Freedom from God: Restoring the Sense of Wonder

"Freedom from God" is a very personal case study in the psychology of self-fulfillment. Willson writes from a highly emotional space that makes his book come alive with the joys and pains of living. At the same time Willson brims with the wisdom of one who has integrated a sophisticated understanding of history, science, theology and human nature, with his personal struggle to make sense of his experience. He reveals his intellectual power in his cogent assessment of how religion can work on the human mind to support or suppress our innate sense of wonder, fairness, and love of just being alive. Yet his writing style is colloquial, lively and virtually free of academic jargon. Willson reveals that his entire world outlook was formed within the fold of an authoritarian patriarchal family and a mainstream religious community, the Presbyterian Church. He pursued the vocation of Minister to the faithful. He earned a Master of Divinity from the prestigious Princeton Theological Seminary, and served as a missionary-pastor in New Mexico for eight years. And then his life took a radical turn. "Freedom from God" is Willson's personal narrative of his transformation from a controlled agent of a religious community to a liberated free thinker. For Willson this was not an intellectual conversion (although his powerful intellect was clearly involved), but a deep-seated reaction to what he experienced. He rails against his religious community's reduction of its flock to passive, unquestioning acceptance of absurd beliefs. He focuses his laser vision on the hypocrisy of a church leadership that teaches obedience to clerical authority that actually suppresses the personal spiritual experience that the faith community preaches. For example he writes: Religions may not be much help in the wonder department even though that's what they pretend to be all about...Religions for the most part...harness, channel, control...stultify, mediocritize and asphyxiate that sense of wonder or mystery...Religions channel ecstasy into pageantry. They trade conviction for tradition... Religious organizations prefer to control people, rather than turn them on to wonder, which will turn them loose or make them free... The sense of wonder, and our wonder organ could make our lives so exciting, so vibrant, that it would become unthinkable that we would permit the life-hating forces and powers of religion to spoil everything. So the wonder organ is an evolutionary advantage. I highly recommend this short and lively book to anyone who feels unfulfilled in their faith community. While Willson does not prescribe, he simply "bears witness" (to use a religious term) to his encounter with ideals that are higher than those conveyed by his former church. Even persons who were always atheists and agnostics will benefit from this book because of the intimate insights provided into the mind of an author who struggled with the ethical contradictions of his religious denomination.

Written by former missionary, pastor, and high school teacher Harry Wilson, Freedom From God: Restoring The Sense Of Wonder is not a rejection of faith, but rather a sharp and highly recommended critique of how the word "God" has been overly contaminated and degraded through everyday secular and politically oriented usage. Emphasizing the importance of restoring a sense of reverence and wonder, Freedom From God springs from abiding hope, love, and trust in ourselves and in a greater power.