The Book Your Church Doesnt Want You to Read

463 Pages·2012·9.41 MB·English

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CONTRIBUTORS: I
Steve Allen Thomas Jefferson
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Dan Barker Dr. Gerald Larue m
Edd Doerr Jordan Maxwell )>
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Dr. Robert Eisenman Arthur Melville
Dr. F-occo Errico Austin Miles •
Annie Laurie Gaylor Alan Snow
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Dr. Stephan Hoeller Sherwin Wine
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Distributed by ... 0
ISBN 0-939040-15-8
A&B DISTRIBUTORS 0
Brooklyn, New York, 11238
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9 780939 040155 TS
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The Book Your Church
Doesn't Want You
To Read
Editor
Tim C. Leedom
Editor: Tim C. Leedom
Technical Editor: Willam B. Lindley
Product Development: Bonnie Lange
Cover .Design: Marita Bonazza
Laser Typesetting: Sam Warren
Graphics Coodinator: Nancy Melton
Truth Seeker Company, Inc.
Publisher:
Those interested in contacting authors and contributors to this book
may contact:
The Truth Seeker Company
P. 0. Box 28550
San Diego, CA 92198
800-551-53 28
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrival system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means electronic, me
chanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission - except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical ar
ticles or reviews. For information address: Truth Seeker Co., Inc., 239 S. Ju
niper Street, Escondido, CA 92025 USA
Distributed by:
A & B Distributing Inc.
Brooklyn, New York
718-783-7808
Copyright ©2003 by The Truth Seeker Company, Inc.
ISBN: 0-939040-15-8
First printing August 1993
Second printing June 1995
Third printing September 2001
Fourth printing February 2003
Library of Congress Catalog No. 93-78087
Printed in Canada 10 9 8 7 6 5
NOTE: If you purchased this book without a cover you should be
aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as "unsold
and destroyed" to the publisher, and neither the author nor the pub
lisher has received any payment for this "stripped book."
Go forth, my book, and take whatever
pounding
The heavy-fisted destinies prepare.
I know you are not anything
astounding,
And, to be quite sincere, I don't much
care.
Get off your overcoat. The gong is
sounding.
The enemy has risen from his chair.
He doesn't look so overwhelming, but
His arm is long. Watch for an
uppercut.
-Leonard Bacon
Go forth, my book, and take whatever
pounding
The heavy-fisted destinies prepare.
I know you are not anything
astounding,
And, to be quite sincere, I don't much
care.
Get off your overcoat. The gong is
sounding.
The enemy has risen from his chair.
He doesn't look so overwhelming, but
His arm is long. Watch for an
uppercut.
-Leonard Bacon
'
Preface
The
Book you are holding in your hands is delivered to you with
the hope that some fires will be ignited in your mind. The editor and
authors who have spent years of study, research and investigation
share in a general point of view -the view that the religious beliefs
held by many people in the United States and other countries are
totally unfounded. The Book has incorporated a hard look at beliefs,
evidence, stories, churches and acts of omission and commission.
The foundation of The Book is the spirit of free inquiry, from the
ancient Greeks - Protagoras, Socrates and others - through the
Renaissance humanism of Erasmus and Spinoza, followed by the
Enlightenment-Voltaire, John Locke, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jef
ferson- to the present secular culture of great scientific achieve
ments. All through these times, those who thought for themselves,
who explored new questions and found new answers, had to con
tend with the repressions of religious orthodoxy. This was in
evitable, since their work was a mortal challenge to old ways of
thinking. We who stand on their shoulders thank them.
None of the scholars or theologians who have contributed to The
Book is naive to the point of believing that this anthology will create
a "Rapture" in reverse. Knowing the reaction of established religion
in the past to critique and examination, we anticipate a strong
response by those who won't even read The Book. These leaders and
followers continually take the attitude "don't bother me with facts;
I've already made up my mind."
The Book is an inquiry into crucial issues of today. These issues
need examination, for we are now all villagers in the global electronic
village of the world of which social commentator Marshall McLuhan
spoke 30 years ago. As McLuhan pointed out, the "potential is
tremendous for the advancement of knowledge and understanding
through television and electronics." However, he went on to warn,
"the reverse of this is chilling." The reverse of "the advancement of
knowl edge and understanding" is "the retreat of knowledge and the
diminution of understanding," also known as brainwashing, dumb
ing down and bubble gum for the mind. Both the adv:ance and the
retreat are happening, in fulfillment of McLuhan's prophecy.
iii
The Book sets its tone with Robert Ingersoll and Thomas Paine. It
does not back off from the challenge and exposure of the Bible and
religion. The mere mention of pagan origins, astrotheology and
mythology always brings howls of protest and denial from the
church. The Book makes more than mere mention: it shows religion
for what it is.
