Routledge , 2007 352 pages

By Grant Steves

American atheists are familiar with and focused on Christianity in its various forms. However, it is important for us to expand our knowledge of what religion is and how it operates in various cultures. In understanding the evolution of religion, we will understand its role in any society, regardless of the dogma that is manifested.

Dr. Eller defines religion as a "profoundly human and social phenomenon - arising from an addressing intellectual, emotional, and social source - in which the nonhuman and ‘supernatural' are seen as profoundly human and social." Religion as a social construct can be studied by scientific means. We are able to examine its elements and discover how they are developed in a particular culture.

Religion is about beliefs that explain what kinds of things exist in the world, what they are like, and what they have done. Beliefs are "‘discursive,' something to talk about and to ‘know,' both flowing from and to a view of religion and culture as a language or a ‘text' to be spoken or read."

We come to realize that belief is a fuzzy concept, and that it is culturally specific, rather than culturally universal. He informs us that some societies have no word that would translate as a belief. We are led to understand that in some cases there are at least five levels of personal belief: "acquaintance or familiarity with the belief, understanding of the belief in the conventional way, advancing the belief as ‘true,' holding the belief as important or central to the believer's life, and following the belief as a motivational or guiding force." Any belief in society will fall anywhere along this spectrum of description.

Closely related to beliefs are the symbols used to represent those beliefs. Symbols are the transcendent and abstract way of relating what religious belief is about.

Symbols and language are closely related. Language is used to communicate objective facts and subjective feelings. A subset of language is religious. It is a language that encourages humans to be consummate with nonhuman beings or agents. Humans create a language to relate to spiritual entities. Humans who direct this power of religious dimensions also use emotions. He draws the conclusion that religious talk provides those dimensions. The conclusion he arrives at is that religious talk provides a model or paradigm for human thought, action, and organization to communicate with their supernatural entities.

Observation of religion reveals behavior that is created as ritual both verbal and nonverbal. Examples are found in myths, prayer, chanting, and singing. Religion is a mode of action as well as a system of belief. Religious rituals are designed to have social effects. The rituals are believed to have healing effects or transformative influences.

Eller examines the influence of religion on a culture's morality and social order. Religion is involved in change in a society, but religion itself also changes. New religions are created during the process. These religious movements may help the revitalization of tradition or create more modern experiences.

Religion has evolved beyond the tribal experience and is now a global phenomenon. Because of this global reach and diversity of religion, it creates differences that provoke violence. These religions serve to justify violence. Religion explains the need of the violence, and the justification for perpetrating it.

Other movements create tensions and pull religion in different directions. We are pulled toward secularism and irreligion. The development of secularism confronts the religious belief system and its rituals. At the same time, fundamentalism emerges as a reaction to secularism. The tension that is created makes a resolve to expose religion as a social construct without supernatural connections. In turn the fundamentalist has the need to persuade others into accepting their return to a more conservative bend.

Eller concludes with an examination of religion in the United States as it affects the courts and Public Square.

His book has been described as one of the most "engaging, comprehensive, and compelling overviews of anthropology of religion ever published" (Stephen Glazier, Professor of Anthropology at University of Nebraska-Lincoln). It is a brilliant scientific examination of a topic that affects all humans. Eller provides an insight into religion from the viewpoint of an atheist and scientist. He provides an understanding of the religious reality that we all must have an interest in within our world.

Bart Ehrman, as the Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, has specialized and taught about the New Testament. In his latest book, Jesus, Interrupted, he reveals hidden contradictions in the bible, and why we don't know about them.

In a mixture of autobiography and biblical scholarship, Bart Ehrman tells his story of going from evangelical behavior to agnostic. It is his scholarship that uncovers the problems of the bible, but that is not the reason why he lost his faith. Its core is scholarship on the bible, but it reads at times like a mystery thriller.

His first revelation is that what he is about to reveal has been known and accepted by biblical scholars for a hundred or more years. Pastors going through seminaries learn this material, but they fail their congregation by not speaking these facts.

Religious scholars know that the gospels create problems. We know that they build on one another, and they fail the author test. Read Mark and get a basic story of Jesus, but without the birth and genealogy. Ask why? Read Luke and find all of the birth narrative and a genealogy of his father Joseph - why if he is the Son of God? Mark does not make him the Son of God from birth, but Luke does. Why? When you get to the gospel of John, you have Jesus not only the Son of God, but also a pre-existing being. We went from human being to divine being. In a theology fabricated well after the death of this Jesus, we have a myth of divinity created. However, the ministers and pastors of the churches know this - so why do they not teach this?

