Barbara G. Walker is the best-selling author of many books which are on such disparate subjects as knitting and feminism, among others. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, she's won The American Humanist Association's Humanist Heroine Award. In reading Belief & Unbelief, I've found a new name to add to my "Favorite Authors list" and a new addition to my "Books I Could Read Over and Over List."
This book spoke to me on so many levels and I wish it had been available as I became a skeptic after spending half of my life in a church environment. At first, it appears to be an easy read, but with names of some of the twenty-two essays including words such as "cannibalism," there are many passages that simply were not at all easy to read.
My favorite essay, entitled "Does religion make people good?" especially resonated with me because my husband of 50 years thinks I'm a good person only because of all the years I spent as an active church-goer.
I especially enjoyed the author's sarcasm (not as caustic as Hitchens') and her bluntness. An example, "The history of science's relationship with Christianity yields a prodigious abundance of blunders and stupidity." Two perfect examples are the current denial of man-made global warning and the "homosexuality is a choice" issues.
The book really opened my eyes to the extent that racism/homophobia/misogyny are intertwined. Many of the relevant (to these issues) bible passages must have been left out purposefully when I was a little girl in Sunday School, and are likewise still left out at the women's church circles' bible studies. Let's not forget the wars/conflicts through the ages all caused by religious entities and responsible for almost as many deaths as are in the bible. Interestingly, the discussion re: the commandment "Thous shall not kill" is followed by multiple examples of the killing the biblical god either personally committed or ordered, in the book of Genesis alone.
There is extensive information that was well-researched and exceedingly well-referenced. I wish I could rate more than five stars. If you've done just a little reading on this subject, you may be as astonished as much as I was in reading the vast amount of contradictions and hatefulness that Walker discusses. If you have a bible, you may find yourself frequently checking the passages she cites, as you may find much of it pretty hard to fathom until you read it yourself.
This book spoke to me on so many levels and I wish it had been available as I became a skeptic after spending half of my life in a church environment. At first, it appears to be an easy read, but with names of some of the twenty-two essays including words such as "cannibalism," there are many passages that simply were not at all easy to read.
My favorite essay, entitled "Does religion make people good?" especially resonated with me because my husband of 50 years thinks I'm a good person only because of all the years I spent as an active church-goer.
I especially enjoyed the author's sarcasm (not as caustic as Hitchens') and her bluntness. An example, "The history of science's relationship with Christianity yields a prodigious abundance of blunders and stupidity." Two perfect examples are the current denial of man-made global warning and the "homosexuality is a choice" issues.
The book really opened my eyes to the extent that racism/homophobia/misogyny are intertwined. Many of the relevant (to these issues) bible passages must have been left out purposefully when I was a little girl in Sunday School, and are likewise still left out at the women's church circles' bible studies. Let's not forget the wars/conflicts through the ages all caused by religious entities and responsible for almost as many deaths as are in the bible. Interestingly, the discussion re: the commandment "Thous shall not kill" is followed by multiple examples of the killing the biblical god either personally committed or ordered, in the book of Genesis alone.
There is extensive information that was well-researched and exceedingly well-referenced. I wish I could rate more than five stars. If you've done just a little reading on this subject, you may be as astonished as much as I was in reading the vast amount of contradictions and hatefulness that Walker discusses. If you have a bible, you may find yourself frequently checking the passages she cites, as you may find much of it pretty hard to fathom until you read it yourself.
