The Destructive Power of Religion

This is a completely updated, condensed edition of a set that was hailed in reviews as "unsettling but thought-provoking," "compelling" and offering "critical coverage." This work's core theme demonstrates that the three major Western religions share the ancient notion that history and the human soul are caught in a cosmic conflict between good and evil, or God and devil, which cannot be resolved without violence, a cataclysmic final solution such as the extermination of nations, the execution of humans, or even the death of God's own son. Whether they fly airplanes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon; blow up ships, ports, or buildings; kill doctors and nurses at abortion clinics; exterminate contemporary Palestinians; or kill Israeli soldiers with suicide bombs, destructive religionists are all shaped by the same unconscious apocalyptic metaphors, and by the divine example and imperative to violence. The authors of this book warn that until such metaphors are removed from the Western psyche, an end to religious violence in the West will not be possible.