America is a nation of diversity. At it’s worst, this diversity creates polarity and division. “Us and them” thinking sees differences in culture as weird, negative or wrong.

But many view America’s diversity as one of its biggest assets. Pluralism, when diversity is embraced and actively promoted, is a fundamental part of the American experience. Pluralism is infused in our founding documents and throughout our history.

One particular pluralist, Andrew Bowen, is campaigning for a National Day of Pluralism.

From the petition:

I believe a National Day of Pluralism, by espousing the ideals of the nation’s original motto, would help Americans remember the multifaceted reality of these United States by encouraging citizens to participate in a day of pluralistic observation. Just as Memorial Day enjoins us to honor those who have offered the ultimate sacrifice for our collective freedom and security, a National Day of Pluralism would remind us of one of the most endearing features of our nation: That we are indeed one people out of many nationalities, ethnicity, race, cultures, philosophies, and yes, even religions.

…A National Day of Pluralism would encourage citizens to meet their theological/philosophical neighbor on their own ground, learn from one another, and share in the unique qualities and ideals that make the United States a variable tapestry of many threads creating one piece of wondrous art.

Bowen, the author of the petition, is no stranger to actively embracing diversity. In 2011, for his “Project Conversion,” he spend each month of the year immersing himself in a different faith tradition, 12 in all.

His petition for a National Day of Pluralism, which seeks 500,000 signatures, has very little chance of coming to fruition. Nevertheless, it should be signed by all who have the idealistic dream of “eliminating the blight of ignorance and intolerance which currently mires our nation.”

Sign the petition here.

To billions around the globe, the Ten Commandments are a fundamental set of rules to base ones moral and religious lives. To many others, outside of the Judea-Christian tradition, the set of guidelines is problematic or simply unnecessary.

Like the Golden Rule and the Seven Deadly Sins, several other versions of the Ten Commandments exist. The following just happen to be non-religious versions.

Bertrand Russell’s Ten Commandments

Philosopher and agnostic Bertrand Russell constructed his own list of commandments, published by Everyman magazine in 1930.

1. Do not lie to yourself.
2. Do not lie to other people unless they are exercising tyranny.
3. When you think it is your duty to inflict pain, scrutinize your reasons closely.
4. When you desire power, examine yourself closely as to why you deserve it.
5. When you have power, use it to build up people, not to constrict them.
6. Do not attempt to live without vanity, since this is impossible, but choose the right audience from which to seek admiration.
7. Do not think of yourself as a wholly self-contained unit.
8. Be reliable.
9. Be just.
10. Be good-natured.

Then in 1951, Russell published another Ten-Commandment-like list in New York Times Magazine under the title, “The Best Answer to Fanaticism – Liberalism.”

1. Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.
2. Do not think it worthwhile to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.
3. Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed.
4. When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavor to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.
5. Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.
6. Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.
7. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
8. Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.
9. Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.
10. Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool’s paradise, for only a fool will think that is happiness.

The New Ten Commandments: A decalogue for the modern world

Ebonmusings.org published this reaction to the biblical Ten Commandments. Richard Dawkins liked this version so much that he included in his bestselling atheist manifesto, The God Delusion.

1. Do not do to others what you would not want them to do to you.
2. In all things, strive to cause no harm.
3. Treat your fellow human beings, your fellow living things, and the world in general with love, honesty, faithfulness and respect.
4. Do not overlook evil or shrink from administering justice, but always be ready to forgive wrongdoing freely admitted and honestly regretted.
5. Live life with a sense of joy and wonder.
6. Always seek to be learning something new.
7. Test all things; always check your ideas against the facts, and be ready to discard even a cherished belief if it does not conform to them.
8. Never seek to censor or cut yourself off from dissent; always respect the right of others to disagree with you.
9. Form independent opinions on the basis of your own reason and experience; do not allow yourself to be led blindly by others.
10. Question everything.

Christopher Hitchens’ New Commandments

In a 2010 article for Vanity Fair, Hitchens critiques each biblical commandment one by one, then offers up this updated decalogue.

