Not Religion, but Love: Practicing a Radical Spirituality of Compassion

Rating:
Summary: Ignore the other review
Review: This is a really good book. Rather than preaching to the converted, or railing against supposed sinners, Dave Andrews reflects the path of Jesus, which means walking with others of a like-mind, of a differing-mind, of a mind that refuses to accept truths just because those truths are accepted by the Mother Culture. If you want a radical (means rooted) spirituality, then pick up this book.

Rating:
Summary: This book is love in name, but procelytizing in reality
Review: We worship God as the supreme being because he is so all-powerful and created the universe. Although religion has contributed a lot to humankind, is the epitome of power (i.e. God)the best motivation for morality that humankind has? Not only is power a weak foundation for morality, it also motivates evil. As much as people like to disassociate religious atrocities with their respective religions, you cannot separate religious persecution from the religions that such persecution is done in the name of. Middle Eastern clerics kill Christians because they feel confident that those who don't follow Islam are following evil. Christians in Africa kill Hindus and "witches" in Africa and Muslims in the Balkans because they feel sure that those nonbelievers are evil for rejecting Christ. Without their religion, these people might not have even committed the acts in the first place. It would seem that the alternative to religion is atheism, but atheism is completely void. Atheism does not motivated people to establish hospitals, schools, and charities. Atheism does not keep people from having sex before marriage and abstaining from alcohol. Religion does. Religion motivates people to do great things, while atheism does not, but isn't there something that has the benefit of religion without the flaws. There is, and it is called "love." Love itself is a nonreligious concept, yet it lacks the void of atheism. I thought that the author realized that when writing this book, although all he really does is procelytize in a more compassionate way than many evangelists. Dave Andrews argues that we should follow the path of love instead of Christianity, but he devotes the book to the idea that we can only find love through following Christ. He suggests that people of any religion can follow Jesus. The author fails to realize that every compassionate teaching of Jesus has been taught by somebody before him, particulary in Hinduism and Buddhism. If the author expects Nonchristians to follow Jesus' message of love, why doesn't he promote Christians to follow Buddha's or Confucius' message of love? Of course, Buddha abandone his family, and the founders of Hinduism established an injust caste system, so it seems that love itself rather than any person (either Buddha, Jesus, or Mother Theresa) is the true path. This book was a waste of time for me, although it is a step up from most Christian literature.