All in the Mind: A Farewell to God

From the first page, which boasts epigraphs from Corinthians, Thomas Paine and Ludwig Feuerbach, to the concluding salvo, British newscaster and author Kennedy relentlessly attacks Christianity. We postmoderns realize, he notes, that ancient Greek gods weren't real, but were merely invented by the Greeks to fill some need. We know that Isis and Pluto and the other Egyptian and Roman deities were fabricated, too. Most people even admit that Satan--at least the half-man, half-beast, red-horns and pitchfork variety--is a fiction. Isn't it time, Kennedy asks, that we made the same concession about the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost? Kennedy offers familiar critiques of the Bible, arguing that the virgin birth is implausible, as are Jesus' many miracles. He writes with passion about the atrocities committed in the name of Christ, from gouging out the eyes of disobedient archbishops to the Inquisition. Fortunately, in Kennedy's view, between Voltaire, Darwin and Bishop John Robinson (an early British version of John Shelby Spong), many Christians have seen the light and signed up with the atheists. Surely it is time, Kennedy pleads, for the few remaining Christians to give up the ghost. Kennedy's forceful writing compensates, at least in part, for his failure to produce any original arguments, or to consult any of the truly great teachers of the Christian tradition. This throw-down-the-gauntlet and take-no-prisoners manifesto will delight skeptics, disturb Christians and perhaps win over a few fence-sitters. (Aug.)