A readable, enjoyable book that suggests a path for understanding between the faithful and nonbelievers.
A levelheaded look at belief and nonbelief in modern America.
In his introduction, Mates writes, “The main reason I’m writing is to add a moderate nonbelieving voice to the chorus of adversarial, anti-religious nonbelievers we’ve been hearing from lately, who often display attitudes as militant as those of the least attractive believers.” In a country increasingly less religious—where extremists on both sides often dominate discourse—voices like Mates’ are valuable and necessary. His thesis? People create their God rather than vice versa. The work takes its title from a quotation from Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason: “My own mind is my own church.” He also references Friedrich Nietzsche’s famous proclamation “God is dead.” These perspectives are not meant as an attack on believers but rather as indications of Mates’ own conclusions about faith. He believes that “true” belief is exceptionally rare and that God no longer has an active, terrifying presence in the life of the believer. Instead, he sees Christianity in the United States as a sort of political shibboleth and a personal comfort. Mates has no objections to the latter function of religion, but he believes that the first function should end. He writes that the Gospel “is a collection of writings that have no ready application outside the context of imminent apocalypse, but one to which the West still imagines itself culturally attached” and argues strongly that God should stay out of politics, particularly as few if any political figures could be said to display deep religious commitment. Mates’ words for nonbelievers of the New Atheist stripe are no less harsh. He believes that they neglect the human element of religion because they do not understand it, and they intend to make war on such eternal human qualities as irrationality and love. No one comes out looking superior in this treatment of the modern religious landscape, much to the credit of the author.
A readable, enjoyable book that suggests a path for understanding between the faithful and nonbelievers.Pub Date: July 25, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 166
Publisher: Dog Ear Publisher
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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