The wars of religion.
343077
The letter, exposures the realities of religion.  The conflicts have torn apart the world we all live in. This is why I accept no religion.
3068871
I discovered this edition of the "Bloody Tenent" through the Althouse portal. (Thank you!)  Although I taught Political Science in college, I took time in American Government classes to discuss this book and the English Reformation Wars, a subject not normally taught in those classes.  The argument Althouse was making on her blog is one I discussed:  Roger Williams thought that the greater danger of an established church was to the soul of Christianity,  not as much to the government itself.  Williams argued that the religious wars that had begun in the 1500's had corrupted the Christian religion.  These wars  were mostly about what religious beliefs would be legal, who would have the authority to decide that, and who would benefit  and be subsidized in the form of mandatory tithes to an established church.  These wars, Williams argued, would not have been condoned by Jesus Christ, the prince of peace.

Williams believed and preached the importance of individual religious conscience. This led to his banishment from Massachusetts Colony, which Williams had come to see as a Puritan tyranny.  Williams eventually made a land deal with the Narragansett Indian tribe for a tract of land to form a colony which eventually became the state of Rhode Island.  He was eventually granted the Rhode Island Royal Colonial Charter guaranteeing freedom of religion.  He also wrote this booklet, "The Bloody Tenent" in 1644.

When the issue was raised in the drafting of the Constitution and the subsequent Bill of Rights, Jefferson and Madison were persuaded that an establishment of one religion would corrupt the government.  Williams would have agreed, but the greater danger of an established church, he would have argued, was to the church itself.  He would have cited the reign of terror under the Puritans during the Cromwell era  and the ultimate downfall of the Puritans in England.

All of that said, the Kindle coding at the beginning of this book is a mess and should be fixed if possible.
2669755
A detailed look into the traditional religions and how they changed and suffered with the advent of Christianity.  The stories are eclectic.  The writing is good, but tends to take too many words to make the point.  I was not always of aware of the conflicts between the old and Christianity as I read detailed accounts of the old.  Sometimes the old material was too focused on single rituals or episodes in the old with out adequate discussion of what the old really was.  Not my first choice for the topic.
427987
A religion of peace, my eye!  This book carefully and methodically disabuses one of the notion that this "religion" is based on anything but greed and avarice.  It is clear that from its beginning fourteen centuries ago the sole intent is to conquer the world, causing everyone to convert, submit, or die.  Those who claim otherwise are blind to reality.
2937977
The book is about the vanishing minority religions of the Middle East: Non-standard Moslem, Christian and pre-Christian.  They aren't only forgotten, they are rapidly becoming extinct.  This is a change; until recently they were only slowly fading away.  Modernization has both good and bad effects, but it definitely fosters rapid change.  The author notes that several of these religions are gnostic in the sense that only the priests know what the theological content of the religion is and the ordinary members do not.  The discussion of the beliefs, the function of the beliefs in peoples' lives and the results of not knowing the beliefs is interesting.  I was surprised to learn that by now migration has meant that the US is now the demographic center for several of the smaller groups, though the hierarchy is still mostly in the Middle East.
75763
Amazing that the churches at time had so much control over conflicts, cities and countries.  That they behaved in such an awful manner is contrary to the teach of Jesus.  In the church for themselves.
312968
This theme is the greatest threat to religion since evolutionary biology.. well founded in research and sound reasoning.. and, thank goodness, short.
3643133
Excellent expose of the extreme danger of Religion as opposed to true Christianity in our world that has lost its way !!!!
1559213
The contents of Morey's book are familiar from many previous Christian polemics against Islam-a dubious look at the Prophet Muhammad's life, at Islamic theology, and at Muslim history-but the intent is different.  In bygone eras, such a study would have had a missionary purpose; now, as the title and subtitle both imply, it is defensive.  Christians no longer expect to take their faith to the Muslims but fear conversions of their own to Islam.  The back cover asks, "As mosques appear across the country, people are asking -- `What do I need to know about Islam?'"
Morey, executive director of the Research and Education Foundation, "an organization which investigates topics that affect Western culture and values," offers an alarming answer.  He sees Islam primarily as "a form of cultural imperialism"  that seeks to impose the ways of seventh-century Arabia on twentieth-century America.  To back this up, he tells of visiting an African-American household and finding that its members "wore Arab clothing, listened to Arab music, and ate Arab food! . . .  They had abandoned American culture and adopted Arabian culture instead.  This is what Islam meant to them. "  He also cites a poll from the height of the Kuwait war which showed that  percent of Arab Muslims in the United States said they would not allow a child to fight for the United States and against Iraq.  Also in this spirit, the final chapter deals with the Nation of Islam, arguing against it in roughly the same way as the earlier chapters did against mainstream Islam.
Middle East Quarterly:  Islam in the United States December, 1998
111439
There IS a world and a war beyond our human senses and understanding. This book give a face to the battle being waged in the spiritual realm and the power of prayer to effect that battle!
4957992
Great illustration concerning the spiritual battle for the control of our minds.
4353594
The conflict between the Hasid Jewish community and American law has been in the news so much in the last five years, whereas 20 years ago it was unheard of. To bring criminal proceedings against a Hasidic Rabbi, school, or place of worship was almost a taboo at the time. These people were the countrys model minority, always trusted by the nation, always beyond reproach. That moral immunity is gone now, and everyones asking why.

