Author: Daniele Bolelli
Publisher: Red Wheel Weiser
ISBN: 1934708763
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 191
Book Description
This compendium of obscure facts about the world’s religions highlights the political, cultural, and philosophical aspects of the history of religion. If you’re waiting for the world’s “Holy Men” to tell you the truth about their religions, do you suppose they’ll mention that: The Tao Te Ching was only created because Lao Tzu was thrown in jail by a disciple who didn’t want to let him leave town without writing down his teachings? “Passover” celebrates God killing all firstborn Egyptian kids while Jewish homes were “passed over” by the angel of death? Shinto, a natureloving, mellow religion, was transformed by the Japanese government into a nationalistic ideology promoting “holy” war? Adding to its popular “50 Things You’re Not Supposed To Know” series, Disinformation has teamed with Daniele Bolelli—writer, professor of comparative religion, and renowned martial arts practitioner and philosopher—to tackle an ever more serious and important topic: popular misconceptions about religion. Among other revelations: Carpocrates, an early Christian, argued that sex orgies were a key to heaven. Prostitution was a religious duty in Mesopotamian temples. The two major Chinese religions (Taoism and Confucianism) are completely at odds with each other and yet are often practiced together. Despite having persecuted Jews for two thousand years, Christian fundamentalists are Israel’s biggest supporters. Capturing just the right balance of in-depth knowledge, respect, humor, and irreverence, Bolelli takes an ecumenical approach to the task, revealing surprising, shocking, and little-known facts about the “big three” religions but also many more, including Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, and, of course, the increasingly popular nonreligion: atheism.
50 Things You're Not Supposed to Know: Religion
Author: Daniele Bolelli
Publisher: Red Wheel Weiser
ISBN: 1934708763
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 191
Book Description
This compendium of obscure facts about the world’s religions highlights the political, cultural, and philosophical aspects of the history of religion. If you’re waiting for the world’s “Holy Men” to tell you the truth about their religions, do you suppose they’ll mention that: The Tao Te Ching was only created because Lao Tzu was thrown in jail by a disciple who didn’t want to let him leave town without writing down his teachings? “Passover” celebrates God killing all firstborn Egyptian kids while Jewish homes were “passed over” by the angel of death? Shinto, a natureloving, mellow religion, was transformed by the Japanese government into a nationalistic ideology promoting “holy” war? Adding to its popular “50 Things You’re Not Supposed To Know” series, Disinformation has teamed with Daniele Bolelli—writer, professor of comparative religion, and renowned martial arts practitioner and philosopher—to tackle an ever more serious and important topic: popular misconceptions about religion. Among other revelations: Carpocrates, an early Christian, argued that sex orgies were a key to heaven. Prostitution was a religious duty in Mesopotamian temples. The two major Chinese religions (Taoism and Confucianism) are completely at odds with each other and yet are often practiced together. Despite having persecuted Jews for two thousand years, Christian fundamentalists are Israel’s biggest supporters. Capturing just the right balance of in-depth knowledge, respect, humor, and irreverence, Bolelli takes an ecumenical approach to the task, revealing surprising, shocking, and little-known facts about the “big three” religions but also many more, including Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, and, of course, the increasingly popular nonreligion: atheism.
Publisher: Red Wheel Weiser
ISBN: 1934708763
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 191
Book Description
This compendium of obscure facts about the world’s religions highlights the political, cultural, and philosophical aspects of the history of religion. If you’re waiting for the world’s “Holy Men” to tell you the truth about their religions, do you suppose they’ll mention that: The Tao Te Ching was only created because Lao Tzu was thrown in jail by a disciple who didn’t want to let him leave town without writing down his teachings? “Passover” celebrates God killing all firstborn Egyptian kids while Jewish homes were “passed over” by the angel of death? Shinto, a natureloving, mellow religion, was transformed by the Japanese government into a nationalistic ideology promoting “holy” war? Adding to its popular “50 Things You’re Not Supposed To Know” series, Disinformation has teamed with Daniele Bolelli—writer, professor of comparative religion, and renowned martial arts practitioner and philosopher—to tackle an ever more serious and important topic: popular misconceptions about religion. Among other revelations: Carpocrates, an early Christian, argued that sex orgies were a key to heaven. Prostitution was a religious duty in Mesopotamian temples. The two major Chinese religions (Taoism and Confucianism) are completely at odds with each other and yet are often practiced together. Despite having persecuted Jews for two thousand years, Christian fundamentalists are Israel’s biggest supporters. Capturing just the right balance of in-depth knowledge, respect, humor, and irreverence, Bolelli takes an ecumenical approach to the task, revealing surprising, shocking, and little-known facts about the “big three” religions but also many more, including Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, and, of course, the increasingly popular nonreligion: atheism.
