Your Religion Is False
This book isn’t what you might expect. Well, unless you are expecting a very funny book with genuine insights on religion, then it is what you would expect. You’re going to be disappointed if you are expecting an angry book attempting to offend everyone, one that provides rigorous proofs disproving the ontological existence of God, or one that gives a systematic and encyclopedic overview of religion. Don’t get me wrong, you will be offended, then laugh, and then be offended again. Reasons for believing in God (like free Bible-study pizza) are quickly gone over as well. Joel does has an encyclopedic knowledge of religion, but more often than not that encyclopedia is Wikipedia. It will make you uncomfortable when it in goes over bits of your religion humorously, like getting the virtues and vices in Sikhism mixed up and providing convincing arguments for them, but then he’ll make another absurd joke and you’ll be laughing again.

Now that I’ve read the book and reading the blog, I’m eagerly looking forward to reading negative reviews of the book. Atheism is after all just one-half of a debate. I expect two main types of negative reviews. One is from people who obviously haven’t read more than Amazon.com’s Product Description, like Kansas City James, and review it anyway. The other type I expect are from people on the internet that feel the need to refute him and pedantically grab onto a joke while conceding the main point. Like granting that Mohammad did marry a seven year old girl and had sex with her at nine, but standing fast on that there is absolutely no proof whatsoever that he played with her dollies. Insightful negative reviews are also possible I guess. The internet might surprise me.

Joel mixes explaining religious beliefs with absurd non-sequiturs (but I repeat myself), obscure geek references, and even more obscure 80s music references. You’ll want to read this book near a computer in order to look up obscure references, like chutney ferrets, monkey rockers, and tesla girls. Well, maybe not those ones. Since he is talking about religion, it is not always easy to tell when he is explaining something straight or making a joke, so you may want to guess and then look it up to see how you did. Once you find out that you did poorly, you will have reached enlightenment. Or weighted some flax. Or something like that.