The God Part of the Brain

A highly recommended read. Matthew Alper presents a very thorough explanation of man's propensity to establish a spiritual realm and faith in an afterlife. Through evolution and natural selection, this idea stemmed from man's knowledge and fear of death, as well as fear of the unknown after death. This fear debilatated humans, stopping all progress. Therefore, evolution stepped in and a created the false, but completely necessary idea of god and an afterlife to reduce fear, and return humans to being production beings who could progress. Alper presents his ideas in a very clear and concise manner. Not an easy read, but one that everyone thinking person needs to experience.

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

I am currently reading Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. What a funny and entertaining read! It basically details the time between Jesus' birth and the start of this ministry at age 30. What did he do during that time? Nothing is really mentioned in the bible. Jesus, called Joshua in the novel, sets out on an adventure with his closest friend Biff to find the three magi that visited him at his birth. Joshua feels he has a job to do, but doesn't know what to do next. He needs to learn as much as he can, learning valuable ideas from the three magi; one an african alchemist, one a buddhist monk, one a hindu leader. Another interesting idea added to the story was that Joshua became friends with the local yeti in the Chinese mountains, who ended up being the last one left on the earth. I love that addition! Fun read for anyone with any or no religious beliefs.

I am America (and so can you!)

I finished today "The God Delusion." An overall incredible read. One of the best books I have read in a long time. It also had the perfect ending that was both encouraging and inspriring to explore and experience the wonderful world that we are a part of.

I picked up "I am America (and so can you!)" by Stephen Colbert, host of Comedy Central's Colbert Report, one of my favorite tv shows. I still can't decide if Stephen really holds these ridiculous beliefs, or if he is having a really fun time pretending he does in overlly convincing ways. I wonder if he is simply portraying these crazy beliefs so people can see the silliness of the whole system. But, I'm still not sure about that. Well this book is definately a lighter read than the previous book, but entertaining and educational nontheless.

The God Delusion

I am currently reading Richard Dawkin's book "The God Delusion." It is written in a way that makes it seem that I am having an interesting conversation with Richard himself. It is clear and easy to understand. I just started chapter four which is talking about the huge improbability of god. Richard makes reference to the Boeing 747 miracle. Human beings or any complex organism created in one day of creation is equally as improbable as a hurricane ravaging a junk yard and miraculously assembling a complete 747 jet. Obviously, no one can prove indefinitely either way the existence of god, but we can speak of which idea is more probable. Many people across the world chose to base their entire life on something that is improbable. I would rather base my life on something that IS; something that is visible, I can touch, I can talk about in certain terms. It blows my mind that the very definition of faith that believers wear as a badge is the absence of evidence; the absence of anything that can be seen or touched or tested or repeated. So the basis of personal faith is nothing more than things that happen inside one person's head. It just so happens that this same kind of "faith" or insistence that evidence is unnecessary is a common shared delusion among all believers. Richard even talks about how a personal delusion that one is Napoleon is hard to keep true inside an individual's head because the outside world says that delusion is wrong. On the other hand, the delusion that there is a sky daddy who cares for the world is a delusion that happens to be shared by the masses. That kind of group solidarity must be reassuring, always convincing people that their delusion must be true because so many other people have the same exact delusion.