When Religion Becomes Evil: Five Warning Signs (Plus) | 
|  | | | Title: | When Religion Becomes Evil: Five Warning Signs (Plus) | | Author: | Charles Kimball | | Publisher: | HarperOne | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 01 March, 2008 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0061552011 / 9780061552014 | | List Price: | $14.95 | | You Save: | $4.03 | | Amazon Price: | $10.92 | |
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Product Description
In this thoroughly revised and updated edition, leading religion and Middle East expert Charles Kimball shows how all religious traditions are susceptible to these basic corruptions and why only authentic faith can prevent such evil. The Five Warning Signs of Corruption in Religion
1. Absolute Truth Claims
2. Blind Obedience
3. Establishing the "Ideal" Time
4. The End Justifies Any Means
5. Declaring Holy War
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Customer Reviews:
• A Faithful Voice Of Wisdom In The Face Of Religious Conflict Provides A Terrific Book For Small-group Study 10 April, 2008
Let's hope Wake Forest University professor of comparative religion Charles Kimball continues to update his wise and helpful book, "When Religion Becomes Evil." This 2008 edition has been extensively reworked to include, to point out a couple of examples: Kimball's reflections on Pope Benedict and emerging voices like the writers often referred to as "new atheists."
Here are two very important distinctions about this book:
First, THIS IS THE EDITION you want to buy. Earlier 2002 editions of Kimball's book remain online and even in some bookstores - but you definitely want this latest version. If you're planning a class and telling folks to go get this book - make sure you alert them to look for the 2008 edition.
And, second, now that we've got this well-known crop of writers known by the short-hand phrase "new atheists" (writers like Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens) - the title of Kimball's book might easily lead readers to lump it into that crop of strident anti-religion books. In fact, Kimball is trying to save us from the dangers of malignant religious groups - so the noblest and best in religion can continue to thrive. In this new version of his book, he even analyzes the new atheists' work and points out the dangers in their strident approach to these issues.
What is this book? Well, after 9/11, Kimball was a very important voice, helping Americans to sort out the warning signs that lead people into extreme and, in some cases, deadly religious groups. And, no, he doesn't argue that any single faith is inherently evil. His examples circle the globe. He points out that almost any faith can be sidelined and reshaped in evil ways to serve as fuel for pent-up anger and violence.
His "Five Warning Signs" are: Groups that push absolute claims to controlling "Truth;" groups that require blind obedience of followers; groups that claim to have special knowledge of an "Ideal Time;" groups that argue their "End" justifies the use of any means; and groups that actually call for various forms of "holy war."
Here's what's so valuable about this book: It's not ground-breaking research presented for scholars. It's a book for readers like you and me - people who urgently want to make sense of these dangerous forces in our world and who want to reclaim the healthy core of faith to make the world a better place. In fact, Kimball is building on a wealth of already existing scholarship in sorting out these principles that we can use to analyze groups that may be as close as our own communities - or may wind up in headlines from distant parts of the U.S. or the world.
In addition to the overall revision of the text -- the new edition includes an interview with Kimball in the back of the book. It's interesting, although it's not a big revelation, in itself. In fact, I wish it actually had been an interview rather than a fairly formal Q and A written a little too carefully, I think. I would have preferred more of a "Kimball-Unplugged" approach to the Q and A.
There's also a helpful Reader's Guide here. I wish the Guide had been structured differently to really help small-group leaders break the book up into weekly sessions. Instead, the Reader's Guide simply raises a series of questions-for-reflection about each chapter. That's helpful, but there are so many more creative things group leaders can do to bring this book to life. I think groups should plan to use the book over a two-month period in 8 or 9 sessions. You'll find plenty to talk about in these challenging issues raised by Kimball. Then, add weekly activities to the class. You could add a couple of documentaries to supplement the book. Or, for instance, you could invite your class to scan headlines during the week that might illustrate points you'll be discussing. That makes for a fascinating group study combining Kimball, scriptures and headlines - and you'll have trouble stopping the discussion each week.
