Preface   ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1

 

Acknowledgements  --------------------------------------------------------------- 7

 

1 * The Children of Odysseus * ------------------------------------------------ 9

The Persians  ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 11

Battle of Marathon  --------------------------------------------------------------- 13

The Dead and the Buried    ------------------------------------------------------ 18

The Marathon   ---------------------------------------------------------------------20

The Golden Age of Greece  -------------------------------------------------------22

I Would Choose  ------------------------------------------------------------------ 26

Number Nonsense ---------------------------------------------------------------- 26

Religious Invasions --------------------------------------------------------------  31

 

2 * Freedom and Authority *-------------------------------------------------- 33

Freedom and Obedience --------------------------------------------------------  36

The Lucifer Effect ----------------------------------------------------------------  41

The Banality of Heroism -------------------------------------------------------   45

Wonderful Life ------------------------------------------------------------------   48

Only Following Orders ----------------------------------------------------------  50

Humans as Heroes -------------------------------------------------------------   54

 

3 * In The Beginning * --------------------------------------------------------  57

The Creationists ------------------------------------------------------------------ 59

Evidence-Based Dating ---------------------------------------------------------   62

The Center of the Universe -----------------------------------------------------  67

Religion vs. Science ------------------------------------------------------------   71

The Deniers ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 75

Murder in the Name of God ------------------------------------------------------ 81

 

4 * Of Human Bondage * ------------------------------------------------------ 85

Islamic Commandments --------------------------------------------------------- 93

The Missing Commandments ---------------------------------------------------- 94

World’s Greatest? --------------------------------------------------------------- 101

New Testament Slaves --------------------------------------------------------- 104

Abraham and Brahma ----------------------------------------------------------- 107

Priestly Pedophilia -------------------------------------------------------------- 109

Emperors, Popes, and Slavery ------------------------------------------------- 112

The Cruelest Cut ---------------------------------------------------------------- 115

The Castrato --------------------------------------------------------------------- 121

Biblical Justification for Slavery ----------------------------------------------- 128

The Greatest Story ever Told -------------------------------------------------- 131

The First Promethean Hero ----------------------------------------------------- 135

 

5 * The Pagan Jesus * -------------------------------------------------------- 136

Pagan Parallelism -------------------------------------------------------------   137

Astral Bull ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 141

Cosmological Bull --------------------------------------------------------------- 142

Gnosticism ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 144

Other Biblical Patterns --------------------------------------------------------- 150

Acrostics and Palindromes ----------------------------------------------------- 152

Child’s Play in the Bible -------------------------------------------------------- 155

Paltry Puzzles -------------------------------------------------------------------- 156

What is Truth? ------------------------------------------------------------------- 164

The Sum of All Truths ----------------------------------------------------------- 182

The Last Word ------------------------------------------------------------------- 191

 

6 * God’s Messengers * ------------------------------------------------------ 193

Religion and Astronomy -------------------------------------------------------- 199

The Muslim Messenger --------------------------------------------------------- 204

God’s Mormon Messenger—a Digression ------------------------------------- 207

Mormon Cosmology ------------------------------------------------------------  214

Muhammad’s Malady ------------------------------------------------------------ 218

The Divine Sickness ------------------------------------------------------------  222

Muhammad’s Personality ------------------------------------------------------- 223

Paul of Tarsus -------------------------------------------------------------------- 226

The Bells are Inside Them ----------------------------------------------------- 230

Judaism and TLE ---------------------------------------------------------------- 237

Ezekiel’s Wheel ------------------------------------------------------------------ 238

A Glance Back — A Look Forward ---------------------------------------------- 240

Monotheism ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 243

 

7 * Morals and Man * --------------------------------------------------------- 250

The Origin of Morality ----------------------------------------------------------- 252

The World’s Dirtiest Word ------------------------------------------------------ 264

God Versus Humanity: A Morality Play ---------------------------------------- 268

Morals and the Old Testament ------------------------------------------------ 269

Virtue Above All Else ----------------------------------------------------------- 275

The Two Faces of Jesus --------------------------------------------------------- 279

The Sins of the Fathers --------------------------------------------------------- 282

Jesus and Justice ---------------------------------------------------------------- 286

The Scapegoat ------------------------------------------------------------------- 290

Summary Decision of the Judges ---------------------------------------------- 295

Epilogue for this Chapter ------------------------------------------------------- 299

 

8 * Cultures in Collision * ----------------------------------------------------- 301

Debating a Creationist --------------------------------------------------------- 303

An Allegory on Science --------------------------------------------------------- 304

Science and Social Consciousness--------------------------------------------- 311

Science and Islam --------------------------------------------------------------- 319

The Descent --------------------------------------------------------------------- 323

Savonarola ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 331

A Light in the Labyrinth -------------------------------------------------------- 338

 

* Chapter Notes * ------------------------------------------------------ 343

 

* Index * --------------------------------------------------------------- 349