50 Things You're Not Supposed to Know
Author: Daniele Bolelli
Publisher: Disinformation Company
ISBN: 9781934708699
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Everything that Holy Men of all stripes don't want you to know about religions major and minor.
Publisher: Disinformation Company
ISBN: 9781934708699
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Everything that Holy Men of all stripes don't want you to know about religions major and minor.
Create Your Own Religion
Author: Daniele Bolelli
Publisher: Red Wheel Weiser
ISBN: 1938875028
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 354
Book Description
Create Your Own Religion is a call to arms--an open invitation to question all the values, beliefs, and worldviews that humanity has so far held as sacred in order to find the answers we need to the very practical problems facing us. Writer, philosopher, and professor of comparative religion, Daniele Bolelli, leads the reader through three thousand years of mythology, misogyny, misinformation, and the flat-out lies about "revealed truth" that continue to muddle our ability to live a peaceful life, free of guilt and shame and the ultimate fear of death. "Our worldviews are in desperate need of some housecleaning," says Bolelli. "We enter the 21st century still carrying on our backs the prejudices and ways of thinking of countless past generations. What worked for them may or may not still be of use, so it is our job to make sure to save the tools that can help us and let go of the dead weight."
Publisher: Red Wheel Weiser
ISBN: 1938875028
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 354
Book Description
Create Your Own Religion is a call to arms--an open invitation to question all the values, beliefs, and worldviews that humanity has so far held as sacred in order to find the answers we need to the very practical problems facing us. Writer, philosopher, and professor of comparative religion, Daniele Bolelli, leads the reader through three thousand years of mythology, misogyny, misinformation, and the flat-out lies about "revealed truth" that continue to muddle our ability to live a peaceful life, free of guilt and shame and the ultimate fear of death. "Our worldviews are in desperate need of some housecleaning," says Bolelli. "We enter the 21st century still carrying on our backs the prejudices and ways of thinking of countless past generations. What worked for them may or may not still be of use, so it is our job to make sure to save the tools that can help us and let go of the dead weight."
Everything You Know About God Is Wrong
Author: Russ Kick
Publisher: Red Wheel Weiser
ISBN: 1934708372
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 778
Book Description
In the new mega-anthology from best-selling editor Russ Kick, more than fifty writers, reporters, and researchers invade the inner sanctum for an unrestrained look at the wild and wooly world of organized belief. Richard Dawkins shows us the strange, scary properties of religion; Neil Gaiman turns a biblical atrocity story into a comic (that almost sent a publisher to prison); Erik Davis looks at what happens when religion and California collide; Mike Dash eyes stigmatics; Douglas Rushkoff exposes the trouble with Judaism; Paul Krassner reveals his “Confessions of an Atheist”; and best-selling lexicographer Jonathon Green interprets the language of religious prejudice. Among the dozens of other articles and essays, you’ll find: a sweeping look at classical composers and Great American Songbook writers who were unbelievers, such as Irving Berlin, creator of “God Bless America”; the definitive explanation of why America is not a Christian nation; the bizarre, Catholic-fundamentalist books by Mel Gibson’s father; eye-popping photos of bizarre religious objects and ceremonies, including snake-handlers and pot-smoking children; the thinly veiled anti-Semitism in the Left Behind novels; an extract from the rare, suppressed book The Sex Life of Brigham Young; and rarely seen anti-religious writings from Mark Twain and H.G. Wells. Further topics include exorcisms, religious curses, Wicca, the Church of John Coltrane, crimes by clergy, death without God, Christian sex manuals, the “ex-gay” movement, failed prophecies, bizarre theology, religious bowling, atheist rock and roll, “how to be a good Christian,” an entertaining look at the best (and worst) books on religion, and much more.
