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Promotes Dangerous Pandering of Politicians This book will appeal to politicians trying to win votes of Christian from the left and possibly the right. Here's some problems with left or right Christians. They both usually believe in an entity they call "God." This is nothing more than speculation with no evidence to support it or no arguments _equal or better than_ naturalistic ones for the existence of our universe. Secondly, they believe different myths about a historical figure called "Jesus." Right Christians tend to believe things about this character like the virgin birth, empty tomb, resurrection and thus Jesus's authority. This has all been shown by decades of historical research to be myths made up long after his death by members of the early Christian cults. The Christ of Christianity was no more real than leprechauns. The Christian left knows this but hopes to find things about Jesus's life which will sustain their religion by making him into a great sage, prophet or spiritual teacher like the Buddha. The Christian left wants to believe in a Jesus that made Judaism into a world religion which was open to Jews and non-Jews alike. This too is a myth. What has been discovered about Jesus doesn't provide anything of significant value to modern men and women. The real historical Jesus believed in a Jewish only spirituality much like Judaism and he was apocalyptic, believing that "God" would come in his time. It was Paul who was instrumental in bringing this form of Judaism to the rest of the world. Jesus may have been more socialist than elitist in his form of Judaism but as I said before, he hardly ranks up there with the great moral and social thinkers of our times. For more on Jesus see Gerd Ludemann's "Jesus After 2000 Years: What He Really Said and Did." The implications of all this is that Christians and Christianity have no moral or ethical authority. Christian teachings do not come from some supreme being but were made up by people for delusional, political, social or power reasons. Now comes the question about politicians pandering to the members of this religion. Think about the murders committed in the name of "God" and Christianity. Think about the backwardness of the "dark ages" prior to the 16th century enlightenment. It was the turning *away* from the church and the supernatural to the natural that advanced our lives for the better. Living in modern societies is far better than primitive superstitious ones. Still Christians will argue that we paid a price for this because it leads to there being no absolute moral truths. However, Christianity is nothing more than myths so does it offer any absolute truths? Also, it may be a fallacy that naturalism offers no objective moral truths. Consider the latest book by Erik J. Wielenberg called " Value and Virtue in a Godless Universe". It's synopsis reads: "Suppose there is no God. This supposition implies that human life is meaningless, that there are no moral obligations and hence people can do whatever they want, and that the notions of virtue and vice, right and wrong, and good and evil have no place in the universe. Erik J. Wielenberg believes this view to be utterly erroneous and, in this thought-provoking book, he explains the reasons why. He argues that, even if God does not exist, human life can still have meaning, humans do have moral obligations, and human virtue is still possible. Wielenberg offers readers a cognent explanation of the ethical implications of naturalism--a view that denies the existence of the supernatural in human life. In his view virtue exists in a godless universe but it is significantly different from virtue in a Christian universe, and he develops naturalistic accounts of humility, charity, and hope. The overarching theme of Virtue and Value in a Godless Universe is what ethics might look like without God. Erik Wielenberg takes readers on an extraordinary tour of some of the central landmarks of this underexplored territory." Christians should really be pondering whether they should be Christians anymore and everyone should be pondering about politicians that pander to them.