1. Do not condemn people on the basis of their ethnicity or their color.
2. Do not ever even think of using people as private property.
3. Despise those who use violence or the threat of it in sexual relations.
4. Hide your face and weep if you dare to harm a child.
5. Do not condemn people for their inborn nature. (“Why would God create so many homosexuals, only to torture and destroy them?”)
6. Be aware that you, too, are an animal, and dependent on the web of nature. Try to think and act accordingly.
7. Do not imagine you can avoid judgment if you rob people [by lying to them] rather than with a knife.
8. Turn off that fucking cell phone.
9. Denounce all jihadists and crusaders for what they are: psychopathic criminals with ugly delusions and terrible sexual repression.
10. Reject any faith if their commandments contradict any of the above.

.

A.C. Grayling’s Humanist Bible

Philosopher and professor A.C. Grayling curated, edited and wrote a non-religious bible-alternative containing wisdom from the history of secular literature and philosophy. It is called The Good Book: A Humanist Bible and contains the following ten simple commandments.

1. Love well
2. Seek the good in all things
3. Harm no others
4. Think for yourself
5. Take responsibility
6. Respect nature
7. Do your utmost
8. Be informed
9. Be kind
10. Be courageous

The Nine Satanic Statements

Anton LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan, never believed in God or Satan. He used the word Satan as a symbol of carnality and self worship. The “black pope” included this list as a response to the Ten Commandments in his Satanic Bible.

1. Satan represents indulgence instead of abstinence!
2. Satan represents vital existence instead of spiritual pipe dreams!
3. Satan represents undefiled wisdom instead of hypocritical self-deceit!
4. Satan represents kindness to those who deserve it instead of love wasted on ingrates!
5. Satan represents vengeance instead of turning the other cheek!
6. Satan represents responsibility to the responsible instead of concern for psychic vampires!
7. Satan represents man as just another animal, sometimes better, more often worse than those that walk on all-fours, who, because of his “divine spiritual and intellectual development,” has become the most vicious animal of all!
8. Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification!
9. Satan has been the best friend the Church has ever had, as He has kept it in business all these years!

Gene Autry’s Cowboy Code

Hollywood cowboy Gene Autry may or may not have developed this list, but it is attributed to him. The code promotes an ethical, moral, and patriotic lifestyle. With its elegance and simple profundity, it equals or surpasses all other ten-commandment-style codes I have seen.

1. The Cowboy must never shoot first, hit a smaller man or take an unfair advantage.
2. A Cowboy must never go back on his word, or a trust confided in him.
3. A Cowboy must always tell the truth.
4. A Cowboy must be gentle with children, the elderly and small animals.
5. A Cowboy must not advocate or possess racially or religiously intolerant views and ideas.
6. A Cowboy must help people in distress.
7. A Cowboy must be a good worker.
8. A Cowboy must keep himself clean in thought, speech, action and personal habits.
9. A Cowboy must respect women, parents and his nation’s views.
10. A Cowboy is a patriot.

Where Everything is Music

Don’t worry about saving these songs!
And if one of our instruments breaks,
it doesn’t matter.

We have fallen into the place
where everything is music.

The strumming and the flute notes
rise into the atmosphere,
and even if the whole world’s harp
should burn up, there will still be
hidden instruments playing.

So the candle flickers and goes out.
We have a piece of flint, and a spark.

This singing art is sea foam.
The graceful movements come from a pearl
somewhere on the ocean floor.

Poems reach up like spindrift and the edge
of driftwood along the beach, wanting!

They derive from a slow and powerful root
that we can’t see.

Stop the words now.
Open the window in the center of your chest,
and let the spirits fly in and out.

by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
from The Essential Rumi
publisher: HarperSanFrancisco, 1995

The Beastie Boys’ gray headed, gravelly voiced member Adam Yauch (MCA) passed away today after a battle with cancer. Yauch, a long-time buddhist, talked with Shambhala Sun back in 1995 about his spiritually and other things.

From Shambhala Sun:

Loud, clever, witty, weird and POSITIVE, the Beastie Boys are one of the world’s biggest alternative bands. Beastie Boy Adam Yauch brought Tibetan music and Buddhist philosophy to their latest album, Ill Communication. He talks to The Shambhala Sun about hip-hop, hardcore, helping people, and “gettin’ stupid.”

Amy Green: What was your first experience with Buddhism, the first thing that really caught you? Was it books you read?

Adam Yauch: I was reading a lot about Native American and other religions and checking out different things. Then I was in Kathmandu about two years ago, and I met some people who were Tibetan Studies majors living there. I was just hanging out with them; went to a couple of monasteries and Tibetan people’s houses and started getting into Tibetan culture a little bit. And I went and saw the Dalai Lama speak when he was in America for the Arizona teachings. I have studied a lot of different things; Buddhism is fairly new to me.

