The Globe and Mail has published a review of Pope Benedict XVI’s latest book, “Jesus of Nazareth”, written by Ryerson University professor Randy Boyagoda, which turns out to be no more than a full-page love-in for superstition and evidence-free thinking, and an explicit endorsement of a man who is directly responsible for the deaths of millions of sub-Saharan Africans each year.
I have written the following letter to the editor of the Globe:
Dear Editor,
As far as I can tell, based on Randy Boyagoda’s review, “Jesus of
Nazareth” is simply a 374 page diatribe about nothing. What does Pope
Benedict XVI, the head of an organization that is directly responsible
for the deaths of tens of thousands of sub-Saharan African’s each
year, really know about the alleged creator of the universe, and has
Dr. Boyagoda really forgotten the vast difference between faith and
real evidence?
Without some objective way of assessing which god, if any, is the true
god, passing off another “version” of Jesus as a “straw-man” is either
willful ignorance or comical pandering.
It is high time we moved beyond the Enlightenment “virtue” of
exempting religion from all critical discourse; would the review have
been as forgiving of a book entitled “Zeus of Olympia”? And if not,
perhaps we should ask ourselves whether, based on evidence, this is
justified.
Unfortunately, letters to the editor never allow sufficient space to adequately address the question at hand. Thus, if you are so inclined, you can express your own feelings at letters@globeandmail.com
I remain,
Michael
