The method employed is to take the obscurantist vocabulary of monotheism and translate it into plain language. In doing so, the book attempts to show that god worshippers themselves do not understand the things they claim to believe, and by which they live their lives. For the reader who believes in god, this polemical little volume may help them to understand why secularists get so frustrated and infuriated when in debate with god worshippers. For the secularist, this book is a reminder that not everyone is susceptible to reasoned argument. The reminder is a timely one for those who live in an era of the resurgence of Islamic Jihad. A clear understanding of the irrationality of monotheism is something which matters urgently when confronted by the global rise of religious fascism. What is said in this little book will no doubt be found impolite and overly-provocative by those authoritarian people within the politically correct establishment who conflate morality with niceness. They will probably utter the familiar refrain that we ought not to denigrate other people’s deeply and sincerely held beliefs. Instead we should live in a permanent state of apology for the crime of having minds of our own. But religions are no more above criticism than any other ideologies. They have no entitlement to a privileged status. Besides which, large numbers of god worshippers feel free to denigrate and insult everyone else’s deeply and sincerely held beliefs, so why should they have special permission to be hypocrites? Topics covered: 01. God 02. Prayer 03. Worship 04. God the Infinite 05. Immortality and Heaven 06. Soul / Spirit 07. Salvation 08. Faith 09. Spreading The Word 10. Theocracy 11. Theocracy and Nuclear Armageddon 12. God, Guilty of Genocide 13. Religion and Morality are Mutually Exclusive 14. God worship is Immoral 15. God worship is Obscene 16. Everything is God’s Fault 17. If it’s in The Book, then it Must be True 18. Claiming Incomprehensible Beliefs 19. Is Islamism the New Fascism? 20. The Moderates

    His single-volume biography has become a standard resource for those who wish to delve into the depths of the Reformer without drowning in a sea of scholarly concerns.

    They built lavish villas designed by the best Beaux Arts–style architects of the time, including Richard Morris Hunt, Charles McKim and Robert Swain Peabody. America’s elite delighted in referring to these grand retreats as “summer cottages,” where they would play tennis and polo and sail their yachts along the shores of the Ocean State. The coachman had an important role as the discreet outdoor butler for Gilded Age gentlemen—not only was he in charge of the horses, but he also acted as a travel advisor and connoisseur of entertainment venues. From the driver’s seat, author and guide Edward Morris provides a diverse collection of biographical sketches that reveal the outrageous and opulent lives of some of America’s leading entrepreneurs.

    Marine 1st Force Reconnaissance Company during the bloodiest years of the Vietnam War. Dropped deep into enemy territory, Recon relied on stealth and surprise to complete their mission--providing intelligence on enemy positions and conducting raids, prisoner snatches, and ambushes. Fleming's absorbing memoir recounts his transformation from idealistic recruit to cynical veteran as the war claimed the lives of his friends and the missions became ever more dangerous.

    Full description

    

    Only 17 when he enlisted in 1964, Johnson deployed to Vietnam with the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, and his tour included such now famous locations as Phu Bai, Khe Sanh, Nha Trang and Quang Tri, among others. With a sometimes humorous tone, Johnson describes a war of often terrified high school and college-aged youngsters faced with exotic plant and animal life, monsoon rains, harrowing reconnaissance missions and death. Details are plentiful about tactics, equipment, geography and, always, fellow Marines.

    The Blues, as they were called, were perpetually understrength and considered to be acceptable losses in hopeless situations—but their amazingly successful record proved otherwise.A firsthand account of mortal combat with the Ninth Cavalry, Flashing Saber is the remarkable story of the brave men who served in the First Air Cavalry Division's reconnaissance squadron. Included is an account of an air-ground raid that overran a regimental command post and killed more high-ranking enemy officers than any similar engagement of the war. The story begins when a teenager, an Eagle Scout and West Point Prep School student, goes to Vietnam in 1965. Motivated by patriotism and the desire to see combat firsthand, Brennan volunteers for front line duty and spends years as an artillery forward observer and infantryman. Promoted to sergeant and then to lieutenant, Brennan participates in hundreds of assault landings.An expansion and careful reworking of his previous work, Brennan's War, published in 1985, and in the vein of classic memoirs by Johnnie Clark and Frederick Downs, Flashing Saberis a harrowing firsthand account of life and death in war, one filled with breathtaking details about a renowned unit.

    Covering everything from adventure, war, murder and slavery to espionage, including the stories of the real war horse, who killed Rasputin, Agatha Christie's greatest mystery and Hitler's English girlfriend, these tales deserve to be told.

