What would you replace the bible with if you could?
Or the Koran, etc. etc.
My choices would be,
1. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland/Through the looking glass and what alice found there. By Lewis Carroll
2. The Complete Hitch-hikers guide to the galaxy, by Douglas Adams.
3. Cats Cradle, By Vonnegut Jr. (Or almost anything by him, also particularly Sirens of the Titans)
What about you? What book or narative do you think presents a better understanding of Morality/reality/sexuality/ and/or spirituality, then the trash presented by the pig religions?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Tiffany Willoughby on
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i'd rather replace it with santa clause. at least santa is nice. santa is a lot better of a christian than jesus is. santa gives toys and presents to the nice and gives coals to the not nice. jesus kills and throws in a lake of fire.
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Permalink Reply by David Henson on -
Frank Herbert's Dune; Dune Messiah; Children Of Dune; God Emperor Of Dune; Heretics Of Dune; and Chapterhouse Dune.
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Permalink Reply by Fabio Tran on -
Victor Hugo - "Those who do not weep, do not see."
I vote Les Misèrables, because of Hugo preface, in the book.
"So long as there shall exist, by reason of law and custom, a social condemnation, which, in the face of civilization, artificially creates hells on earth, and complicates a destiny that is divine, with human fatality; so long as the three problems of the age—the degradation of man by poverty, the ruin of women by starvation, and the dwarfing of childhood by physical and spiritual night—are not solved; so long as, in certain regions, social asphyxia shall be possible; in other words, and from a yet more extended point of view, so long as ignorance and misery remain on earth, books like this cannot be useless."
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Permalink Reply by Beyonder on -
I haven't read it, but perhaps "Walden" would be a good replacement to the Bible. "Live Deliberately," you know?
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Permalink Reply by Benny W on -
Maybe a book by a professional philosopher of academic and historical merit, instead of Kurt effing Vonnegut...
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Permalink Reply by Hank Hell on -
No I think Kurt Vonnegut is better, especialy cats cradle which examines the formation of society, peoples natural naivety, and the inherently fraudulent nature of both religion and government. I don't see the fact that it's entertaining as a bad thing, It's accessible to people who might not have the knowledge or patience to read Socrates or Kierkegaard.
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Permalink Reply by Brian Daurelle on -
Depends on if you're trying to replace a profound spiritual landmark in people's lives, trying to answer questions about the universe, or just trying to deconvert them in general.
If the latter is the case, if, say, Barack Hussein Obama finally declared his true colors as a Muslim-Atheist-Socialist-Communist in his second term by replacing all the Gideon Bibles in hotels with devangelical literature, and if he made the logical choice of appointing me to head the effort, I would like to see a few books get wider circulation among the religious;
The Evolution of God by Robert Wright
The Moral Animal, also by Robert Wright
The Hero with A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
The Blank Slate by Stephen Pinker
Though none of these books is an outright arguement against religion (though there are plenty great books in that category too), I think that, taken together, they present a worldview in which religion is antiquated and irrelevant.
For creation-questions, I'd replace the bible with Hawking's A Brief History of Time, Dawkins' The Greatest Show on Earth, and Krauss' A Universe from Nothing.
For general feel-good storytelling and spiritual reading, I like the first answer's suggestion of the Hitchhikker's Guide to the Galaxy (which books I read whenever I feel incurably miserable), and a few Kurt Vonnegut books, starting with Slaughterhouse-Five; I'd also add The Stranger and (as of recently) Cloud Atlas. All great books that speak to our inner humanity, sometimes in the worst of circumstances.
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Permalink Reply by Doug Reardon on -
Free beer.
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