Publisher: Red Wheel Weiser
ISBN: 1934708372
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 778
Book Description
In the new mega-anthology from best-selling editor Russ Kick, more than fifty writers, reporters, and researchers invade the inner sanctum for an unrestrained look at the wild and wooly world of organized belief. Richard Dawkins shows us the strange, scary properties of religion; Neil Gaiman turns a biblical atrocity story into a comic (that almost sent a publisher to prison); Erik Davis looks at what happens when religion and California collide; Mike Dash eyes stigmatics; Douglas Rushkoff exposes the trouble with Judaism; Paul Krassner reveals his “Confessions of an Atheist”; and best-selling lexicographer Jonathon Green interprets the language of religious prejudice. Among the dozens of other articles and essays, you’ll find: a sweeping look at classical composers and Great American Songbook writers who were unbelievers, such as Irving Berlin, creator of “God Bless America”; the definitive explanation of why America is not a Christian nation; the bizarre, Catholic-fundamentalist books by Mel Gibson’s father; eye-popping photos of bizarre religious objects and ceremonies, including snake-handlers and pot-smoking children; the thinly veiled anti-Semitism in the Left Behind novels; an extract from the rare, suppressed book The Sex Life of Brigham Young; and rarely seen anti-religious writings from Mark Twain and H.G. Wells. Further topics include exorcisms, religious curses, Wicca, the Church of John Coltrane, crimes by clergy, death without God, Christian sex manuals, the “ex-gay” movement, failed prophecies, bizarre theology, religious bowling, atheist rock and roll, “how to be a good Christian,” an entertaining look at the best (and worst) books on religion, and much more.
Stuff They Don't Want You to Know
Author: Ben Bowlin
Publisher: Flatiron Books
ISBN: 1250268575
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 311
Book Description
“Interesting...Bowlin's calmly rational approach to the subject of conspiracy theories shows the importance of logic and evidence.”—Booklist "A page-turning book to give to someone who believes in pizza pedophilia or that the Illuminati rule the world."—Kirkus Reviews The co-hosts of the hit podcast Stuff They Don’t Want You to Know, Ben Bowlin, Matthew Frederick, & Noel Brown, discern conspiracy fact from fiction in this sharp, humorous, compulsively readable, and gorgeously illustrated book. In times of chaos and uncertainty, when trust is low and economic disparity is high, when political institutions are crumbling and cultural animosities are building, conspiracy theories find fertile ground. Many are wild, most are untrue, a few are hard to ignore, but all of them share one vital trait: there’s a seed of truth at their center. That seed carries the sordid, conspiracy-riddled history of our institutions and corporations woven into its DNA. Ben Bowlin, Matt Frederick, and Noel Brown host the popular iHeart Media podcast, Stuff They Don’t Want You To Know. They are experts at exploring, explaining, and interrogating today’s emergent conspiracies—from chem trails and biological testing to the secrets of lobbying and the indisputable evidence of UFOs. Written in a smart, witty, and conversational style, elevated with amazing illustrations, Stuff They Don’t Want You to Know is a vital book in understanding the nature of conspiracy and using truth as a powerful weapon against ignorance, misinformation, and lies.
