Nicolas Coster

The editor of this book started with a simple premise: what you know about god, faith, your religion, the Bible-all that is dead wrong. And in some ways, this compilation did a good job illustrating that. He collected various writings to explain all the reasons why religion is a bit screwy, though I don't think he is successful at showing that belief in god is screwy. I think he does a better job of showing that blind acceptance of religious precepts and blind dismissal of other ideas is show more foolish because it makes no logical sense to think your ideas are any better than someone else's. This might be a better way of showing why religious tolerance is important. show less

In the new megaanthology from bestselling editor Russ Kick, more than fifty writers, reporters, and researchers invade the inner sanctum for an unrestrained look at the wild and wooly world of organized belief.Richard Dawkins shows us the strange, scary properties of religion/ Neil Gaiman turns a biblical atrocity story into a comic (that almost sent a publisher to prison)/ Erik Davis looks at what happens when religion and California collide/ Mike Dash eyes stigmatics/ Douglas Rushkoff show more exposes the trouble with Judaism/ Paul Krassner reveals his "Confessions of an Atheist"/ and bestselling lexicographer Jonathon Green interprets the language of religious prejudice.Among the dozens of other articles and essays, you'll find: a sweeping look at classical composers and Great American Songbook writers who were unbelievers, such as Irving Berlin, creator of "God Bless America"/ the definitive explanation of why America is not a Christian nation/ the bizarre, Catholicfundamentalist books by Mel Gibson's father/ eyepopping photos of bizarre religious objects and ceremonies, including snakehandlers and potsmoking children/ the thinly veiled antiSemitism in the Left Behind novels/ an extract from the rare, suppressed book The Sex Life of Brigham Young/ and rarely seen antireligious writings from Mark Twain and H.G. Wells.Further topics include exorcisms, religious curses, Wicca, the Church of John Coltrane, crimes by clergy, death without God, Christian sex manuals, the "exgay" movement, failed prophecies, bizarre theology, religious bowling, atheist rock and roll, "how to be a good Christian," an entertaining look at the best (and worst) books on religion, and much more. show less

Like any collection of essays, this has some wonderful entries that are dead one, some mediocre entries, and a couple of outright bad ones, but the overall net is good, partially because the book is carried along by some particularly heavy hitters who are also good writers.

Not a bad collection of essays on religion and spirituality. Like all collections there are some really good essays and some really bad ones. I would recommend skipping the last section of the book as it is poorly written and doesn't even attempt to be objective.

The book presents a good cross-section for the Big Five religions.

Try it.