Why Is It ... We are Afraid of Being Descendants of Monkeys but Not Incest?

Harry Margulies

Description

WHAT IS YOUR ANSWER

As the Corona pandemic spreads, with suffering and death rampant around the whole world, believers started praying for divine help to alleviate the suffering and to put a stop to the nightmare. Almost never was the logical somersault and mental Catch-22 questioned when of course if God really existed, he could have prevented it all.

This is just one among the many dramatic and exposing questions asked in this book, Why is it. Another question deals with how humanity came to be.

Why is it that believers cannot agree that we have a common ancestry with the monkeys but rather accept that we descend from incest?

Could it really be that God who is all-knowing, all-seeing and all-powerful could in any way be surprised at the outcome of his creation?

What is the difference between what we have been taught to believe and what our holy texts really say?

Are religious institutions here for God and his worshipers or perhaps more for the benefit their own existence and that of their leaders?

If Jesus was sent to earth by his Father to die on the cross for our sins, was His crucifixion not godly suicide?

Why is it... is about the difficult questions about religion, religious institutions and religious figures. Each of the 12 chapters of the book is a separate question being asked and followed up by a discussion that can help you with your own inquiry.

Harry Margulies, the author, is known for his pronounced analytical abilities and ambition to think outside the box. That is how he finds different avenues to difficult subject matters which the rest of us, often perhaps through discomfort, choose to ignore.

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Philosophie de la religion
• Science
• Évolution
• Agnosticism
• Ethics
• Morality
• Determinism
• Humanism
• Atheism
• Humanity
• Religión

Informations

• Publié par: Why is it publishing AB
• Date de parution: 02 août 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781802270846
• Langue: English

Extrait

WHY IS IT?
… We are Afraid of Being Descendants of Monkeys but Not Incest?
HARRY MARGULIES
Under Licence to: Why is it Publishing AB
Copyright © 2021 Harry Magulies and Why is it Publishing
All rights reserved. This book, or any portion thereof, may not be reproduced or used in any manner by any means without the written permission of the publisher.
Cover: Darwin’s Monkey
Why is it Publishing AB
Kronudden, 18532 Vaxholm. Sweden
Web: www.whyisitpublishing.com
Email: [e-mail]
Links to all video clips recommended in this book will be accessible through our website. Scan the QR code and it will take you straight there.


ISBN:
978-1-80227-082-2 (hardback)
978-1-80227-083-9 (paperback)
978-1-80227-084-6 (eBook)



It’s easier to fool people than it is to convince them that they have been fooled.
~ Mark Twain

