Away With All Gods!: Unchaining the Mind and Radically Changing the World

274 Pages·2008·12.652 MB·English

by  Bob Avakian

AWAY WITH ALL GODS!
Unchaining the Mind and
Radically Changing the World
Bob Avakian
Insight Press + Chicago

Praise for
AWAY WITH ALL GODS!
Unchaining The Mind And Radically Changing The World
“Bob Avakian has written the first book in years that makes me actually
want to re-read the Bible, but this time as freaky horror show, weirded
out fiction and gothic nightmare.
“Everyone should read Away With All Gods because it is necessary,
critical and timely, but also because it is a book written with joy and
humor. Avakian has a whole lot of fun mocking the absurdities of those
who should be called ‘god-botherin fools’—never better than when he
retells old Richard Pryor routines about Cleveland or reminds us of the
hypocrisy of Ronald Reagan as Christian leader while wife Nancy reads
the tarot. The trouble is that the people who go in for this religious-
fantasy foolishness are serious, and they must be stopped. Avakian
shows how and why.
“Pointing out that the myth that Zapata had not been killed and
would return to fight again some day was flawed because it overlooked
the fact that he was just as dead as was the resurrected Jesus; showing
that Mel Gibsons ‘Passion of the Christ’ movie perpetuates an anti-
Jewish slander that the mob killed the son of God; equally critical
of contortions such as the one where the Quran is as fair to women
thieves as it is to men (cut off their hands’ if they do not repent); and
skewering Christopher Hitchens’ whose critique of religion is just as
much an anti-Muslim tirade (‘God is not great’) as is the US War on
Terror; Avakian eviscerates all manner of soft thinking on issues that
have a mysterious afterlife in popular thought today.
“Avakian has answers as to why religious fundamentalism (Christian
or Islamic) is on the rise, and he does this not with candles and mirrors,
dark robes and incense, but rather a philosophico-political analysis and
a program for change. These are things we really need to hear.
Professor John Hutnyk. Professor, Academic Director, Centre for Cultural
Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London; author of Bad Marxism:
Capitalism and Cultural Studies
“While Bob Avakian comes from a decidedly different perspective
on religion than myself, there are many shared views on the need
for human emancipation. His new book opens up a much needed
conversation about the role of religion and spiritual belief in the overall
fight for justice, along with questions of morality and what it will take
to bring about an end to white supremacy and patriarchy.
Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr. President, Hip-Hop Caucus
“Forceful, scathing, and timely. While I did not personally agree with
everything Bob Avakian has to say in this book, I found his arguments
cogently articulated and provocatively put forth. Angry, humorous,
provocative, and hopeful in equal measure, this was an enjoyable and
engaging read.’
Phil Zuckerman, Associate Professor of Sociology, Pitzer College; author of
Society Without God (NYU Press, 2008)
“God has been used to justify every kind of atrocity for thousands
of years. Bob Avakian says, ‘god does not exist and heres why. This
proposition is so radically different from what people around here are
told. It makes me want to get a deeper understanding of communism
and how everything could be different for humanity:
22 year old Black man from Harlem
“Bold, wide-ranging, down-to-earth, provocative. One needn't be a
Marxist to learn a lot from this work. I especially like the forthright
critique of the obfuscating epistemology of religion, and of religion's
appalling consequences for women.
Laura Purdy, McCullough Distinguished Visiting Professor of Philosophy,
Hamilton College, 2007-08; Ruth and Albert Koch Professor of Humanities,
and Professor of Philosophy, Wells College
“When I joined the Black Panther Party we had mandatory readings.
This book needs to be mandatory reading for everybody, especially
young people, and definitely not put away somewhere in a left-wing
literature section. This world is upside down-topsy turvy-and lots of
people havent actually studied what that Bible says. Bob Avakian has.
He exposes the hypocritical bullshit. He brings it down hard and plain,
cold and simple. He goes into history and morality. This book is serious
reading’
Eric G., former Black Panther member
“Whether readers enthusiastically embrace or reject its claims and
arguments, Away With All Gods! is a book that cannot be ignored.
This is especially so at a time when religion continues to negotiate
a sweetheart deal with leviathan capital, when the Christian Recon-
structionist/Dominionist movement tries to seize the helm of the
corporate-state-military-media complex, when the apocalypticism of
the American empire lurches perilously forward and when religion and
capitalism/imperialism become more tightly woven together than ever
before.’
Peter McLaren, Professor, Graduate School of Education and Information
Studies, University of California; author of Che Guevara, Paulo Freire, and the
Pedagogy of Revolution.
“Bob Avakian’s “Away With All Gods” is more than an apologia for
humanism. Well and engagingly written, Mr. Avakian succeeds once
again in confronting his reader with authoritative, fact-based challenges