The Pious Ones is an unbiased look at the conflicts in places like Brooklyn, Monsey, Kiryas Joel, told in a straightforward manner. The author is strictly reporting the results without trying to draw conclusions, though Im not sure how well that works. He devotes a chapter to the Rockland County Hasidic community, who set up prayer rooms in their basements, then clashed with the officials over the fire codes. The owners of the houses were definitely in violation of the law; if a fire started, the stampeding crowd would jam the exit. The Rabbis, however, put up a fight with the public safety departments. They called names, made accusations, and behaved in a way that wouldve been forbidden in earlier years. Back in the 1960s, no Hasidic leader wouldve put up a fight with the county. If he feared anything more than God, it was the idea of looking bad to the non-Jews. Nowadays, that doesnt seem to be a problem.

Further, the author discusses how the Hasidic population is ballooning. With families of 8 kids, one every 18 months, and early marriage, thats a whole lot of people to deal with. A lot of people in one sect means they can vote as a block, creating a hurdle for Councilmen, Mayors, and Congressmen. Keep in mind, these families are poorly educated and reliant on public welfare, so theyll vote for whomever promises them money. Theres also the issue of sexual abuse, and the number of kids plays a part. Look at it this way; a pedophile works in a school, has access to lots of little boys, molests half the kids, and three years later they're all teenagers who molest younger kids. Thats going to strain social services, strain the criminal justice system, and strain the states mental health budget.

Maybe this book is a wake up call. Hasidic overpopulation will get worse down the road.
3353105
I wanted to get some idea about Islam as a religion to try to understand better the things going on now.  The book was enlightening in that respect.  The political maneuvering that went on early in the life of Islam seems to have defined the various belief streams in the religion from peacefulness and kindness to violence and from tremendous tolerance to intolerance.  Those extremes were present in early Islam and they are still present today.  And the struggles between the different belief streams are as present now as they were 14 centuries ago in the early years of the religion.
1633368
Glad the world religion's come together like a large piece of the puzzle yesterday -;).  I already knew that they were all astronomically correlated...I just didn't know xactly where.
280421
There is so much religious nonsense passed off as critical thinking and honest discourse these days that David Silverman decided it's time to fight back. If you've grown tired of religion, any religion, being presented as truth, wisdom, and the only source of our morality, read this book. David calls for an activist approach, an in-you-face type of reaction whenever anyone begins spouting that "America is a Christian nation", that "In God We Trust" has always been our nation's motto, or that "One Nation Under God" has always been a part of the Pledge of Allegiance. All three of those are false but most of us have simply not challenged them when some fundamentalist made the claim that they are. While most of the book is aimed at Christianity, his examples can apply to any religion: Islam, Mormonism, Hinduism, Judaism, Scientology...you name it. Throughout the book Mr. Silverman makes it clear he is not talking about fighting people. All people who still believe in the ancient myths: from the Greek, Roman, Norse, Sumerian and Egyptian stories, down to the three major Abrahamic religions that still entrap people today, are victims. They are victims of propaganda and coercion. All have been misled and bamboozled since they were children to believe the myths and were encouraged, and in some cases threatened, by parents who were also coerced as children to believe the religious lie. David is asking us to fight the propagating of the myth, not some supernatural being (that would first have to be proven to exist.) This is why his group puts up the billboards at Christmas questioning the belief in an ancient fable, why there's an objection to prayers at government meetings (they are almost always Christian) and why it is better if all religions gain no favoritism in this country. Let them all vie on a level playing field.
This approach won't appeal to everyone, mainly because some non-believers are afraid to let anyone know they don't believe the fables, the myths and the camp fire stories passed down in the holy books. They feel they will risk too much. And that is understandable since, when the churches did have great power less than 500 years ago, people who expressed those views would be burned at the stake. But we as Americans deserve better. We were handed a secular government and nation by our Forefathers and it is time to reclaim what is rightfully ours.
In essence, this book picks up where Christopher Hitchens left off in "God is Not Great".
2374990
THE ALGERIAN CONFLICT WAS ROOTED IN THE DISTANT PAST WITH RELIGION AND COLONIALISM THE MAIN ROOTS OF THE CONFLICT. YERAS OF MISERY AND DEATH FOLLOWED.
3932374
A former CIA spook takes a look at theology, history and politics and comes up with a provocative, extended essay that challenges consensus opinion.  Not sure I fully agree with all the conclusions, but I sure was provoked into thinking about this issue from another perspective.  Seems to me like fundamentalists of the three major religions are destroying our world.  Check out this askew view from a lofty, perhaps informed, perspective.  I'm still mulling this one over.  The title alone should get your attention.  We need to stop killing in the name of God or Allah and keep talking to each other about our differences and our beliefs.  We are one family.  When will we learn?