Jerry Granelli: Buddhism made sense to you?

Adam Yauch: It just seemed like Buddhism, especially Tibetan Buddhism, because that’s mainly what I’ve been exposed to, was a real solid organization of teachings to point someone in the right direction. Some real well thought out stuff. But I don’t know, like, every last detail about Buddhism. (laughter)

Read the rest of the interview.

Wow, wow, wow! This is a mind-blowing, goose-bump-inducing, passionate performance of “Jesus Gonna Be Here.” Tom Waits is a prophet. Tom Waits is a god. He may be possessed by the devil himself.

Well, Jesus will be here
Be here soon
he’s gonna cover us up with leaves
With a blanket from the moon
With a promise and a vow
And a lullaby for my brow
Jesus gonna be here
Be here soon

Well I’m just gonna wait here
I don’t have to shout
I have no reason and
I have no doubt
I’m gonna get myself
Unfurled from this mortal coiled up world
Because Jesus gonna be here
Be here soon

I got to keep my eyes open
So I can see my Lord
I’m gonna watch the horizon
For a brand new Ford

I can hear him rolling on down the lane
I said Hollywood be thy name
Jesus gonna be
Gonna be here soon

Well I’ve been faithful
And I’ve been so good
Except for drinking
But he new that I would
I’m gonna leave this place better
Than the way I found it was
And Jesus gonna be here
Be here soon

Atheist YouTuber DarkMatter2525 has build a large audience attacking religion with witty but hard-hitting animated shorts. His latest offering is a re-telling of the Bible book of Job. Strong language makes it NSFW.

Hat Tip Friendly Atheist

I walked in with a six-pack. “Oh, yeah,” my mom said.

After an hour of chit-chat, potato chips and two MGDs (my parents were still nursing their first), there was a lull in the conversation and I jumped in. “So…I wanted to talk to you guys about religion.” My dad’s eyes somehow perked up and lowered simultaneously.

I had left the religion of my upbringing (Jehovah’s Witnesses) several years prior to this talk with my parents, but it never seemed quite official, and wouldn’t be official until I had told them my decision. Of course they knew, but it was never discussed. No one had the guts to bring it up. In this religion, you can’t just leave the faith behind, you must also leave family and friends.

“We’ve never really talked about it and I think it’s important that you know how I feel about God and religion.” My dad nodded ever so slightly and squinted. I’d love to know what was going through his head at that moment.

“I have a hard time believing that any one religion holds a monopoly on truth. How do you know what to accept and what to reject? I believe it’s impossible to really know.” I was relieved that the conversation was finally going to take place after 10 years.

Dad nodded. Mom shifted in her chair.

“How do you know you have the truth?” I asked.

“Its good that you don’t accept anything blindly,” dad said. “I know we have the truth because we do the preaching work. It’s in the Bible.”

“But lots of Christians evangelize,” I countered.

“Every one of the Jehovah’s Witnesses preach. You won’t find that in other religions. But if you don’t believe in the Bible we have a different problem.”

“I don’t.” I glanced over at mom. She looked concerned and supportive, the corner of her mouth smiling. She’s mom, that’s what she does.

I explained to them that I don’t believe the Bible is God’s direct word. I think it is inspired by God, much in the way that a sunset or a beautiful woman inspire a poem. The sunset didn’t write the poem, but there would be no poem with the sunset. I was proud of that example.

I also said that I believe the book of Genesis is simply a way of explaining the origins of the earth in such a way that could be understood by a particular people at a particular time, and that I can’t believe the earth is only 6,000 years old.

“The earth isn’t 6,000 years old, it is eons old,” my dad said. “The six days of creation aren’t literally six days, they are time periods. It is man that is 6,000 years old.”

“But according to the Bible, animals were created after man,” I said. “How do you explain dinosaur fossils that are dated millions of years ago, not to mention pre-homosapian fossils?”

Just then the next door neighbor, also a JW, knocked on the door. Apparently it was official congregation business, because my dad and the neighbor took off to talk in private.

Just me and my mom. I told her that I never really believed; only to the extent that you believe what your parents teach you. I never owned it, I never felt it.

My mom told me that for years she just went along with the belief system, going through the motions. Then one day she was going through a rough time with her Multiple Sclerosis, and my brother was having some serious problems with his Epilepsy. She got down on her knees and said, “now is the time, Jehovah. If you are there, I need you now.” She felt a warm feeling come over her. For the first time in her life she was sure. It was like she was born again, in her 50s.

