"If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated."--Voltaire

I read this because I am going to see Reza Aslan speak at our local lecture series. The book is well-written and short, but I felt that it left a lot to be desired. It provides a nice survey of various religions, but that is likely covered better by others such as Karen Armstrong. It reminded me a lot of Sapiens, insofar as it includes vast, sweeping assertions about history that are presented with far too much certainty and an obvious lack of nuance. And I thought that the ending seemed especially rushed--suddenly a sort of pantheism is thrown in as implicitly the "right" way of looking at God. Finally, I also don't understand how pretty much all of the Eastern religions are swept aside as if the Abrahamic religions and Zoroastrianism (Aslan is Iranian) are the only religious traditions worth addressing.

All that said, it is a fascinating topic. I have a hard time wrapping my head around the extent to which people don't seem to be capable of recognizing that they are creating anthropomorphic gods that reflect their society and social group. For example, I recently saw a comment on Twitter to the effect that Jesus gets used as a ventriloquist dummy a lot. That is really apt--and not just for political views, even though those are the most blatant example. Jesus also serves as a great motivational therapist who espouses a lot of views that sound just like secular self-help advice.

One thing that occurred to me as I was reading was that strict monotheism might actually represent a step backwards in our spiritual evolution. Early monotheism whereby you worship your one god, but acknowledge that there are other gods out there that are worshiped by other people, probably would lead to a lot less fundamentalism as compared to insisting there is but one God that just happens to be your God. Given that most people stay broadly within the faith of their geographic region/family, it amazes me that people don't seem to consider the rather long odds that they just happen to be born into the "one true faith," given the scope of the varieties of religious expression throughout human history and among people living in different places right now. Again, that is not something that is dealt with directly in the book, but it is something that the book encouraged me to think about.