Everything You Know about God Is Wrong: The Disinformation Guide to Religion

Many different stories, from serious intellectual arguments to journalistic reports to comic strips. It covers a wide range of religions, for those who would attack it as "anti-Christian". It is a great starting point for those who chose reason and intellect over faith and emotionality. Some of the issues: rampant cases of pedofilia within organized churches; intensely powerful depictions of "forbidden" church history; chronicles of how religion has become a multi-billion dollar business with powerful political allies; widespread corruption in most of the leading religions of the world. Highly recommended.

This is one of the best books I have read that discusses the problems within multiple religions, from the perspective of outsiders and insiders. Most of the "faithful" have no idea what is actually in the cherished book they worship, and Russ K. provides an inside look into the facts and resulting cultural and societal implications of religion as a whole. As noted by othe reviewers, this book is a collection of works by different authors, but those that said it was a random collection clearly weren't able to connect the dots themselves and were upset the book doesn't spell it out. I personally found this a better and different read than Dawkins' God Delusion, with less philosophizing and more facts from current events and a better analysis of the bible itself. A great read!!! Recommended highly.

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!

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