Review: Prothero Rebuts Idea All Gods Are Alike

"God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World - and Why Their Differences Matter" (HarperOne, 388 pages, $26.99), by Stephen Prothero

By CARL HARTMAN
For The Associated Press

Christianity, Islam and Judaism all insist that God is One. So prospective readers may think that Stephen Prothero, a professor of religion at Boston University, must be proclaiming polytheism in a book titled, "God Is Not One."

He does that, in a way, describing many different gods objectively and with touches of irony that the devout may find irreverent. 

A subtitle outlines the large territory covered: "The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World - and Why Their Differences Matter." He ends his account with a quiet agnosticism: "(I)f there really is a god or goddess worthy of the name, He or She or It must surely know more than we do about the things that matter most."

His rebuttal of the idea that all gods are basically alike starts with "All Religions Are One," written by English poet William Blake. Prothero sees Gandhi, the Dalai Lama and Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" as embracing the mistake.

"The Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century popularized the idea of religious tolerance, and we are doubtless better for it," he writes. "But the idea of religious unity is wishful thinking nonetheless, and it has not made the world a safer place. In fact, this naive theological groupthink - call it Godthink - has made the world more dangerous by blinding us to the clashes of religions that threaten us worldwide."

He cites the religious element in wars, clashes, murders and atrocities from a morning in lower Manhattan to 30 years of civil conflict in Sri Lanka.

The book's dust jacket summarizes the problems that Prothero considers as preoccupying five of the eight religions: Islam deals with pride, Christianity with sin, Confucianism with chaos, Buddhism with suffering and Judaism with exile.

The book also covers Hinduism, Daoism - sometimes called Taoism - and the Yoruba religion of West Africa, more familiar to North Americans as Voodoo in Haiti and Santeria in Cuba. Prothero makes ironic fun of tales about Ganesha, god of good fortune in the unnumbered pantheon of Hinduism. Ganesha starts as a boy, unjustly beheaded by the destructive god Shiva.

"Hindu gods are not constrained by the virtues," the author remarks. Shiva repents and revives the boy, using an elephant's head for a transplant. Ganesha now has four arms but only one tusk, having broken off the other to write "The Mahabharata," the Hindu epic.

"A pen-and-ink (picture of) Ganesha, his belly as plump as a Chinatown Buddha, greets visitors to my Cape Cod cottage," says Prothero, himself a prolific writer.

But first place in this book goes to Islam, because of its impact on today's world. "Islam is the greatest of the great religions. In terms of adherents, this tradition of justice and mercy and forgiveness and submission is growing far faster than Christianity," Prothero writes.

"To presume that the conversation about the great religions starts with Christianity is to show your parochialism, and your age. The 19th and 20th centuries may have belonged to Christianity. The 21st belongs to Islam."

Comments

[Young]

I agree Islam is rising fast but Christianity is still in The number one spot for the most practiced religion followed by Islam. I understand that many religions are similar when speaking of one God, but I would not say say they are all the same. Islam has a major prophet Mohammad who was not hung to die where as Christians have Jesus who was hung on the cross to die. Also We do not face the holy land and pray where as Islam religion faces Mecca everytime they pray Maybe that is not the best example but, every religion has a major difference to me I do not think " All religions are one" is justifiable.

[Missy]

What a joke, a man with a finite mind trying to define an infinite God. There is but one True God, The Father the Son and the Holy Spirit. God is triune and we are not capable of understanding the concept unless we base it on Faith. This Triune God of Mercy and Love sent His Only Begotten Son to die for the sin of the world. This just and merciful God knew that His Perfect sinless Son was the only sacrifice that would be acceptable and able to provide us a way to Him. He does not ask us to sacrifice our own children by having them blow themselves up or to cut off the heads of people who do not believe in Him. He sent His Son to show love. Muhammad was a pedophile certainly not sinless and condoned violence. Jesus asked us to love our enemies not to kill them, to do good to those who persecute us for His namesake, not to cut off their heads. Prothero may be a professor but he's an idiot.

[Ron Krumpos]

Orthodox, institutional religions are quite different, but their mystics have much in common. A quote from the chapter "Mystic Viewpoints" in my e-book at http://www.suprarational.org on comparative mysticism:

Ritual and Symbols. The inner meanings of the scriptures, the spiritual teachings of the prophets and those personal searchings which can lead to divine union were often given lesser importance than outward rituals, symbolism and ceremony in many institutional religions. Observances, reading scriptures, prescribed acts, and following orthodox beliefs cannot replace your personal dedication, contemplation, activities, and direct experience. Preaching is too seldom teaching. For true mystics, every day is a holy day. Divine revelation is here and now, not limited to their sacred scriptures.

Conflicts in Conventional Religion. "What’s in a Word?" outlined some primary differences between religions and within each faith. The many divisions in large religions disagreed, sometimes bitterly. The succession of authority, interpretations of scriptures, doctrines, organization, terminology, and other disputes have often caused resentment. The customs, worship, practices, and behavior within the mainstream of religions frequently conflicted. Many leaders of any religion had only united when confronted by someone outside their faith, or by agnostics or atheists. Few mystics have believed divine oneness is exclusive to their religion or is restricted to any people.

Note: This is just a consensus to indicate some differences between the approaches of mystics and that of their institutional religion. These statements do not represent all schools of mysticism or every division of faith. Whether mystical experiences vary in their cultural context, or are similar for all true mystics, is less important than that they transform each one’s sense of being to a transpersonal outlook on all life.

[Ron Krumpos]

Those who believe the kinship of faiths should join the social network of the Parliament of the World's Religions. Look at http://www.peacenext.org/profile/RonKrumpos and I would be happy to be one of your first friends there.

[Holy Land tours]

There is no shame for not believing in god, but if you do believe in higher entity, authority or power, you should believe it with all your heart - in love, hope and faith, don't go on a race with other believers. We can unite with a lot of other religions like in Jerusalem or other places that people don't matter for their race or beliefs.