God is not great?

Recently I was at the library and saw a book sitting on the display rack that caught my attention. The title of the book was "God is Not Great: How religion poisons everything." I was drawn to this book and wanted to get to know the man who would write such a book.

At this point I am about 20% through the book. One of the things I want to thank the author for is starting the book by sharing some of the issues that shaped him and made him bitter towards God. I am not sure if that is exactly how he intended for that part of the book to be interpreted.

While I do not remotely agree with his title (although the subtitle does have some truth), the author makes some valid points. Organized religion has been the source of some pain and mistreatment of human beings throughout history. For some reason, as he spends page after page condemning Christians, Muslims, Jews, and more for "sins" (although he and I would differ on the meaning of the word) such as the Crusades and the current clergy scandals, he fails to mention the many acts of charity including hospitals and relief efforts.

To be fair, he may get to this later, but I doubt it. This seems to be a man who is bitter about certain aspects of his life and wants to take it out on God, those who chose to follow Him, and anyone else who claims some religion.

I will concede to him on one point. Religion can poison things. As a matter of fact, religion can poison our relationship with God. We must be careful not to get to so wrapped up in how we worship and approach God that we miss the God we are seeking in the first place.

shine!
Jason