Publisher: Flatiron Books
ISBN: 1250268575
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 311
Book Description
“Interesting...Bowlin's calmly rational approach to the subject of conspiracy theories shows the importance of logic and evidence.”—Booklist "A page-turning book to give to someone who believes in pizza pedophilia or that the Illuminati rule the world."—Kirkus Reviews The co-hosts of the hit podcast Stuff They Don’t Want You to Know, Ben Bowlin, Matthew Frederick, & Noel Brown, discern conspiracy fact from fiction in this sharp, humorous, compulsively readable, and gorgeously illustrated book. In times of chaos and uncertainty, when trust is low and economic disparity is high, when political institutions are crumbling and cultural animosities are building, conspiracy theories find fertile ground. Many are wild, most are untrue, a few are hard to ignore, but all of them share one vital trait: there’s a seed of truth at their center. That seed carries the sordid, conspiracy-riddled history of our institutions and corporations woven into its DNA. Ben Bowlin, Matt Frederick, and Noel Brown host the popular iHeart Media podcast, Stuff They Don’t Want You To Know. They are experts at exploring, explaining, and interrogating today’s emergent conspiracies—from chem trails and biological testing to the secrets of lobbying and the indisputable evidence of UFOs. Written in a smart, witty, and conversational style, elevated with amazing illustrations, Stuff They Don’t Want You to Know is a vital book in understanding the nature of conspiracy and using truth as a powerful weapon against ignorance, misinformation, and lies.
Create Your Own Religion
Author: Daniele Bolelli
Publisher: Red Wheel Weiser
ISBN: 1609258665
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 365
Book Description
“One of the most refreshing, humorous, and radically honest books about practical and comparative religion this reviewer has ever come across.”—Library Journal (starred review) Create Your Own Religion is a call to arms—an open invitation to question all the values, beliefs, and worldviews that humanity has so far held as sacred in order to find the answers we need to the very practical problems facing us. Writer, philosopher, and professor of comparative religion, Daniele Bolelli, leads the reader through three thousand years of mythology, misogyny, misinformation, and the flat-out lies about “revealed truth” that continue to muddle our ability to live a peaceful life, free of guilt and shame and the ultimate fear of death. “Our worldviews are in desperate need of some housecleaning,” says Bolelli. “We enter the 21st century still carrying on our backs the prejudices and ways of thinking of countless past generations. What worked for them may or may not still be of use, so it is our job to make sure to save the tools that can help us and let go of the dead weight.” “With a cheerful, good-natured smile, Daniele Bolelli torpedoes the often luxurious but spiritually leaky battleships that sail under the various flags of the world’s organized religions.”—Tom Robbins, New York Times bestselling author “Daniele Bolelli is in the house. Minds will be blown. Lives will be changed.”—Joe Rogan, comedian and podcast host “Bolelli’s direct confrontation with dogma without giving an inch and without prescribing a new dogma is about as fresh as it gets.”—Mike Vallely, skateboarder, musician, and actor
Publisher: Red Wheel Weiser
ISBN: 1609258665
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 365
Book Description
“One of the most refreshing, humorous, and radically honest books about practical and comparative religion this reviewer has ever come across.”—Library Journal (starred review) Create Your Own Religion is a call to arms—an open invitation to question all the values, beliefs, and worldviews that humanity has so far held as sacred in order to find the answers we need to the very practical problems facing us. Writer, philosopher, and professor of comparative religion, Daniele Bolelli, leads the reader through three thousand years of mythology, misogyny, misinformation, and the flat-out lies about “revealed truth” that continue to muddle our ability to live a peaceful life, free of guilt and shame and the ultimate fear of death. “Our worldviews are in desperate need of some housecleaning,” says Bolelli. “We enter the 21st century still carrying on our backs the prejudices and ways of thinking of countless past generations. What worked for them may or may not still be of use, so it is our job to make sure to save the tools that can help us and let go of the dead weight.” “With a cheerful, good-natured smile, Daniele Bolelli torpedoes the often luxurious but spiritually leaky battleships that sail under the various flags of the world’s organized religions.”—Tom Robbins, New York Times bestselling author “Daniele Bolelli is in the house. Minds will be blown. Lives will be changed.”—Joe Rogan, comedian and podcast host “Bolelli’s direct confrontation with dogma without giving an inch and without prescribing a new dogma is about as fresh as it gets.”—Mike Vallely, skateboarder, musician, and actor
