My God is Better Than Your god

A Scripture-quoting jeremiad on the evils of organized religion.

Foster’s (A Land Called Pangaea, 2014) latest book has as its central premise the difference between faith (a personal interaction with the Christian God) and religion (which has “nothing to do with the Word of God and everything to do with the lies of Satan through men of theology”). In this “no holds barred search for the truth in God’s Word,” Foster specifically refers to a sequence of “Blood Religions” that exalt ancestor worship over faith in God (Judaism), worship a false god (Catholicism), or praise a false prophet (Islam). Liberally seeded with biblical quotations, his text contends that by following the state-sanctioned, power-enabling Blood Religions, humanity has been led astray, a process that has been hastened by scholars “who intellectualize religion through education.” Foster tells readers that God prepared the world to receive his son, Jesus Christ, and this reception can only be accomplished by studying the King James Bible (which, curiously, is itself a translation from Hebrew and Aramaic made by highly intellectual scholars). Unfortunately, this type of standard American revivalist rhetoric is accompanied by hatred and bigotry. Jews—often referred to as “the Jew”—are collectively blamed for the death of Jesus; California’s droughts are God’s punishment for the state’s liberalism; President Barack Obama is a Muslim; homosexual acts are sinful; etc. Even as he declares that Satan has conquered the world through the works of Jews, Catholics, and Muslims, Foster claims to mean no harm to anyone; it’s doubtful his Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, liberal, intellectual, gay, or secular humanist readers will agree.

A call for Protestant Reformation–style spiritual renewal marred by ungainly hatemongering.