Religion Is Not About God

Annotation If religion is not about God, then what on earth is it about? Loyal Rue contends that religion is a series of strategies that aims to influence human nature so that we might think, feel, and act in ways that are good for us, both individually and collectively.

Thousands of religious traditions have appeared over the course of human history but only a relative few have survived. Some speak of a myriad of gods, others of only one, and some recognize no gods at all. Volumes have been written attempting to prove the existence or nonexistence of supernatural being(s). So, if religion is not about God, then what is it about? In this provocative book, Loyal Rue contends that religion, very basically, is about us. Successful religions are narrative (myth) traditions that influence human nature so that we might think, feel, and act in ways that are good for us, both individually and collectively. Through the use of images, symbols, and rituals, religion promotes reproductive fitness and survival through the facilitation of harmonious social relations. Drawing on examples from the major traditions--Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism--Rue shows how each religion, in its own way, has guided human behavior to advance the twin goals of personal fulfillment and social coherence. As all faiths are increasingly faced with a crisis of intellectual plausibility and moral relevance, this book presents a compelling and positive view of the centrality and meaning of religion.

Disillusioned with organized religion, some people escape into New Age movements and others retreat from their spiritual moorings altogether. A more satisfying and transformative option is to embark on a quest to discover God on your own. Using time-tested tools of spiritual investigation, it becomes possible to examine your present beliefs, explore the nature of God and sense of self, and ultimately expand your identity. This book is a classic and introduces readers to an age-old approach to spiritual inquiry. Included are seventeen universal techniques for developing a personal relationship with God and broadening your view of yourself, others, and all of life.

God Is Not a Religion: Why America Is in Decline leads readers to ask the difficult--but necessary--questions. It probes the nature of God, His ties to the American people and their long national experiment, and the characteristics of the broadly based decline cutting across the country's social, political and cultural institutions. Then it offers a path to follow for returning to the fundamental tenets that originally grounded the country. It suggests that this road to recovery will take the American people to a place in which they reaffirm the sovereignty of God and the accountability of the nation's governmental servants. In this insightful diagnosis and prescription author James K. Karlson, a chemist and business executive, brings to bear his analytical and managerial experience, seasoned by his Christian convictions, to fill the pages of God Is Not a Religion with historically informed analysis and biblically grounded guidance. He proposes that the journey of faith beckons both to individuals and to the country. He applies his diagnosis and prescription to the many challenges facing America, such as education, racism, marriage, global climate change, taxes, and guns. God Is Not a Religion: Why America Is in Decline promises to take seriously history, theology, morality, politics, and personal responsibility as it turns a critical eye, tempered by the Christian faith, to the nation and its people. An examination of the political, moral, and spiritual decline characterized in modern American culture that offers a path for individuals and the nation to follow to return to living "under God."

In his last book, Ronald Dworkin addresses questions that men and women have asked through the ages: What is religion and what is God’s place in it? What is death and what is immortality? Based on the 2011 Einstein Lectures, Religion without God is inspired by remarks Einstein made that if religion consists of awe toward mysteries which “manifest themselves in the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, and which our dull faculties can comprehend only in the most primitive forms,” then, he, Einstein, was a religious person. Dworkin joins Einstein’s sense of cosmic mystery and beauty to the claim that value is objective, independent of mind, and immanent in the world. He rejects the metaphysics of naturalism—that nothing is real except what can be studied by the natural sciences. Belief in God is one manifestation of this deeper worldview, but not the only one. The conviction that God underwrites value presupposes a prior commitment to the independent reality of that value—a commitment that is available to nonbelievers as well. So theists share a commitment with some atheists that is more fundamental than what divides them. Freedom of religion should flow not from a respect for belief in God but from the right to ethical independence. Dworkin hoped that this short book would contribute to rational conversation and the softening of religious fear and hatred. Religion without God is the work of a humanist who recognized both the possibilities and limitations of humanity.

