Away With All Gods!

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on May 7, 2009 at 9:23am

Never heard of it, but it looks like it may be interesting. As I've said before: so many books, so little time.

Permalink Reply by Aiden on May 7, 2009 at 10:29am

This is a problem I am currently faced with as well. I'm currently in the middle of Dan Barker's Godless, Al Franken's The Truth (with jokes), and A Devil's Chaplain by Richard Dawkins.

If you don't already listen to the Atheists Talk Radio podcast, I'd suggest listening to that interview with Sunsara Taylor.

Permalink Reply by Ralph Dumain on May 7, 2009 at 10:33am

I acquired Avakian's book last summer and read parts of it. It's neither the best nor the worst book of its type. I'll have to dig up my notes to recover what I thought about the book last year. I think I started with Avakian's take on the black church.

Permalink Reply by Aiden on May 7, 2009 at 11:42am

Excellent, I look forward to reading your notes if you're able to find them.

Permalink Reply by Ralph Dumain on May 7, 2009 at 12:19pm

I'm still looking, but guess what: I wrote a blog post on the subject I had forgotten:

http://reasonsociety.blogspot.com/2008/06/away-with-all-gods-1.html

Permalink Reply by Ralph Dumain on May 7, 2009 at 12:29pm

Here is an excerpt from an email I wrote on Avakian's book:

6/20/08:

. . . I read parts of the book, but I didn't begin at the beginning. I began with the chapter on slavery and proceeded from there, as I was interested in the treatment of the civil rights movement, the black church, and contemporary figures like that gasbag Michael Lerner. I will write more about this when I get some slack.

I was not happy with the treatment of Martin Luther King. Much more could be said about the politics of black clergy and the role of superstitious thinking among the black working class and educated middle class. I thought Lerner got off lightly, though Avakian did highlight some of Lerner's subjective arbitrary ridiculous opinions. I think Avakian also referred to Lerner as a narcissist, which I called Lerner to his face several years before he became a rabbi.