A Non-Believer’s Guide to Understanding Religion

A Non-Believer’s Guide to Understanding Religion describes religious realities in a way that readers with little or no natural faith can relate to. The guide appeals to the common sense of readers, and is easy to understand.From the introduction, author Michael Joseph Scanlon begins by saying, 'Religion has existed since the dawn of mankind. Every civilisation found on Earth and in the history of the world had its Sacred dimension at its centre. Indeed, the pyramids of Egypt are not a solitary or isolated instance of prehistoric stonemasonry that is Sacred. There are many other archaeological sites the world over such as the pre-Neolithic Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, which is 11,000 years old and which predates England’s Stonehenge by some 6,000 years.'The book then covers the more recent religious realities, including those of Islam and Christianity, from their origins to how they appear now. It also examines the story of a post-religious world and the alternatives that emerged, especially in the twentieth century.It finishes with a summary of how religion may well look in the future. (About the Author)Michael Joseph Scanlon grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland. 'Major influences for my writing come from when I spent three years working as a volunteer in Indonesia in my early twenties. Here I found a complete society that still lived as a community in faith. This was irresistible to me. My life story from this point led to me following a road less traveled.' A retired librarian, the author 'had a desire to help those with no religious background to consider the possibility that God exists and to thereby bring them hope.'