Christopher Hitchens, described in the London Observer as “one of the most prolific, as well as brilliant, journalists of our time” takes on his biggest subject yet–the increasingly dangerous role of religion in the world. In the tradition of Bertrand Russell’s Why I Am Not a Christian and Sam Harris’s recent bestseller, The End Of Faith, Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate case against religion. With a close and erudite reading of the major religious texts, he documents the ways in which religion is a man-made wish, a cause of dangerous sexual repression, and a distortion of our origins in the cosmos. With eloquent clarity, Hitchens frames the argument for a more secular life based on science and reason, in which hell is replaced by the Hubble Telescope’s awesome view of the universe, and Moses and the burning bush give way to the beauty and symmetry of the double helix.

In How to Believe in God, Clark Strand, an accomplished master of both Eastern and Western mystical practices, takes on the most troublesome and provocative passages from Judeo-Christian scripture, transforming the Bible into a manual of spiritual liberation for the twenty-first-century seeker. Offering a revolutionary new model of approaching the Bible, he frees those sacred scriptures from superstition, dogma, and tribalism, and in the process recovers their universal teaching on salvation and belief. Drawing on his personal experiences, including his Bible Belt upbringing, his years as a Buddhist monk, and his life as a father and husband in a small rural community, Strand makes even the most subtle spiritual teaching heartfelt and accessible. How to Believe in God illuminates a clear path to reclaiming a God that leaves nothing out and leaves no one behind. His open, gentle, pioneering approach to faith allows everyone—from churchgoing Christians to those with no religious affiliation at all—to experience the Bible in new and exciting ways.

A comparison of the cognitive foundations of religion and science and an argument that religion is cognitively natural and that science is cognitively unnatural.

Andrew Farley's experience as a Christian was first characterized by self-effort as he tried to please God at any cost. His ruthless religion resulted in spiritual burnout and disillusionment with church. Only then did he discover what relaxing in Jesus means and how enjoying God's intimate presence can transform everyday life. Using a unique story-driven format, God without Religion dismantles common religious misconceptions, revealing the true meaning of being filled with the Spirit the facts about judgment, rewards, and God's discipline the simple truth behind predestination and the divisions it causes the problem with the popular challenge to "live radical" Pulling no punches, Farley shows how the truth about these controversial issues can liberate and unify believers as we discover how to rest in the unconditional love of God.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The bestselling author of Zealot and host of Believer explores humanity’s quest to make sense of the divine in this concise and fascinating history of our understanding of God. In Zealot, Reza Aslan replaced the staid, well-worn portrayal of Jesus of Nazareth with a startling new image of the man in all his contradictions. In his new book, Aslan takes on a subject even more immense: God, writ large. In layered prose and with thoughtful, accessible scholarship, Aslan narrates the history of religion as a remarkably cohesive attempt to understand the divine by giving it human traits and emotions. According to Aslan, this innate desire to humanize God is hardwired in our brains, making it a central feature of nearly every religious tradition. As Aslan writes, “Whether we are aware of it or not, and regardless of whether we’re believers or not, what the vast majority of us think about when we think about God is a divine version of ourselves.” But this projection is not without consequences. We bestow upon God not just all that is good in human nature—our compassion, our thirst for justice—but all that is bad in it: our greed, our bigotry, our penchant for violence. All these qualities inform our religions, cultures, and governments. More than just a history of our understanding of God, this book is an attempt to get to the root of this humanizing impulse in order to develop a more universal spirituality. Whether you believe in one God, many gods, or no god at all, God: A Human History will challenge the way you think about the divine and its role in our everyday lives. Praise for God “Timely, riveting, enlightening and necessary.”—HuffPost “Tantalizing . . . Driven by [Reza] Aslan’s grace and curiosity, God . . . helps us pan out from our troubled times, while asking us to consider a more expansive view of the divine in contemporary life.”—The Seattle Times “A fascinating exploration of the interaction of our humanity and God.”—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “[Aslan’s] slim, yet ambitious book [is] the story of how humans have created God with a capital G, and it’s thoroughly mind-blowing.”—Los Angeles Review of Books “Aslan is a born storyteller, and there is much to enjoy in this intelligent survey.”—San Francisco Chronicle