Negative Positive
Title: Discredited ideas
Review: In yet another tome that proves the intellectual bankruptcy of contemporary atheism, Shermer sets out to prove that all religions are psychological phenomena that ultimately teach the same things. He identifies common themes - like the apocalypse - in all religions, and equates these themes with psychological experiences.Wrong. Religion is not equivalent. Three interrelated faiths - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - all deny each other's central doctrines. When we move out from the West, we see such diversity of religious beliefs that no common theme emerges.Religious experience ranges from animism (where you can be healed of your ailments by absorbing the soul of a bird) to certain types of Buddhism that don't even believe in a god. The idea of a common "religion" is simply false - especially when you realize that Atheistic philosophies like Communism and Nazism are fully-functional religions in their own right.Shermer's warmed-over Jungian approach is 100 years out of date.
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