    True Stories of Messages From Beyond tells 14 different personal stories of the bond we all share with those we love a bond never broken, not even by death. Each story was written by an ordinary person living an ordinary life, who was touched, changed, comforted, and even transformed by their own unique extraordinary encounters with those they love on the other side. Each encounter, whether a smell, a touch, a message in a song or another form of communication are touching, emotional and give hope to those who read them. Dennis passed away in a hospital bed in the bedroom we shared. I was with him, holding his hand, when he peacefully passed. My best friend was the first person to arrive at my house and she made all of the necessary calls for me. I remained in the room with Dennis, not able to leave his side. My friend had stepped outside for a few minutes and then the excitement began. Suddenly, everyone was calling for me to come outside. I replied that I didn't want to leave Dennis. The hospice nurse then came into the room and told me that I would forever regret not going outside. When I got outside, many of my neighbors were lining my street to see this amazing thing happening.The day of the visitation was here. It was the day I dreaded the most. Today I would have to see my daughter in a casket. I asked God to help me get through this day. He did. The funeral director gently opened the lid and we stepped forward. The next twenty minutes were a total blur. There was my girl. She looked beautiful. Only a small bruise on the bridge of her nose gave a clue to the trauma her body had undergone. It was as though time stood still. I began to cry as I have never cried before. It was a deep guttural cry that came from deep within my soul.I finally got out of bed about 6:30 a.m. and started getting ready to go to the airport. I did everything I possibly could to keep back the tears. Packing my suitcase was so hard. I walked down the stairs and my mom was sitting on the couch looking just as disappointed as I was. I cried hugging her and holding her, telling her I would be back in a few weeks: I promise Mom! I kept telling her, Don t worry I ll be back! I loaded the car, and pulled out of the driveway knowing that was the last time I would see my mom standing in the door waving goodbye to me. She was crying too. We both knew, this was it; if I made it back in a few weeks, everything would be different. I never cried so hard in my life. I believe that leaving that morning was the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life. I had to go, with my mom standing there alive, still able to communicate, and I wouldn't ever get to see her like that again.Often the most influential evidence of life after death comes in the form of messages from loved ones who have passed on. Sometimes these messages are relayed by very convincing messages images or visuals, while other times they come as voices, slight touches and even written notes. Messages from the other side, are most often thoughts of comfort and tranquility, and often evidence that someone is still watching over us. In some of the most amazing cases, loved ones who have passed on communicate messages that are highly personal, often very important, and at times even life saving. If you have ever experienced an amazing message from a loved one after they have passed on, you don't want to miss this book! It is filled with true stories from normal people who shared their love, laughter, pain and experience through their story. After you are finished reading these amazing stories, you will feel an enormous amount of contentment with spiritual existence after death. Make sure you get your copy today! These stories are very personal, and touch on the life and death of the writers loved one.

    One day of 1891, in the cells of San Juan de Ul?a two prisoners recount the tremendous secrets related to the true roll of the catholic clergy at decisive moments of Mexico's history, and how the Catholic Church, always linked to the political power, in order to defend its interests, betrayed, corrupted, manipulated and lied from the shadows.

    If only his father hadn’t used up all the words.As the son of the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet laureate Richard Eberhart, Dikkon Eberhart grew up surrounded by literary giants. Frequent dinner guests included, among others, Robert Frost, Dylan Thomas, Allen Ginsberg, W. H. Auden, T. S. Eliot, and Sylvia Plath. To the world, they were literary icons. To Dikkon, they were friends who read him bedtime stories, gave him advice, and, on one particularly memorable occasion, helped him with his English homework.Anxious to escape his famous father's shadow, Dikkon struggled for decades to forge an identity of his own, first in writing and then on the stage, before inadvertently stumbling upon the answer he'd been looking for all along--in the most unlikely of places.Filled with unforgettable stories featuring some of the most colorful characters of the Beat Generation, "The Time Mom Met Hitler, Frost Came to Dinner, and I Heard the Greatest Story Ever Told" is a winsome coming-of-age story about one man's search for identity and what happens when he finally finds it.

      Considered by Ty Cobb as “the finest natural hitter in the history of the game,” “Shoeless Joe” Jackson is ranked with the greatest players to ever step onto a baseball diamond. With his awesome talent for every aspect of baseball, the man from Pickens County, South Carolina, was destined to become one of the greatest players in the sport’s history . . . until the “Black Sox” scandal of 1919, in which Jackson and his teammates were accused of taking money to throw the World Series.   And while many have sympathized with Jackson’s ban from baseball, not much is truly known about the quiet slugger. Whether he participated in the throwing of the World Series or not, he is still considered one of the game’s best, and many have fought for his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. This “engaging biography of a different era in Chicago baseball history” tells the story of the incredible life of Joseph Jefferson Jackson (Illinois Times).   Following his journey from a mill boy to a baseball icon, author Tim Hornbaker depicts the rise and fall of “Shoeless Joe,” offering an insider’s view of baseball’s Deadball Era—including Jackson’s personal thoughts on the “Black Sox” scandal, which has never been covered before.

    

    She and her husband, Harvey Loomis, used as their guidebooks medieval texts, including the first official biography of the saint, completed in 1229, just three years after he died. Theirs was not a spiritual journey but one based on admiration for a man whose legend continues to inspire and fascinate millions around the world. From Assisi–a small Umbrian town that now draws five million visitors a year, making it second only to Rome as an Italian pilgrimage destination–Saint Francis crisscrossed Italy for twenty years. And so too does the author travel through the “green heart” of Italy to such hill towns and cities as Siena, Bologna, Venice, Gubbio, and Rome, and to the many mountaintop Franciscan sanctuaries from La Verna and Le Celle di Cortona in Tuscany to the Rieti Valley.Along the way, Francke movingly depicts the many miracles Francis performed and draws us into the splendid beauty of the landscape that inspired the saint’s love for nature and regard for all living things. Unlike Francis, however, whose asceticism caused him to add ashes to his food to deaden its earthly pleasure, Francke and her husband indulge in the fabled Umbrian cuisine, from wild boar to the region’s famed black truffles, and the incomparable local wines.On the Road with Francis of Assisi embraces the spirit and person of its legendary subject, and invites the reader to marvel at his spiritual intensity and follow in his footsteps through the timeless beauty of Italy.From the Hardcover edition.