When she told me that it blew my mind. I thought she was a rock of faith, but she was a skeptic most of her life. It’s a common story, I suppose. Hard times cause people to find God, or create him.

“That’s exactly what I want to feel,” I said. “I’ve prayed in the past. I don’t know if anyone is listening but I ask God to show himself to me. I want to feel what you felt. I don’t have that kind of faith. I don’t think I ever will.”

Dad came back and said, “I don’t,” referring to how do you explain pre-homosapien fossils. “Sure there are irregularities, but there are so many holes in evolution. If you believe in evolution, I would say that you have more faith than I do. It is much easier to believe that God created everything than to believe in evolution.”

It’s easier, sure, I wanted to say. But I would call it intellectual laziness.

“What else, besides the preaching work sets Witnesses apart from other Christians?” I asked.

“Jehovah’s name,” he said right away.
“You mean the tetragrammaton?” I said.
How did you know about the tetragrammaton?”
“I study religion. I read a lot. But his name is not necessarily Jehovah. Wouldn’t it be more like Yahweh?”

He went on to talk about the global brotherhood of JWs that you won’t find in other religions. It’s kind of hard to argue with that.

I would have liked to explore more theological topics with my dad, but at this point I was just avoiding the main reason I had come to visit.

“What is the purpose of disfellowshipping?” I asked. “Is it a punishment, or is it a way to keep the congregation clean?”

“It’s to keep the congregation clean, but we hope it is also a wake-up call.”

When one is disfellowshipped from the congregation, you are cut off from associating with current members, family included.

“Disfellowshipped persons made a commitment and rejected it,” my dad continued. “It’s like someone who gravely disrespected his father. His brothers and sisters would not want to have anything to do with him.”

“But people change their minds. People grow,” I said. “I was baptized at 14 years old. How am I supposed to make a life long commitment at that age?”

My dad didn’t really know what to say to that. I continued:

“So do you view me as tantamount to being disfellowshipped?” I hadn’t been officially disfellowshipped from the congregation at this point.

My dad paused, this was what I have been waiting for. I offered, “because if you do I would welcome it. It is only fair.”

“If you live a life that warrants disfellowshipping, then Jehovah has already disfellowshipped you,” he said.

“I’m out then,” I said. “And it’s too bad. How is disfellowshipping a wake-up call? If I was disfellowshipped I would totally denounce this evil organization that rips family and friends apart. It wouldn’t make me want to come back. It would push me further away. How is cutting someone off helping them?”

“Well it is scriptural,” he said. “But regardless, you are my son and although I won’t be inviting you over for a meal or anything like that. I will always be here for you if need anything.”

I looked at my watch and it was time to go. It was good that we finally talked. I think they understood me. I hugged them both and walked out the door. I’m sure they prayed for me when I left. I’m out. I’m free. It feels good.

The future is here, kids. A novel is no longer limited to printed words on paper. We have the technology! In addition to the old-fashioned book, a novel can include rock and roll music, film, and even a youtube playlist. Almost like a Sunday service at your local mega-church.

Jesús Ángel García’s transmedia novel is badbadbad (that’s the title). The idea of the transmedia novel infatuates me to no end. My review follows, but first:

Full disclosure: I normally sip tea while reading. Darjeeling or sometimes green tea for popular nonfiction. A stronger black tea for more scholarly works. For fiction, I like Earl Grey or occasionally a nice sweet chai latte, which is what I had in hand as I picked up badbadbad, García’s novel that I’m about to review below. It wasn’t long though, as I delved into the pulp-style novel, that I realized the tea perhaps wasn’t the appropriate beverage for the book in hand. True story: I put down the book 75 pages in, walked down to the corner and picked up a bottle of Kentucky’s finest, Jim Beam, a two liter of ginger ale as well. I’m not normally a bourbon drinker, but for this occasion it just seemed right.

Now, on with the review. But first:

Full disclosure #2: As you know, my readers, I’m a religion junkie. Any story that treats religious themes with openness and honesty, I’ll devour like a consecrated wafer at first communtion. So naturally, my opinion of badbadbad will be skewed to the positive due to it’s religious nature. Our hero of the book, JAG, sees himself as a messiah, a savior, a healer. By day, JAG is a faithful Sunday churchgoer and webmaster for the First Church of the Church Before Church. The pastor of the church is your everyday perfect hair and teeth charismatic religious-right type of pastor from the south. Jesús Ángel García portays him with such spot on reality that you can see the beads of sweat roll down his nose as he preaches, “you have to get naked to be clothed in the lord.”