This is a terrific tool for everyday Americans to dig into these urgent issues and walk away with a helpful toolbox for assessing these forces that are all around us in the world today.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3UM5IR9AZL1WZ
• Required Reading For The Religious 17 January, 2007
Religion has done much good in many times and places, but it has also been the source and cause of horrible evils. As I write, the world just commemorated the tenth anniversary of the Rwandan genocide where Christian Hutus killed almost a million fellow Christian Tutsis. If you read your papers carefully enough you'll also know of the unfolding genocide in the Darfur region of western Sudan where government backed Muslims are killing fellow Muslims. In 1487 the Aztecs sacrificed 20,000 people in four days at the consecration of a temple. Widow burning, caste systems, female genital mutilation, witch hunts, ritual abuse, ethnic cleansing, suicide bombers, apartheid, murdering abortion doctors---all these evils and more have enlisted religion for its cause.
A few years ago Mark Juergensmeyer published an important book entitled Terror in the Mind of God; The Global Rise of Religious Violence (2000). In it he devoted successive chapters to violence by Christians, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, and Buddhists. Kimball revisits the same, disturbing and disheartening theme but takes a thematic approach. Alarms should go off when religion exhibits any of the five characteristics he identifies: fanatical claims of absolute truth, blind obedience to totalitarian, charismatic or authoritarian leaders, actively trying to usher in the end times, justifying religious ends by any means, and any and all forms of dehumanization. We might also add pressure tactics of coercion, deception and false advertisement, alienation and isolation from one's family or community, and any and all forms of exploitation (time, money, sex, etc.).
Anne Lamott recounts how her therapist advised her that when God hates all the same people that you hate, then you can be confident that you have created Him in your own image. God give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to love our neighbor as ourselves, for as Jesus said, this is the ultimate barometer of my love for the God I claim to follow
- Reviewed by customer ID: AQ990HW13DP08
• Excellent Book, But Take It With A Grain Of Salt 20 January, 2007
The author is a professor of religion, author of books on it, and has worked with the good and the bad elements of religions around the world. He's been involved in the process of negotiating with religious extremists that have taken hostages and the like, too. That is, the guy has had practical experiences to draw upon, and he shares them in some detail.
He also does a good job of documenting good and evil acts in all the major religions and many offshoots and cults. Even the People's Temple of Jim Jones was shown to have many admirable characteristics. The book also breaks down "we" and "they," giving a complex view of various religious groups, especially Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. (The author makes a case that these 3 are really the same religion.) To a lesser extent, he goes into other religions (and cults based on them), particularly Buddhism and Hinduism. He doesn't just deal with the various religions as monolithic wholes, but breaks them down even further into different traditions. Another thing he explores is how each of these religions has been interpreted in about an infinite amount of ways. People just can't really come up with anything new about these scriptures that someone else hasn't already done before. And the views can be incredibly different.
Overall, he tries to maintain an objective stance. His view comes out, but he tries to show how other views come out and seem valid to others. One thing I noticed is that he also ignores certain verses. For example, he listed 2 Koranic verses that command a tolerance of Christians and Jews and even others. I went to the library and looked 'em up in the Koran. Sure enough, the verses say that. BUT when I kept on reading, there were conditions put on it, and it basically meant that they were to be tolerated as long as they lived in submission to Islamic law, however that was interpreted. There were many other verses that promoted violence against unbelievers and those who did not live by the Koran, too.
He also goes on how Islam is a "religion of peace" and mentions the traditional, "Peace be unto you," while not exploring that "peace" and "submission" pretty much mean the very same thing in the langauge it was originally done in. That is, it's also saying, "Slavery onto you that will bring you peace."
He does seem to think that no theocracy can maintain itself or be good. And while he lists himself as a Baptist, he sounded like a Unitarian Universalist to me.
He also ended the book with a chapter on how to avoid becoming evil through religion. While it was like a nice editorial, it was based on what people SHOULD do. But if people did what they SHOULD do, then the problem wouldn't exist in the first place. But most people don't, and I don't see any reason why they'd start. For changing one's self, great, and I think this book can help understand the various religions and political forces involved with them (in America, the Taliban, in history, etc) a lot better with this book. But while the historical and contemporary manifestations of religious belief were just as hopeful as they are terrifying, I can't say his final chapter made me particularly hopeful. And I'd say it can be summed up real easy with "Join a Unitarian Universalist church." (not that he mentioned the UUs.) Then all else he promoted would fall into place. (Technically, one can be Christian or Hindu or even agnostic and still go to a UU church. I should also point out that I'm NOT UU, btw, so I'm not hawking my religion here.)