We know that the writers of the bible are not who we are led to believe. Mark was not a disciple. Luke was a companion of Paul and did not know personally the Jesus about whom he was writing. Therefore, who told them the story? The gospel writers Matthew and John were assumed to be disciples. They knew each other, but their stories do not resemble each other and have contradictions. Matthew writes of a human Jesus being born. John writes about the incarnate ‘Word of God' who was with god from the beginning of the universe and helped to create all things. Matthew never says a word about Jesus as a god, but for John that is what Jesus is. Matthew's focus is on Jesus as preaching the kingdom of god and nothing is said about him being god. In John, Jesus teaches about himself as a divine being. Matthew records Jesus performing miracles, but not to prove his identity, but in John, his miracles are to prove his identity. The facts are there and they contradict.

Why does Matthew not write about himself in the story? The book of John does not speak of himself - why? At the end of John (21:24), he writes, "This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true." Note how the author differentiates between his source of information, "the disciple who testifies," and himself: "we know that his testimony is true." He/we: this author is not the disciple. He claims to have gotten some of his information from the disciple. We must conclude that none of the authors were disciples and only reported what they heard.

In the fifth chapter, Ehrman asks the question: is Jesus, "Liar, Lunatic, or Lord?" The gospels should reveal this. Why do three of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, never mention that Jesus is god? Perhaps the gospel of John is the theology of John and not the teachings of Jesus. Perhaps the fourth choice is that he is a ‘legend'. However, a legend goes beyond the written biography done by a friend. Why do the contemporaneous historians, leaders, and commentators say little or nothing about Jesus? In fact, the Works of Josephus were used to prove that a secular source mentioned Jesus, but we now know this statement was fabricated.

Half of the books we have in the New Testament are not written by whom we thought.

The choice of these books for the New Testament was originally made because the churchmen of that day believed they were authentic. They made this decision over two hundred years after the books were written. They did not have the scholarly tools of analysis we have today. Scholars, ministers, and pastors know the facts surrounding the biblical story, but they fail to tell their congregation. For many people this book will reveal new information, but the fact remains it should not be new to any literate person.

By Grant Steves

The Atheist's Way: Living Well Without Gods

By Eric Maisel

New World Library

208 pages

Embracing atheism means leaving religion behind. You give up the crutch of prayer, and the unknown of spirituality. In the last few years, you may have noticed books that address spirituality and the atheist. None of these books gave an answer. They all seemed to miss the mark of recommendation; e.g., The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality by Andre Comte-Sponville, and Spirituality for the Skeptic by Robert C. Solomon.

Eric Maisel has written a book that presents The Atheist Way. In one hundred seventy-five pages, he molds an atheist way of living well without gods. What people need, according to Maisel, is to make meaning. It is our human quest to make meaning that result in an integrated person. It is this quest to make meaning that appears to distinguish humanity from other living creatures. Maisel offers a brief look at faith-based spirituality, but dismisses it: "The mind is a terrible thing to waste on superstitions, and I am thrilled to have my mind return from its indulgent philosophical wanderings." At the same time he recognizes "the lack of community and not having a ‘church home,' which may not be comprehensible to an atheist who didn't grow up in one," is something that creates meaning for some people. However, atheists are still better off despite "lacking the certainty and security of knowing I have the answer and that God is going to take care of me.... In our freedom, we are offered signature truths about reality:

"1) That human meaning is subjective and malleable; 2) that self-interest can be discussed internally, leading to thoughtful decisions about what we intend our life to signify; and 3) that because this process is available to us, we can create ourselves in our own best image, marrying ‘high values' and ordinary pleasures in such a way that we feel proud about ourselves, while getting a full measure of happiness our of life."

How do we create meaning? What are the answers? Is there a formula that Maisel has to offer? Meaning is private, personal, individual, and subjective discovery. Putting the responsibility on the person, we may: 1) ignore the problem, 2) hunt for meaning as something lost, 3) submit to authority, 4) say that all is subjective, and 5) stare too long at reality but fail to discover the reality. "In the end, we may elect to pursue ‘passionate meaning-making.'"

Maisel strongly endorses the idea that we create ourselves and not submit to how others would define us. He would have us invest in meaning. It is where we invest that reveals who we are and the meaning we make.

Eric Maisel's experience as a psychotherapist, philosopher, and cultural observer has guided many creative people to make their meaning. He recognizes the roots of belief that attach to those who become atheists. In that transition from spiritually driven to atheist, some become lost in a search for meaning. We must realize that ‘self-awareness will not simply happen of its own accord.' Start making meaning by writing ‘your life purpose statement, whether it is a word, a sentence, or a page. This step helps you to continue making meaning in your life.