Not Afraid
Author: Daniele Bolelli
Publisher: Red Wheel Weiser
ISBN: 160925998X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 303
Book Description
In this memoir, the author and podcaster discusses his experiences in martial arts, the death of his wife, and raising his daughter as a single father. This book is a meditation on facing fear, heartbreak, and mortality. In his own irreverent and inimitable style, Daniele Bolelli tells the story of his courtship and marriage, which would have been a sweet story had all hell not broken loose. Or as he puts it, “Hell was a ninja who entered my house without being seen. It all began in such an unremarkable way that it barely registered as anything meaningful. Little did I know that the experiences of the next five months would rip me apart and kill me. They would re-forge me into a different man. On that day, I became an unwilling traveler on a journey through the heart of fear.” This is the story of a man who, in rapid succession, has his wife die in his arms, loses his house and his job, and is left to care for his nineteen-month-old daughter. Oddly enough, the best tools for coping with all of this were those he learned in more than two decades of martial arts practice. Not Afraid tackles this extremely heavy subject matter in a light-hearted style and with an attitude that acknowledges pain and suffering but denies them dominion over one’s life. Praise for Not Afraid “Not Afraid is an adventure story of the truest, deepest sort. You’ve never read a story like this or known a man like this.” —Chris Ryan, New York Times–bestselling author of Sex at Dawn “A true warrior poet, Daniele bleeds on these pages with fearless vulnerability and uncensored humor.” —Aubrey Marcus, writer and CEO of Onnit.com “Bolelli is a genius warrior philosopher. What he talks about here is the opposite of a victim’s mentality. By sharing the emotionally apocalyptic experience he has gone through, he gives a gift to anyone who is struggling with the dragon of fear and sadness.” —Duncan Trussell, comedian and host of the podcast The Duncan Trussell Family Hour
Publisher: Red Wheel Weiser
ISBN: 160925998X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 303
Book Description
In this memoir, the author and podcaster discusses his experiences in martial arts, the death of his wife, and raising his daughter as a single father. This book is a meditation on facing fear, heartbreak, and mortality. In his own irreverent and inimitable style, Daniele Bolelli tells the story of his courtship and marriage, which would have been a sweet story had all hell not broken loose. Or as he puts it, “Hell was a ninja who entered my house without being seen. It all began in such an unremarkable way that it barely registered as anything meaningful. Little did I know that the experiences of the next five months would rip me apart and kill me. They would re-forge me into a different man. On that day, I became an unwilling traveler on a journey through the heart of fear.” This is the story of a man who, in rapid succession, has his wife die in his arms, loses his house and his job, and is left to care for his nineteen-month-old daughter. Oddly enough, the best tools for coping with all of this were those he learned in more than two decades of martial arts practice. Not Afraid tackles this extremely heavy subject matter in a light-hearted style and with an attitude that acknowledges pain and suffering but denies them dominion over one’s life. Praise for Not Afraid “Not Afraid is an adventure story of the truest, deepest sort. You’ve never read a story like this or known a man like this.” —Chris Ryan, New York Times–bestselling author of Sex at Dawn “A true warrior poet, Daniele bleeds on these pages with fearless vulnerability and uncensored humor.” —Aubrey Marcus, writer and CEO of Onnit.com “Bolelli is a genius warrior philosopher. What he talks about here is the opposite of a victim’s mentality. By sharing the emotionally apocalyptic experience he has gone through, he gives a gift to anyone who is struggling with the dragon of fear and sadness.” —Duncan Trussell, comedian and host of the podcast The Duncan Trussell Family Hour
Your Religion Is False
Author: Joel Grus
Publisher: Brightwalton LLC
ISBN: 0982481802
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 260
Book Description
The funniest book ever written about why your religion is false!Whether you're a Christian or a Jew, a Muslim or a Hindu, a Rasta or a Jain, an Environmentalist or a Cheondoist, a Scientologist or a Giant Stone Head Worshipper, your religion is false.But don't feel bad -- so is everyone else's! When you want to know what not to believe, this is the only book you need.In addition, you'll learn* Why "god" doesn't exist* Why there's no such thing as a "soul"* How to find "meaning" in a religion-less world* Which of your religious heroes are pedophiles* Why "religious tolerance" is a terrible ideaAnd, as a bonus, the greatest religious joke ever told. You can't afford not to read this book!