to our most basic beliefs. With this kind of thinking and writing, Avakian
may just spearhead a return to the Age of Reason:
Harry Lennix, actor, instructor
Copyright © 2008 by Bob Avakian. All rights reserved.
Published in 2008 by Insight Press.
Printed in U.S.A.
FIRST EDITION
Paperback:
ISBN 13: 978-0-9760236-8-5
ISBN 10: 0-9760236-8-7
Hardcover:
ISBN 13: 978-0-9760236-9-2
ISBN 10: 0-9760236-9-5
CONTENTS
Publisher's Note.......... 00... cece cece ccene eee e cece eenneeeeenseneeees ix
Part One:
Where Did God Come From... And Who Says We Need God?.......... l
“God Works in Mysterious Ways’.............ceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 3
A Cruel and Truly Monstrous God......c.ec.e .cee. ee. ee.e e.nee.ee s 4
The Bible, Taken Literally, Is a Horror...............c0cceeeeceeeees 15
Christian Fundamentalists, Christian Fascists.................0005 16
Seeing Jesus in a True Light ......... 0. ccc cece cece cence eee n ees 18
What About the Ten Commandments?..................0cceeeees 28
No New Testament Without the Old ........ccc. cc.e .ce.ce. e.ee 31
Fundamentalist and “Salad Bar” Christianity ...................05. 32
Religion and Oppressive Ruling Classes.................e.ee. ee eees 38
Evolution, the Scientific Method—and Religious Obscurantism. ... 43
If Gods Do Not Exist, Why Do People Believe in Them?............ 46
Why Do People Believe in Different Gods? ....6.c c.ec.e e.ee. ee ns 52
Part Two:
Christianity, Judaism, and Islam—Rooted In The Past,
Standing In the Way of the Future..........................e:eee. 59
The Historical Development and Role of Christianity:
Doctrines and Power Politics......... 0.0 c ccc ccc e ect neee ee n eee 61
Christianity as a New Religion: The Pivotal Role and
Influence of Paul......... 0. ccc eee c eee eee eee n nee teen een e nes 72
Demystifying Jesus and Christianity......s.s .se.es. s.ee.n .ee.e .ees 8]
Islam Is No Better (and No Worse) Than Christianity .............. 84
Religious Fundamentalism, Imperialism and
the “War on Terror’ ........ 00 cece cece te tee eee e net n enn e nes 96
Why Is Religious Fundamentalism Growing in Today's Worid?....102
Rejecting the “Smug Arrogance of the Enlightened” ............-. 113
The Growth of Religion and Religious Fundamentalism:
A Peculiar Expression ofa Fundamental Contradiction ........... 114
Vii
Part Three: Religion—a Heavy, Heavy Chain....................
Religion, Patriarchy, Male Supremacy and Sexual Repression. .....
The Bible Belt Is the Lynching Belt: Slavery, White Supremacy
and Religion in AMEriCa........ 66. cece cece ence n ene nee n eens
Christian Fascism and Genocide ......c.ec.e .cec.e c.ec.e .een s
Religion, Fundamentalism, and the Slave Mentality...............
Part Four: God Does Not Exist—
We Need Liberation Without Gods..........c.ec.e .ce.ce. w.ee.s
The “Left Hand of God”—And the Right Way to Go About
Winning Liberation0.0.. .c c.ec.e. e.ee. ee.e .e e.ee .e .een s
The Myth of the Truthfulness and Positive Role of
Religious Myth. ......... cece cece cece eee ence een e eee e ene e ene
Reason Has Not “Failed Us’—Reason Is Absolutely Necessary—
Though, In Itself, It Is Not Enough....0.. .cec.e c.ec.e e.ee .ee.e e es
Religious “Faith’—Let’s Call It What It Is: /rrational ...............
God Does Not Exist—And There Is No Good Reason to
Believe In God ........ cc ccc ce cc een ne cen c ee ceeteeceeeneevens
Religion as an Opiate of the People—And an Obstacle to
EMaANCipation ....... ccc cece eee eee ence eee eee eee e en ee ees
There Is No Such Thing As Unchanging, and Unchangeable,
Human Nature 1.0... 0... c eee cere e reer eee eeeaens
vill
PUBLISHERS NOTE
This book is based on two talks by Bob Avakian, one in 2004,
entitled “God Does Not Exist—We Need Liberation Without Gods”;
and a more recent talk, “Communism and Religion: Getting Up
and Getting Free—Making Revolution to Change the Real World,
Not Relying on ‘Things Unseen,” (part of 7 Talks given by Avakian
in 2006). For the purposes of publishing this as a book, the texts
of the two talks have been combined (along with the text of a por-
tion of the remarks by the author at the conclusion of the 7 Talks in
2006). This involved a significant amount of editing on the part of
the author—rearranging parts of the combined text, rewriting cer-
tain passages to effect smoother transitions and greater continuity
and clarity, and removing redundancy where it did not seem helpful.
In addition to citations for material quoted or referenced (most of
which is included within the body of the text), footnotes have been
added by the author to further clarify and in some cases to elaborate
on certain points.
At the same time, while what is published here is a written text
(and while it is not possible to reproduce in this form the effect in
the places where, in the course of these talks, Avakian sings lines
from a song or enacts a comedy routine), an effort has been made
to retain not only the essential content and substance but also, as
much as possible, the style and flavor of the original, spoken material
(including by indicating, in brackets within the text, the responses of
the audience at various points). On the whole we believe the result,
as with Bob Avakian's talks and writings in general, is a work that is
both substantial and lively, controversial and challenging—combin-
ing, to paraphrase a passage in another book by Avakian, a solemn
sense of purpose with a lively and penctrating sense of humor.