In your search to discover the terms that you fill with understanding, try ‘making meaning, investing meaning, reinvesting meaning, divesting meaning, meaning adventure, meaning container, meaning crisis, meaning conflict, meaning disturbance...etc.'. Eric Maisel does not give the formula, but he tells us that meaning is a wellspring. "You make it; it comes out of you; it is new each day; it is infinitely variable." Making meaning is a process. It changes and evolves as we do...You announce that you are the sole arbiter of meaning in your life, you nominate yourself as the hero of your own story, and you give up all religions and supernatural enthusiasms."

Dr. Maisel has written a book that encourages us to make our self and the meaning within that human being. In reading this book, you may be encouraged to read anyone of his many books. It may be that you are coping with depression - read The Van Gogh Blues. Perhaps you want to write - try The Art of the Book Proposal and A Writer's Space. If you need inspiration - explore Coaching the Artist Within or Creativity for Life. When you need a step-by-step guide to completing your art - examine Fearless Creating. None of them will disappoint and all will stimulate you to make meaning.

 By Greg Peterson

The Atheist's Way: Living Well Without Gods

By Eric Maisel

New World Library

208 pages

Ever since Sam Harris first got our attention with The End of Faith, a parade of atheist-themed books has come out. Thanks to people like Richard Dawkins, Victor Stenger, Taner Edis and others the scientific case for the implausibility of religious dogmas has been largely made. Christopher Hitchens has made the politico-sociological case against the desirability of religion, and Daniel Dennett has gotten us to question religion and religious psychology. But until recently, a few topics have been missing from our canon. Enter Eric Maisel and his Atheist's Way.
Way presupposes atheism. Maisel spends no time making a case for godlessness, a position he sees as too evident (perhaps because the case has been made elsewhere) to address in this slim volume. He has other, bigger fish to fry, anyway, rather than rehashing the same old arguments against cogent evidence for theism.

Maisel sets out to answer the question, "How then should we live?" and he largely succeeds in providing challenging answers that provide philosophical courage and direction without succumbing to unrealistic, wishy-washy, banal "inspiration."

This is the path of existentialism that looks reality in the eye unflinchingly and determines to create in our meaningless universe a source of boundless meaning from within. We nominate ourselves, we invest meaning, and we take off on a hero's quest. Some statements within the book reminded me of my favorite line from the TV series, Angel, in which the title character says, "In the greater scheme or the big picture, nothing we do matters. There's no grand plan, no big win....If there is no great glorious end to all this, if nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do. 'cause that's all there is....All I wanna do is help. I wanna help because I don't think people should suffer as they do. Because, if there is no bigger meaning, then the smallest act of kindness is the greatest thing in the world."

Maisel might take exception to some parts of what Angel said. It is perhaps a little facile. But as a statement of principle for the character, it rather nicely reflects the attitude of Atheist's Way. In one sitting, I read it cover to cover. It took a couple of chapters to get into the book, but once I was hooked, I was hooked like a hungry trout.

Too few atheist writers, even the best ones, seem to know how to address the problem of meaning - not for themselves, but for others. It is fine for the relatively well-off and well-known to make brash proclamations about a godless universe without ultimate purpose, but where does that leave the overweight stock boy in Kansas who wants to be part of an epic struggle between opposing forces to give his life some meaning? I found Way has the answer: Anyone can be involved in an epic, heroic struggle against the forces, external and internal, that would seek to drain life of meaning. It truly is a heroic undertaking, and has the added virtue of being true in a way that demons, angels, and apocalypses never can be.

This is a book to challenge and improve an atheist's life, and to show the religious skeptic afraid of embracing atheism a clear-eyed view of what a life free of superstition can be. It is simply written, direct, accessible, and potentially life-changing. There's no excuse not to read this book, and I urge all atheists to do so. Frankly, we need a better class of non-believer, and adherence to the "Way" laid out in this book can help produce that.

The most loathsome movie character I know is Cypher from "The Matrix." Knowing what was real, he chose to re-enter the imaginary world of the matrix to experience fantasy comforts and pleasures rather than bravely facing a gray, bleak reality in which painful struggle could make him an actual hero. This choice is somewhat analogous to what Maisel lays out for the reader. As a life coach, he provides the insight, the motivation, and the methodology to make selecting the hero's journey seem not only achievable, but noble in a way that will satisfy the self.