You will not find the uniformity of belief that you find in a
religious tract. There are some lively disagreements among our
authors. This is fitting in a book meant to challenge.
Discovering the truth of the evidence of other Saviors and of
stories identical to many in the Old and New Testaments, which
appeared one thousand years before Jesus, will be unsettling, as will
the exposure of modern-day abuses and policies in the name of God.
To be sure, just as many will be shocked by these facts, many will
be surprised by the number of intelligent, patriotic, sincere and kind
men and women who do not embrace the God of the Bible. Despite
the pronouncements of U.S. Presidents, like Teddy Roosevelt's call
ing Thomas Paine "that filthy little atheist," or Ronald Reagan's
claim," the atheists expelled God from school," the truth will prevail
even against the tele-evangelists who have made the marketing of
religion a fine art.
A final word. This is not an anti-religious book. The search for the
meaning of life started long before Moses, Jesus, Mohammed or
organized religion. The Book is a reference book that is meant to be
challenging and informative.
Many religious people are kind, peace-loving and good. Many are
not. Whether it is the belief system that molds them or their nature,
it is hard to say. Most are woefully misinformed and underexposed
to material that could change them for the better. But literacy takes
reading, change takes effort and enlightenment takes courage. In the
end, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
(John 8:32)
-Tim C. Leedom, Editor
ABOUT THE EDITOR: Tim C. Leedom was educated at the
University of Kansas, and completed his studies at the University of
Hawaii, was the recipient of several fellowships in journalism and
political science. He served as an aide to both the Governor and Lt.
Governor of Hawaii, and was an administrative aide in the Hawaii
State Legislature in the 1960's and 70's. He has been involved in
religious research for the past decade.
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Introduction
There seem to be three subjects which are among the most
important things in life ... politics, sex and religion. However, along
the way, some wise sage coached the general population that these
three subjects should never be discussed. I suggest to you that those
sages - the politician and those who wanted to put someone
(generally a spouse or sexual partner) in some kind of sexual
bondage, and the religious leader - were the very ones who would
profit most from a lack of discussion on any of those subjects.
I do not want to address the subject of politics or sex here, but
rather what is commonly referred to as religion. I grew up in central
Texas in one of the most fundamentalist Christian regions in
America. One positive thing it provided was a respect for forces
greater than man, a respect for history, and certainly a respect for
some very basic concepts of interpersonal behavior. But it did little
more, other than to demonstrate vividly that there is no connection
between the evolution of the spirit of man and his adherence to ritual,
ceremony and rote memory as dictated by some religious
organization's edict.
The relationship between you, your spirit and the Creator of the
Universe is a deeply personal matter. There can be no middle-man
in this relationship. Not your parents, not your minister, not a
bishop, nor any other self-appointed representative of God, such as
the Pope and his phalanx of underlings. How absurd to think that
another human being could be the representative of the Creator of
the Universe, for us humans living on this planet!
Let us look at some vital facts:
Because of religion, more human beings have been murdered,
tortured, maimed, denigrated, discriminated against, humiliated,
hated and scorned than for any other reason in the totality of the
history of man.
Today the only wars under way are religious wars. Arabs are
killing Jews and vice versa. Ethnically religious groups are killing
ethnically religious groups in the aftermath of the demise of the
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Soviet Union. Arabs of one religion are killing Arabs of another.
Catholics and Protestants are killing each other in Ireland and the
British Isles. There is an endless list of clashes in Africa and the
emerging nations of Southeast Asia.
Religion, more than politics and economics, kills and cripples
humankind. There has never in all known history been a genocide
of any kind which was not fueled by religion. Every religious or
ganization on Earth is designed to gain economic and political power
for those in the religion. Look at it closely and you will see for
yourself.
I look at my family and friends in those fundamentalist religious
organizations in central Texas. They are bound by ideas which are
not true. They believe in myths as if they were fact. They grow old
early in life. The wonderful personal resources available to them are
stifled and lost. Their lives become boring and non-productive un
less they free themselves from the concepts imposed upon them by
their religions.
In this book, you will find that the story of Jesus and the
"crucifiction" has been played out sixteen times over the last ten
thousand years. You are also going to find ideas about religion that
the Pope and other religious leaders don't want you to read or
understand. Because if you do read and understand, you will no
longer be a part of their group. What this means is that you will no
longer provide them with funds, and you will no longer be a number
which will give them political clout.
There are three major changes under way now in the affairs of all
mankind. First is politics. We have seen the demise of Communism,
and other such non-humane political concepts will fall as well. We
are beginning to see the end of a long-established economic tyranny,
which for centuries has gripped the affairs of nations, including ours.
To these we add religion, the most crippling detriment of them all
to the evolution of humankind. All of these changes are coming as
we enter the "new age", now upon us. This work addresses itself
most admirably to this vital effort.
-Bill Jenkins, former ABC talk show host.
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