Ebook293 pages5 hours
That Old Devil Called God Again: The Scourge of Religion
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
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About this ebook
Religion has brought the world to the brink of meltdown. That Old Devil Called God Again shows how defenceless we are from the invading power of religious indoctrination, to which Jesus fell victim. From childhood, like unprotected computers, the predatory viruses of other people’s beliefs and dogmas invade us until we emerge as adults unaware of how we have been infected. The Rwandan genocide, Omagh, 9/11, suicide bombings, Westgate and the Syrian carnage join the indictments against 'God'. Religion stands charged with contaminating our cultural development and impeding our moral aspirations. This book gives us a chance to carry out a thorough virus scan, to discover who we really are, be given the chance to think anew and choose our beliefs. The toxic nature of religious teaching is exposed and our basic assumptions and ideas are challenged with fresh and radical thinking that empowers and liberates us to become more fully human. While laying siege to religion, this book yet presents a passionate and positive call for a full and creative engagement with life and a vibrant spirituality.
Author
Archbishop Jonathan Blake
One of the most controversial clerics of his generation, Jonathan has survived an air emergency, smuggled bibles, escaped tear gas and machine guns, rescued flood victims and worked barefoot with Mother Theresa. He did the first gay wedding on prime time TV in 2001, was elected Archbishop of the Open Episcopal Church in 2006, blessed Jade Goody's marriage in 2009 and was invited to Downing Street in 2013.
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Reviews for That Old Devil Called God Again
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
3/5
1 rating1 review
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5For an author who writes that he “intends [his] book to be positive and enlightening,” this book is disturbingly negative. Its raw, take-no-prisoners tone dares you to knock the chip off Jonathan Blake’s shoulder.Blake is the Archbishop who isn’t. He escaped from the Anglican Church and says he holds on to the title of Archbishop “only to provide a platform to ridicule its pretentiousness and to lay siege to the power systems it has spawned.”So you aren’t going to get any inspirational Christian instruction in this book. What you’ll get is a tirade against the “plastic, manipulated and processed Jesus of Christianity.” Blake is more interested in the real Jesus, a man who succumbed to the same sort of irrational religious thinking that has blighted civilization throughout the ages, but whose intentions were at least good.Now, the Bible isn’t all bad, Blake insists. It might be worthwhile to extract the few decent parts of the Bible and preserve them, alongside a few nourishing morsels from other religions as well, so as to write a new holy book. But I don’t think Blake is holding his breath for this to happen.In the mean time, religion has to go. It may seem innocent on the surface, but it isn’t. Religion stunts our growth or, worse, herds us back into infantile rhythms. The teaching of religion should be replaced by anthropology, psychology and sociology. We must protect young minds from being hijacked by religious thinking.God has to go, too. It is only when we stop believing in God and stop thinking about God and stop praying to God and stop worshipping God and stop having anything to do with God or giving any thought to God that we can be true.Near the end of the book Blake finally works his way back around to Jesus, who, though his misguided plan of self-sacrifice turned out to be a colossal mistake, still promoted a way of love. Blake grasps and endorses love as the meaning of life, and insists that when we outgrow religion, love will come easier.In the end, Blake may be more right than wrong, but his tone and lack of supporting references (“evidence suggests” and “studies show” a lot of things in this book) left me shrugging my shoulders.Christian Alternative Books, © 2014, 249 pagesISBN: 978-1-78279-538-4
Book preview
That Old Devil Called God Again - Archbishop Jonathan Blake
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