But I do highly recommend the book because I think it does a really good job of explaining the complex forces involved and the good and bad about religion, as well as the danger signs of religion becoming evil. But despite that, I think he has his own rose-colored glasses on, so take it with a grain of salt.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A16FFC7NY21TW4
• Six Chapters Of Extreme Importance, One Chapter Of Wierdness 16 February, 2008
When Religion Becomes Evil makes a deep journey into the worlds different religions and the human attributes that corrupts them with lethal consequences. I found the first six chapters to be deeply enlightening and they contain important warnings about how a religion turns evil. In detail Kimball analyze the problems of Absolute Truth Claims, Blind Obedience, Establishing the "Ideal" Time, The End Justifies Any Means and Declaring Holy War. He put forth examples of how Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Hinduism all falls victims to these problems. These chapters are really important for every person living today to read, our future might be depending on it. In fact, some of these warning signs can be used when analyzing secular ideologies as well.
Even if he claim to be a Christian, Charles Kimball have taken the step to discover and analyze all religions, especially Islam. He picks up phrases from each of the religions to strengthen why certain behavior is simply wrong based on that specific tradition. We need more people like that, people who are able to distance themselves from their religions to study other perspectives and focus on religion as a whole rather than seeing the world from a religious perspective.
There are two major problems with the book however.
In Chapter 2: "Absolute Truth Claims" Charles Kimball speaks out against using specific passages to make destructive points, yet Charles Kimball uses the SAME selective cherrypicking when he uses specific passages to speak out against violence and injustice. This might soften up fundamentalist who are locked on the destructive passages in each book, but it's not a solution. What this does is to place scriptual passages on a scale then trying to decide which passage is more supported by scripture. This is not a guarantee that the "good" passages will win. Everytime you tell someone to follow the words of scripture there's almost a 50%/50% chance they will pick the bad passages over the good.
Finally the seventh chapter is alien after reading the first six. The seventh chapter is about sharpening the role of "autentic" religion. After reading to the first six this came out as a dissappointment. What this does is to strengthen the religious apartheid or tribalism that leads to the very consequences he warns about. Charles Kimball's own approach to religion is comparative religion, not Christian. When he urge people to authentic faith he suggests to NOT do what he have done; to compare religious traditions. Instead he urges people to keep true to whatever their current religion is as long as it's "autentic". As a result they will not learn anything beyond their own scripture. They will not spend the time learning about others, nor consider them part of the same family. They will believe they are the "autentic" ones and the rest are not.
Faith is an almost magic word. Maybe we can say that we instead of having "faith" in God or scripture, we can have "faith" in humanity and the planet itself. Consider to have the world as your culture, mankind as your people, a library as your scripture and doing good as your religion? Should'nt we instead of making our own religious island "autentic", use the wisdom of both the Bible, the Quaran and all other important writings through history? Should'nt we give equal time to people like Mahatma Gandhi instead of prophets like Jesus who actually did say "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword". Those passages wont go away. For every good passage in the bible and the quaran there are several bad ones that suggests the direct opposite.
Here's my suggestion: Love humanity with all your heart, all of your soul and with all of your power. Your nation is the world, your group is humanity, your head is your church, human culture is your culture, human history is your history, human scripture is your scripture. Learn and listen. Your understanding of others is your moral compass.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2Z2UP1Y095W1N
• Excellent And Insightful 12 March, 2007
This book was written about religion generally. It goes through the signs of an oppressive or bad belief system. These are belief systems that can influence members to do things which are harmful to society as a whole. In general these groups are the fundamentalist religions. The five items are:
1) Claims of Absolute truth
2) Blind obedience
3) Establish an ideal time (millennium, great cleansing, Armageddon)
4) The end justifies the means
5) Willingness to wage a "holy war"
As a former Mormon I read the book with real interest and found that Mormonism is 5 for 5.
- Reviewed by customer ID: AHVBSMPYJ7WZG
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