Everything You Need to Know About the Major Religions February 19, 2011

Everything You Need to Know About the Major Religions

By Guest Contributor
February 19, 2011

Michael Xuereb has written a very insightful new book called Everything You Need to Know about Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Other Major Religions. It’s self-published but don’t let that sway you. Just check it out for yourself:

I’m afraid I have to be the bearer of bad news, though. Michael plagiarized this book. He clearly copied it from James N. Court‘s The Lawyer’s Book of Ethics.

For shame…

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  • To buy a copy, send an e-mail with your request, to: contact@michaelxuereb.com

    FACEPALM

  • J. J. Ramsey

    This post might have been funny if it had made fun of anti-intellectualism instead of indulging in it. Claiming that we don’t need to know at least something about the religions that affect our lives, even when we don’t believe in them, is foolish.

  • Claudia

    Cute. Absolutely false, but cute.

  • Does it come in audio?

  • asdf

    The audio version has been delayed by a legal fight with the estate of John Cage.

  • @James: Hehe. That made me laugh.

  • Bee

    I agree with J.J. Even though it’s funny, I think it sends the wrong message. My kids are growing up freethinkers in a very religious part of the country. If they don’t know about Christianity they could easily be sucked in. They need to know about religion in order to make informed decisions and to be respectful of others’ beliefs.

  • Emphasis on “Need”?

  • James, of course it comes in audio. You’re listening to it right now.

  • UltimateDelivery

    There was a law suit a while back where one band had a brief silence in the middle of one of their songs. I think it was about 30 seconds long or something like that. Another band came out with a whole track, 3 minutes or so, of silence later. They were sued by the first band, but the judge threw the case out because the first band couldn’t pinpoint which part of the second band’s song was copied from the first. Also the silence was considerably longer, so there had to be some different material in there somewhere…

  • Could be useful as an antagonizing gift to a religious person you know 😛

  • @UltimateDelivery: Haha. I wonder what would happen if someone did that with artwork. What if someone had a blank piece of paper as artwork and then someone else had a larger blank piece of paper as artwork?

    I was a bit upset earlier today due to an argument in another thread, but these comments have cheered me up considerably. Thank you.

  • Pedro Godfroid

    American Atheists, the old one of the time of Madalyn, had a similar book called (if I remember well) “What God had revealed to man”. I bought some to give them to the Bible freaks when they offered me their crap at college. I loved to see their reactions 😛

  • severalspeciesof

    .

    The above is my review…

  • JB Tait

    @James: Yes there is an audio version. It is the B side of “Performances by Marcel Marceau.”

  • Stephen Prothero would like to have words with this gentleman.

  • goodness, some people lack a sense of humor.

    it’s a funny joke, and i credit the person who came up with it. in this age where it’s so hard to make waves, or even get a job, let alone rise to prominence via atheism, i applaud gestures like this. for some, the point made in this publication is profound. maybe not to people at this blog, but elsewhere.

    humor is always useful and we shouldn’t bash it just because it isn’t the approach all of us would take.

  • I would write a lot of notes about my interpretations in that book because they left a large margins.

  • Jeff

    @J.J. Ramsey: Claiming that we don’t need to know at least something about the religions that affect our lives, even when we don’t believe in them, is foolish.

    Agreed. It’s an important part of human history. I don’t drink, but I still think it important to understand the significant role beer and wine have played in the development of civilization.

    Also, there will come a point at which someone will attempt to proselytize your kids. You’ll want them to be equipped. The easiest prey for missionaries of all varieties is the lonely kid, away from home for the first time, who has little to no knowledge of religion (his or anyone else’s).

  • @Eric: That sounds like a good idea. I love blank paper. It inspires creativity.

    Maybe one could fill this book with information about a new religion they’ve just invented.

  • Hadn’t looked at “Stephen Prothero” book. He expects us to accept on trust he “knew” Waco would end in fire, but that he couldn’t figure out how to contact the FBI, so incredibly knowledgeable about religion but woefully ignorant about telephone directories?!

  • Catherine

    HA! Got me!

  • Sadly, it does reflect the wilful ignorance of some evangelical Atheists..

  • @J. J. Ramsey and Jeff:

    I agree that it’s very important to know about religion. I actually enjoy reading about religions—and not just as a means to effectively argue against religion, though that’s a benefit, but because I actually find it a fascinating topic.

  • Drew M.

    Hmm.

    I agree with Chicaco Dyke on this one. It’s just a joke and I don’t think it’s supposed to be anything more than that.

    Of course, over-analysis is probably second nature to most of us.

  • Daniel

    Funny little joke, although the implied anti-intellectualism does bother me a bit. I agree with Stephen Prothero that it is incredibly important that Americans have a basic understanding of the major religions.

    I think that the blank book titled “What God has Revealed to Man” that Pedro pointed out earlier is a more intellectually respectful way to make the same point.

  • Is it available for Kindle?

  • Sadly, it does reflect the wilful ignorance of some evangelical Atheists..

    Really? I’m not an “evangelical” atheist, but I’d bet people who define themselves by that label are actually much more informed about religion than the average person. Certainly they know quite a bit more than “don’t know, don’t care, don’t think about it” atheists.

  • Now printed on recycled Bible paper ..haha