Allah, Jesus, and Yahweh

Allah, Jesus, and Yahweh deals with the moral and intellectual damage caused by religion-the subject of many of today's headlines. There have been at least five major religious invasions from Asia into Europe. In particular, the Middle East seems a virtual hatchery for faith and fanaticism. It's the birthplace of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam not to mention the earlier Zoroastrianism and the much later Baha'ism plus a plethora of minor cults and lunacies. The parlance in vogue for this present invasion is a clash of civilizations-East versus West! But this is not entirely the case. There is a clash, but we have confused the combatants. Many in the West do not intend to fight for the preservation of Christianity; some in the East feel the same about Islam. What we will defend is freedom, democracy, and the values of the Enlightenment versus submission, dictatorship, and the buzz of the hive mind. A colossal clash of ideals is underway between the Enlightenment and the Army of the Night-those who feel they have absolute certainty without evidence. There is a tide in the affairs of men and women, and we are afloat on a vast wave of moral and rational criticism of religion. Witness The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, God Is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens, The End of Faith by Sam Harris, and Breaking the Spell by Daniel Dennett. Allah, Jesus, and Yahweh takes a deeper view of time and a more humorous Mark Twain narrative approach than these authors. It begins in September 480 BC at the Battle of Marathon-the first Asiatic religious invasion-and moves through history right up to Ayaan Hirsi Ali and beyond. When speaking of religion, Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg said it best to The New York Times, on April 20, 1999: With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. Religion is certainty without proof; science is proof without certainty. From re