By night, JAG hangs with the pastor’s disfellowshipped son, Cyrus, who bond over their shared passion for music. Neither have any real belief in the Judea-Christian-Muslim god. Their deity and savior comes in the form of notes, rhythms, melodies and lyrics. JAG calls it “A Love Supreme,” referencing the Coltrane masterpiece.

Cyrus introduces JAG to an online sexual fetish community called fallenangels. This is where JAG finds his calling. He was sent to be healer, a sexual healer.

I longed to be of service in whatever way I could. It was my calling to do unto others. I should note this impulse came from outside myself, from something bigger than me alone.

He eventually gets administrative privileges to the fetish website. That’s when he truly sees himself as God.

FD #3: Before I begin with the actual review I must disclose that I don’t condone pornography. This book is full of it, I tell you. Of course, I don’t condemn it either. JAG practices his sexual healing on a lot of girls, in explicit detail. But a lot of the sexy situations in badbadbad are not too sexy, so that makes it okay. There is cellulite, pubic stubble, and even possible STDs! I should mention that some of the sex is actually quite sexy. But when I read those parts I quickly shut the book and picked up the Bible.* Beware when you read the book. Have your KJV handy!

FD #4: As well as being a religion junky, I’m also a music junky. I’m the guy in my circle of friends ready to answer any question about any obscure band who ever existed. I’m also ready to give out can’t miss music recommendations for any mood or occasion. I’m willing to bet García is that guy too. The novel is full of excellent music references, subtle or otherwise. So, naturally I’d be drawn to give it a favorable review based on that fact alone. My favorite:

She came into view…bare shoulder, bra strap, choker, shy smile, wide raccoon eyes, tired and wary, hopeful, thick makeup, hair piled high on top of her head, eighties-style, the Bangles. She walked like an Egyptian.

FD#5: Back in college as a Media Studies major, I actually conceived the idea to write a book that included music and a film. Lacking inspiration or fortitude, I put the idea on hold. Now, I’m not saying Mr. García stole my idea, I’m just saying. Just throwin’ that out there.

Of course, he approaches the transmedia novel concept a bit differently than I would have. Truth be told, mine probably would have been bloated, pretentious and self indulgent (like this book review). With badbadbad, the book is front and center. It stands on its own quite well. The writing is top-notch, smart and carefully playful, transcending it’s pulp-fiction clothing. Any author that can write the line: “we embraced like lovers at the threshold of the void,” and have it sound like the perfect words at the perfect time, is doing something right.

Then there is an original soundtrack of songs taken from the narrative of the book, country-punk style and catchy as hell. “Bed o’ Cornbread Crumbs” will be embedded in my head for days.

The film is a five-part documentary that explores the book’s themes of fear,
hypocrisy, sexual morality, e-intimacy & self-destruction, done in a man-on-the-street interview style. I was able to watch 3 of the 5 parts of the film. Nothing groundbreaking or mind-blowing, but surely engaging.

Rounding out the transmedia experience is the youtube playlist consisting of the songs or artists referenced in the book. It’s a great deal of fun going through the dozens of gems and a few duds, well-know and obscure songs from all genres.

It’s a lot of media to behold for one novel, but somehow it seems like García’s transmedia experience was almost too subtle. Like he could have gone further in some way, taken it to another level. The badbadbad project is a book with supplemental material. I wonder what badbadbad would have looked like if film, music, and literature were dependent on each other; each with equal ranks, not able to survive without the others.
—
My apologies. I’ve run out of space for the book review. Visit the official badbadbad website for text, film, and audio excerpts, as well as links to actual reviews.

*This sentence is a lie.

What I believe isn’t important. The fact that I can put order to my thoughts, sort them into opinions and fan them into beliefs is hardly impressive. In fact, such thinking is unavoidable. It’s what our highly evolved human brains do. They compare and contrast and judge in an endless attempt to make sense of the world around us. Believing is as automatic as walking or talking or sneezing, and about as noteworthy.

There was a time when I considered my beliefs to be something more than just an assemblage of thoughts. I mistook them for something much more important. I thought they were me.

