprets the language of religious prejudice.

Among the dozens of other articles and essays, you'll find: a sweeping look at classical composers and Great American Songbook writers who were unbelievers, such as Irving Berlin, creator of "God Bless America"; the definitive explanation of why America is not a Christian nation; the bizarre, Catholic-fundamentalist books by Mel Gibson's father; eye-popping photos of bizarre religious objects and ceremonies, including snake-handlers and pot-smoking children; the thinly veiled anti-Semitism in the Left Behind novels; an extract from the rare, suppressed book The Sex Life of Brigham Young; and rarely seen anti-religious writings from Mark Twain and H.G. Wells.

Further topics include exorcisms, religious curses, Wicca, the Church of John Coltrane, crimes by clergy, death without God, Christian sex manuals, the "ex-gay" movement, failed prophecies, bizarre theology, religious bowling, atheist rock and roll, "how to be a good Christian," an entertaining look at the best (and worst) books on religion, and much more.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28627 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 388 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781932857597
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Russ Kick is the all-star editor of five previous Disinformation Guides and three Disinformation books. He has been labeled as an "information archaeologist" by the New York Times in a major profile. He runs the popular blog TheMemoryHole.org and is well known for his intelligent and successful FOIA requests and unveilings.

Customer Reviews

A crushing indictment of popular misconceptions about religious belief.
Everything You Know About God Is Wrong is a crushing indictment of popular misconceptions about religious belief. Composed of a wide variety of articles, each by a different author and attacking a different "sacred cow", Everything You Know About Religion denounces hypocrisies, outright criminal behavior perpetrated in the name of religion, horrific statements from the Bible and more. While some articles are written by freethinkers or nonbelievers and reveal a decidedly atheistic perspective, others are by believers seeking reform, justice, or a better understanding of various negative aspects of different religions. Indeed, the introduction remarks that "no contributor necessarily agrees with the other contributors... inclusion is not an indication of collusion." The articles range from "Sandman" author Neil Gaiman's graphically illustrated, adults-only comic of the soul-destroying Biblical story of Judges chapter 19 (in which a host turns over his daughter and his guest's concubine to be gang raped and murdered, in order to protect the guest); to the under reported tale of Magdalene Asylums run by the Irish Catholic Church that used women for profitable slave labor, for alleged prostitution or adultery, being victims of rape, or simply looking too pretty; to the merciless feudal virtual slavery inflicted by the temple theocracy upon the serfs of Buddhist Tibet prior to the Chinese occupation (runaway serfs would often be blinded, have their noses or tongues cut off, or be amputated); the story of a man who believes in Judaism and his struggle to engage in a public dialogue about Judaism and Israel, only to be shut out by Institutional Judaism; and much more. Highly recommended

Essential Reading
This book is highly recommended for just one of it's many sections - I am referring to the article by Ruth Green entitled "The God From Galilee" which analyses the gospels in a way that reveals a very different side to Jesus Christ than that with which most people (believers and non-believers alike) identify. I used to say that, speaking as an atheist, I was mostly in agreement with what Jesus said, or is supposed to have said according to the anonymous writers of the synoptic gospels (and if you still believe in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John then you need to do a little bit of research or read the section in the book by Gary Greenberg "Who Wrote The Gospels?") I used to believe that the essence of Jesus was that of a liberal sensibility, an almost communist identification with the poor rather than the rich (oppressed vs. oppressor - something that supporters of G. W. Bush will never understand, nay, not in a million years!). I could equate with a Jesus as quasi-hippy advocate of love, peace, tolerance and understanding. Ruth Green points out, using the words of the Bible itself, that this is not the whole truth - that the quoted Jesus also has a very dark side - he is "impatient, heartless, imperious, vengeful, vain, rude, misinformed, quick-tempered, inconsistent, given to violence upon occasion, smug and scornful." (All of these assertions are backed up by quotations from the gospels.) All Christians who are broad-minded enough to challenge their faith should read and reflect upon this (I know that that is asking for the impossible!)
As for those 'atheist' reviewers who criticise the book for being an anthology... oh dear, has it really come to this? This book IS an anthology and this means that it is composed of different articles by different authors, none of whom knew what the others were writing - to expect 'continuity' under these circumstances bespeaks of an ignorance usually associated with the religious, not with the atheistic.

And before you right-wing 'Christians' begin your ad hominem attacks - I am just a guy who seeks the truth, just like you!

So, So
Dawkins begins by informing readers the shocking news that reliable polls report 35% of Americans say they are "born again." No wonder we have such a fixation on topics such as homosexuality, helping Israel, school prayer, (non)-separation of church and state, gay marriage, abortion, and intelligent design!

Interesting contradictions were then pointed out. For example, if the U.S. is a free country, it cannot also be a Christian nation. Similarly, the doctrine of the Trinity contradicts the idea that there is only one God. Still another - Iran has the largest Jewish community in the mid-East, outside of Israel, despite it's anti-Israel rhetoric.

The bulk of "Everything You Know About God is Wrong" is taken up with pointing out conflicting material within the Bible, referencing material left out, and the innumerable past and present perversions of religion - especially all the persecution and killing of "infidels."

Bottom-Line: The book has some good information, but is far too long. I prefer "God is Not Great," "Terror in the Name of God," "Why the Christian Right is Wrong," "Misquoting Jesus," "The End of Faith," "Jesus is Not a Republican," and "The God Delusion."