What do you think?
Rate this book
A New Religion
This book contains information that can help you make decisions about what and who to believe, or not believe, and why. Religions, which are human inventions, ultimately fail to deliver what they most claim to universal peace and harmony. Instead, they always seem to become instruments of conflict and engines of war. It must surely be possible to embrace the spirituality in us all while avoiding those things that divide us. We've found the cosmos to be a pretty roomy place, filled with wonders discovered and yet to be discovered. Filled with infinite space. Our expanding universe inspires an expanding consciousness which gives us welcome alternatives to territorial ferocity on this tiny, turquoise jewel of a planet. A New Religion traces the roads from the past that brought us to where we find our world today. And it offers hope for tomorrow . . .
302 pages, Paperback
First published April 29, 2013
2 people are currently reading
201 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Read
August 7, 2013In "A New Religion," many critical ideas and understandings about religion are affirmed, clarified, and condensed into a useful, even satisfying, narrative. Mr. Schumacher uses a bit of humor to punctuate his historical review of religion's past, but manages to thrust mightily against the pervasive weight religion holds over the ways of mankind. He wields impressive command over the full array of not only historical fact, but also science, weaving a story showing how the reality of scientific fact is always countered by stubbornly entrenched religion.
The reader is led through the dynamics of the process of religion development, liberal and even spiritual at its initiation, then falling into rigid conservativeness ever after.
The book's subtitle could easily be, as the author states in one of the chapters: "This book is not about the good that religion has done; it's about the bad."
It's easy to see the reasonableness in Mr. Schumacher's argument, yet one wonders how many of the entrenched religious will ever open these pages. They should. If they respect their beliefs, they at least owe it to themselves to see how much of their faith remains after this careful dismantling. Perhaps they would mount some small defense of religion's bloody past, its stubborn dogma even in the face of fact. Most importantly, the "religionists" must be made aware of the truly terrifying threat posed by modern weapons of mass destruction in the hands of religious zealots willing to sacrifice themselves-and everyone else-in the name of their god.
I found the cogent discussion of the past and present Arab dilemma useful and interesting.
In spite of rather heavy front matter, the book itself is an accessible and thorough analysis, no doubt targeted to the non-academic. The author clearly cares about the issue, and goes so far in the last chapter as to offer a modest proposal as to how a new religion might frame itself.
At the asking price for the e-book version, this thoughtful work is a steal!
The reader is led through the dynamics of the process of religion development, liberal and even spiritual at its initiation, then falling into rigid conservativeness ever after.
The book's subtitle could easily be, as the author states in one of the chapters: "This book is not about the good that religion has done; it's about the bad."
It's easy to see the reasonableness in Mr. Schumacher's argument, yet one wonders how many of the entrenched religious will ever open these pages. They should. If they respect their beliefs, they at least owe it to themselves to see how much of their faith remains after this careful dismantling. Perhaps they would mount some small defense of religion's bloody past, its stubborn dogma even in the face of fact. Most importantly, the "religionists" must be made aware of the truly terrifying threat posed by modern weapons of mass destruction in the hands of religious zealots willing to sacrifice themselves-and everyone else-in the name of their god.
I found the cogent discussion of the past and present Arab dilemma useful and interesting.
In spite of rather heavy front matter, the book itself is an accessible and thorough analysis, no doubt targeted to the non-academic. The author clearly cares about the issue, and goes so far in the last chapter as to offer a modest proposal as to how a new religion might frame itself.
At the asking price for the e-book version, this thoughtful work is a steal!
October 9, 2016
It was a book that took me quite some time to read through, it has some solid research, good pacing and a lot of detail. But it lacks a spark, at least fro me. It is pleasurable and informative, but did not stand out. I know there will be other people who will enjoy it for sure, and I will pass it along gladly for others to read.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews