Editor: Tim C. Leedom

This powerful new book is an anthology of interesting articles by a few dozen brave pioneers, scholars, ministers, "free-thinkers," accused infidels, heretics, and famous historical people, among others. Editor Tim Leedom has done an excellent job in bringing all this information together. Notable contributors include Steve Allen, Michael Baigent, Dr. Stephan Hoeller, and excerpts from great past thinkers like Joseph Campbell, Albert Churchward, Robert Ingersoll, Thomas Paine, and Thomas Jefferson. Leedom says in the Preface that The Book Your Church Doesn't Want You To Read (The Book) is meant to promote a search for truth. He says, "This is not an anti-religious book. The search for the meaning of life started long before Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, or organized religion. The Book is a reference book that is meant to be challenging and informative."

Each chapter goes straight to the point, averaging about six pages in length. Due to lack of space, it is impossible to review all contributors-but they must all be thanked, since none of the book is boring. Celebrity Steve Allen writes on Women's Rights, offering new ideas on how we can approach things like child abuse, abortion, and overpopulation that might better meet the needs of modern women and society. Church morality is also at issue here. Robert Ingersoll, from the l9th century, wrote a chapter in support of equality for women, which was almost unthinkable back then, but now makes an interesting comparison to the ideas of Steve Allen. Ingersoll's work was a step ahead of its time, as Allen's may be today. One main point Ingersoll made was that women were seen as secondary to men, relegated to a virtual slavehood largely because of the Bible and its doctrines. Thomas Paine lived during the American Revolution and was considered one of the most brilliant men alive. He influenced all of the founding fathers including Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. After helping expose injustices and inspiring many with his numerous pamphlets, he later went to France and became involved, also, in the French Revolution. He went wherever people needed to be free. He wanted them to be free, not only politically, but from religious injustices as well-so he wrote The Age of Reason. He began by saying, "I believe in one God, and no more...," yet his enemies branded it "the atheist's Bible" because it went against many standard views. An excerpt from this work is included in The Book, and is absolutely brilliant. Dr. Stephan Hoeller is a Gnostic and Jungian scholar and director of the Gnostic Society of Los Angeles. He writes, in "Hermes vs. Puritans," how America was founded on strong, positive Hermetic beliefs, but that early Puritans always opposed these ideas. He tells us how, today, this mentality continues to interfere with our freedom. Hoeller shows us how Puritan views have kept us from opening up to a better understanding of ourselves. This, in turn, has resulted in many of our modern cultural woes. This chapter gives a clear understanding of what religious and political freedom really is, and shows how we might preserve it.

Some new faces gaining recognition include Jordan Maxwell, Alan Albert Snow, and Rocco A. Errico. Mr. Maxwell writes on Astro- Theology-a stunning look at sun and star worship dating far back before Christ. He tells us how many facets of these older stories could well have been incorporated allegorically, by Bible writers, into the stories of Christ. Other articles supporting this, independently, were written by Albert Churchward and William Edelen. Alan Albert Snow wrote "Astrology in the Dead Sea Scrolls," showing how the Essene sect (thought to be originators of the Scrolls) and early church of the New Testament shared such things as astrology, baptism, the use of a solar calendar, and many other rituals and teachings. He says this clearly shows how Christianity developed gradually, out of this Essene sect, rather than entirely from the ideas and teachings of Jesus. In one of his three chapters, called "Jesus: The Aramaic-Speaking Shemite," Rocco A. Errico gives us an excellent picture of Jesus and the culture he lived in. He conveys a deep respect for Jesus, and we are led to understand more accurately how he and others lived in those times. This book is a minefield of explosive material, and only you are left to judge its personal impact and importance. Although disagreements exist between authors, the book does have an overall point. It is made very well in the Introduction by former ABC newsman Bill Jenkins. He said, "Religion, more than politics and economics, kills and cripples humankind. There has never in all known history been a genocide of any kind which was not fueled by religion. Every religious organization on Earth is designed to gain economic and political power for those in the religion. Look at it closely and you will see for yourself." The Book cites many examples. Yet, this doesn't mean you will lose the spiritual part of yourself if you dare to dump organized religion. As with Thomas Paine, who did believe in God, we are shown by The Book (in a number of places) that people can be spiritual without being religious.

Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., P.O. Box 539, Dubuque, Iowa, 52004

ISBN 0-8403-8908-6, Softcover, © 1993, 446 pages, $16.95.

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