At various times in my life I believed I was a Catholic, a Unitarian, an agnostic and a secular humanist. I was a liberal, a feminist, an environmentalist and a pacifist. I took on new identities in search of a higher self and, down deep, I think, to distance myself from certain vulgarities that characterize the human condition – qualities like greed and aggression. By connecting certain thoughts, by cobbling together new identities, I convinced myself and others that those unwholesome human traits couldn’t possibly define me. They defined thieves and rapists and murderers. I was above all that, and had a portfolio of beliefs to prove it.

I was not alone in my quest adopt a new identity. Everyone in the world was doing it right along with me. Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists. Socialists, Communists and Greens. Progressive Unionists, Christian Democrats – some crafting identities the way college freshmen craft double majors. We were all attempting to rise above our inherited animal nature, but rising above it didn’t make it go away. We were still greedy and aggressive despite our deeply held beliefs. We were walking contradictions, projecting our inner conflicts onto the world; in fact, we were the world, and that’s why it was such a bloody mess.

Having wandered from one belief system to another, I thought I had explored life’s biggest questions, but I was only asking questions for which my beliefs had provided me pat answers. I had yet to ask myself the most radical questions, the ones that would eventually smash my beliefs to bits. They were questions no one seemed to be asking, questions like:

If a clash of beliefs can be found at the root of all the violence in the world, then shouldn’t we question their validity – not the validity of any particular belief, but belief itself?

Separated from our beliefs, would we lose our moral bearing? Would we fall prey to our baser instincts and rock the world with depraved acts of violence? Or is this precisely the behavior we exhibit under the hypnotic spell our beliefs?

Imagine a city whose buildings have been leveled by an earthquake. That’s the image I had of my mind after my beliefs had been toppled. I felt like I could see forever in every direction. The towering thought structures that stood as my beliefs no longer blocked my view of the world. I felt a disorienting sense of freedom. Liberated from the beliefs that had conferred my identity, I felt blissfully anonymous. I was a person without a suffix, without an –ist to affirm my existence. I had unwittingly joined the only club that matters. It numbers in the billions, doesn’t charge dues and welcomes career criminals. It’s called the human race.

It’s been years since I disposed of my beliefs, and I have yet to turn into a sociopathic killer. On the contrary, I’ve developed a deep affection for my planet mates now that I’m not measuring them by the yardstick of my beliefs. Gone are the walls of thought that prevented me from seeing who they really are. Gone are the lectures I’d give in an attempt to raise their consciousness. And gone, mercifully, is my compulsion to cast them as evil so that I can appear virtuous.

However sacred or profound, a belief is nothing more than a thought, and thought is never the thing it describes. It can only hint at the wonders it attempts to touch. Sermons about love garble love’s ineffable beauty. Speeches about unity clank after the first syllable. Courting belief is a prescription for a virtual, not a virtuous life.

I never expected the world renowned evolutionary biologist and superstar atheist Richard Dawkins to write a book aimed at children. But, alas, The Magic of Reality: How We Know What’s Really True is slated for an October release.

The book will explain scientific question that many young people have. Questions that kids might get a vastly different answer for from their Sunday schools.

• Why do bad things happen
• Are we alone?
• What are things made of?
• What is the sun?
• Why is there night and day?
• What is an earthquake?
• What is a rainbow?
• Who were the first man and woman?
• When did everything begin?

Looks good! Though a book aimed at the younger crowd, I know many adults that would benefit a great deal from this book, including myself.

But what makes news of this book even more exiting is that it is illustrated by Dave McKean. Advanced images are hard to come by this early, but they are sure to be as fantastic as McKean’s other work.

Dawkins is always best when he writes about what he knows: evolutionary biology. When he tries to be an expert on religion he comes off as a smarmy sophomore. This book looks very promising. Hopefully he sticks to the former and leaves the latter alone.

From the back cover of The Magic of Reality.

I want to show you that the real world, as understood scientifically has magic of its own – the kind I call poetic magic: an inspiring beauty which is all the more magical because it is real and because we can understand how it works…The magic of reality is – quite simply-wonderful. Wonderful, and real. Wonderful because real.

Though not being released until fall, you can preorder The Magic of Reality: How We Know What’s Really True from Amazon.

*Update: The book photo above is for the UK version of the book. Here is the US version, which is set to be released on October 4th. By the way, I think Americans got the inferior cover. Agree?