Publisher: Brightwalton LLC
ISBN: 0982481802
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 260
Book Description
The funniest book ever written about why your religion is false!Whether you're a Christian or a Jew, a Muslim or a Hindu, a Rasta or a Jain, an Environmentalist or a Cheondoist, a Scientologist or a Giant Stone Head Worshipper, your religion is false.But don't feel bad -- so is everyone else's! When you want to know what not to believe, this is the only book you need.In addition, you'll learn* Why "god" doesn't exist* Why there's no such thing as a "soul"* How to find "meaning" in a religion-less world* Which of your religious heroes are pedophiles* Why "religious tolerance" is a terrible ideaAnd, as a bonus, the greatest religious joke ever told. You can't afford not to read this book!
Religion
Author: Peter Stanford
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 208
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 208
Book Description
50 Popular Beliefs That People Think Are True
Author: Guy P. Harrison
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1616144963
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 460
Book Description
“What would it take to create a world in which fantasy is not confused for fact and public policy is based on objective reality?" asks Neil deGrasse Tyson, science popularizer and author of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry. "I don't know for sure. But a good place to start would be for everyone on earth to read this book." Maybe you know someone who swears by the reliability of psychics or who is in regular contact with angels. Or perhaps you're trying to find a nice way of dissuading someone from wasting money on a homeopathy cure. Or you met someone at a party who insisted the Holocaust never happened or that no one ever walked on the moon. How do you find a gently persuasive way of steering people away from unfounded beliefs, bogus cures, conspiracy theories, and the like? This down-to-earth, entertaining exploration of commonly held extraordinary claims will help you set the record straight. The author, a veteran journalist, has not only surveyed a vast body of literature, but has also interviewed leading scientists, explored "the most haunted house in America," frolicked in the inviting waters of the Bermuda Triangle, and even talked to a "contrite Roswell alien." He is not out simply to debunk unfounded beliefs. Wherever possible, he presents alternative scientific explanations, which in most cases are even more fascinating than the wildest speculation. For example, stories about UFOs and alien abductions lack good evidence, but science gives us plenty of reasons to keep exploring outer space for evidence that life exists elsewhere in the vast universe. The proof for Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster may be nonexistent, but scientists are regularly discovering new species, some of which are truly stranger than fiction. Stressing the excitement of scientific discovery and the legitimate mysteries and wonder inherent in reality, this book invites readers to share the joys of rational thinking and the skeptical approach to evaluating our extraordinary world.
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1616144963
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 460
Book Description
“What would it take to create a world in which fantasy is not confused for fact and public policy is based on objective reality?" asks Neil deGrasse Tyson, science popularizer and author of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry. "I don't know for sure. But a good place to start would be for everyone on earth to read this book." Maybe you know someone who swears by the reliability of psychics or who is in regular contact with angels. Or perhaps you're trying to find a nice way of dissuading someone from wasting money on a homeopathy cure. Or you met someone at a party who insisted the Holocaust never happened or that no one ever walked on the moon. How do you find a gently persuasive way of steering people away from unfounded beliefs, bogus cures, conspiracy theories, and the like? This down-to-earth, entertaining exploration of commonly held extraordinary claims will help you set the record straight. The author, a veteran journalist, has not only surveyed a vast body of literature, but has also interviewed leading scientists, explored "the most haunted house in America," frolicked in the inviting waters of the Bermuda Triangle, and even talked to a "contrite Roswell alien." He is not out simply to debunk unfounded beliefs. Wherever possible, he presents alternative scientific explanations, which in most cases are even more fascinating than the wildest speculation. For example, stories about UFOs and alien abductions lack good evidence, but science gives us plenty of reasons to keep exploring outer space for evidence that life exists elsewhere in the vast universe. The proof for Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster may be nonexistent, but scientists are regularly discovering new species, some of which are truly stranger than fiction. Stressing the excitement of scientific discovery and the legitimate mysteries and wonder inherent in reality, this book invites readers to share the joys of rational thinking and the skeptical approach to evaluating our extraordinary world.