Contents
Foreword
Introduction
CHAPTER 1
Why is it … that the Bible is viewed as a book of utmost morality when your children should really not be allowed to read it?
CHAPTER 2
Why is it … that when scientists or religious figures try to show that science and religion are compatible, the result ends up being unscientific?
CHAPTER 3
Why is it … that Pope Francis’ fine words about making the world a fairer place bring us no closer to closing the income and wealth gap?
CHAPTER 4
Why is it … that we are afraid of being descendants of monkeys but don’t mind being descendants of incest?
CHAPTER 5
Why is it … that so much violence in recent times has come from followers of Islam while followers of Christianity have decreased their levels of violence?
CHAPTER 6
Why is it … that we accept so many errors in holy scripture that elsewhere would have made us stop reading?
CHAPTER 7
Why is it … that we believe that we are in possession of the true religion when we don’t really know what that is?
CHAPTER 8
Why is it … that, in spite of best efforts, creationism does not make it into other than pseudo-science?
CHAPTER 9
Why is it … that so much anti-Semitism from Christianity and Islam has been directed against the Jews when, at least in Christianity, the Jews must be acknowledged to be God’s chosen people?
CHAPTER 10
Why is it … that we are eager to believe that we have free will in relation to God but don’t know what free will is?
CHAPTER 11
Why is it … that the pope of the Catholic Church is considered infallible when so many mistakes have been made by the church?
CHAPTER 12
Why is it … that Christianity decided to be anti-sex in spite of having its roots in sexy Judaism?
Afterword
Postscript
Acknowledgements
I n this book big questions are being asked…and answered.
We are all faced with the problem of how to negotiate our way through the world, and over the millennia, billions of people have turned to God for answers. Now, Harry Margulies has turned the tables and poses 12 pressing questions, of us, and of God.
He tackles – fearlessly – the big subjects: divine omniscience; the sometimes-wilful obscurity of religious texts and the opaque meaning of God’s word; the seeming carelessness, callousness and cruelty of God; violence enacted in the name of God; the problems of reconciling religious belief and scientific knowledge; a whole raft of issues surrounding the always vexed issue of religion and morality, with lengthy, forensic discussions of money, intolerance, hypocrisy, sex. As that list – one that only scratches the surface of the breadth and depth of the themes dealt with in the course of the book – suggests, this is not for the faint-hearted (or the simple-minded). It is a deeply serious, challenging piece of work, but it is also at all times lucid and accessible, and often funny.
It is never glib, but is in fact the result of decades of reading, research, questioning, deep thought.
It is a book unafraid to ask the difficult questions, in the same way that every faith, every religious person should be. We should all be willing if not eager to explore and question the foundations on which we choose to build our lives, the very rules and guidelines that underpin our quotidian existence. Harry confronts religious thinkers, religious leaders, religious texts head-on, without fear or prejudice, and sees how they look, how they shape up in the bright, unforgiving light of clear- thinking and in the face of tough, serious interrogation. Whether you are deeply religious, agnostic or atheist, you will be, by turns, intrigued, infuriated, perhaps enlightened by much of this, and, most of all, you will be challenged to think afresh on everypage.
Karl French
Editor
Foreword
H arry Margulies is one of the most clear-sighted people I have ever met. He has an unerring ability to convey his points of view in a lucid and thought-provoking way. What more could you want from a writer?
So, how can I convey all of this? It’s actually quite simple. I have been privileged to follow Harry’s life, both privately and professionally, for almost 50 years, so of course I feel I know him rather well by now. We first met back in the early 1970s. I was an ambitious, young reporter on what was then Sweden’s biggest newspaper. Harry was working as a tax advisor and had just co-written a book about tax planning, a virtually unknown concept at the time.
I was immediately impressed by Harry’s ability to look at problems in a fresh way, while at the same time always treating facts and rules with proper respect. He also had an impressive ability to get his message across.
What began as a purely professional relationship developed over time into a close personal friendship. As Harry’s career developed, it took him into the world of international taxation. Sweden wasn’t enough for him – he needed to widen his perspective, so he moved to Canada and from there to London, his current base.
For me, our long friendship has entailed participation in a number of incredibly interesting seminars, stimulating and eye-opening discussions on all manner of subjects, not least religion – and many memorable dinners. And so many funny stories.
Over the years, I have been able to follow the evolution of Harry’s professional qualities, and this has indeed been impressive to behold. He soon became much sought-after as an advisor. He has worked for a number of notably demanding and distinguished clients, in many cases involving extraordinarily complicated tax problems. One particular quality of Harry’s is that he doesn’t just analyse the rules and the facts – he has that rare ability to think outside the box and see things that others have simply missed. He is also conscious, at all times, of how any information is experienced by the recipient, and he possesses an enviable ability to communicate. This is a gift that I, as a journalist and publicist, have noticed and valued.
What have religion and taxation got in common? Not a great deal, but then this is not important. What is important are Harry’s analytical powers and his unstinting ambition to look behind first impressions.
Over the years, Harry and I have often discussed the different religions and their varying effect on people, and I have repeatedly been amazed at the ambition, effort and time that Harry has devoted to penetrating the different religious texts and mythical tales. He is exceptionally well-read.
Harry has, of course, been published before in his professional field, for instance in a number of articles in Swedish tax journals. He has also co-written a number of books on taxation, but this is the first time that he has tackled something other than taxation in book form. I am delighted to recommend this book, especially as it is written in such accessible language and with a light touch. The book is cumulatively compelling and there is a discernible narrative thread, but nevertheless every chapter can stand on its own.
I find this book eminently readable and accessible, whether you are a believer, an atheist or an agnostic. Either you will have your belief confirmed, or you will be furious to find that someone can have such different ideas, which can also be useful and even inspiring. Whatever your belief, I can promise you that you will be faced with observations and arguments that you have never encountered before. The worst that could happen is that you might end up an atheist... and would that be such a bad thing?
Jan Sterner
Journalist and publisher
INTRODUCTION
T his is not a scientific work. There is already so much scientific writing on the subject matter of this book that the choice had to be made between exactness and a certain ease of reading and understanding. I opted for the latter, and you will therefore find neither footnotes nor a bibliography in this writing. One can only hope that it succeeds in being both understandable and entertaining.
I will be asking a few questions, and I hope that the process of trying to find answers to these questions will entertain you and make you think about your own answers. My questions, and my attempts to answer them, are of course based on my own experiences and observations.
The psychology of belief starts to affect you very early in life. If you, like me, were indoctrinated into certain beliefs in your childhood, you may find it very difficult, almost physically painful, to shed those beliefs. I have a feeling that many will not go through the agony of letting reason win over belief. Rather than actively taking charge of the process that leads from belief to reason, it is probably easier to live in doubt and semi-consciously ignore the fact that, deep down, you know what is true and what is not.
It is not only childhood indoctrination that can bring one to faith. We should not i