Recently I had a chance to interview fellow tweeter CJ Werleman. You probably know him better as Rationalists. And honestly if you aren’t following him on twitter, you are missing out on something. I was able to catch up with him on his soon to be released book, God Hates You. Hate Him Back.
What is your book about/what makes it different?
My book is essentially The Bible. All sixty-six chapters of the ‘good’ book told in an everyday speak manner with a touch of parody, and humor to make what is an otherwise extremely difficult book to read, easy to understand.
Further, I have not set out to destroy religion, or prove that God does not exist. My objective is to demonstrate that God, if he were true, then he is one mean and nasty fella. Arguably the most wicked in all of humanity.
What I believe makes my book stand out amongst others in this genre, such as God Delusion, God is Not Great, etc, is humor. People remember comedy, and the Biblical stories are made easy for anyone with a comical mind. I am not aware of any book that tells the entire Bible in such a fashion that makes the Holy Book a pleasurable and humorous experience.
How did you come up with the title?
I wanted to convey in the title what really is the style of the book’s contents, that being a serious topic being made light-hearted. Thus ‘God Hates You’ is certainly an in-your-face assertion, contrast against ‘Hate Him Back’ which has a juvenile school-yard like quality to it i.e: ‘I’m not a idiot, you are, so there!”
What made you an atheist?
Difficult question. I resent labels of any kind as it boxes one into a corner restricting maneuverability on issues. As a matter of fact I don’t even like to call myself an Australian. Not because I love my country of origin any less than the next guy, but it’s not how I see myself. In a digital world aren’t we all now citizens of the world? Why think of ourselves in narrow terms? I’m an Aussie, you’re an American. I just think that concept promotes division, much in the same way calling oneself an ‘atheist’. Furthermore, I believe using the label ‘atheist’ somehow, ironically, provides validation to belief in a god. It suggests that it is a 50/50 argument. I believe, you do not. Well there are thousands of gods, myths, and figures of fantasy that I do not believe in. Does this mean I need to distinguish myself as a ‘Unicorn Atheist’, or a ‘Mermaid Atheist’?
If the question is what led me to not believe the God of Abraham to be untrue, I would say that the Biblical story never made any sense to me. Even as a kid I could never fathom why the god that my friends, and family believed in only spoke to a select few Hebrew men, alone atop of mountains, or in a desert cave. Thus I was always drawn to understanding the dynamics of this particular faith, which led me to reading anything and everything that I could get my hands on in furthering my knowledge of how the God of Abraham came about, and then ultimately the mythology of Jesus Christ. If you examine all these materials, laying all the facts out in front of you, I think you as your own personal juror can only come ultimately to one decision, that being all gods were created in our image, and not the other way around.
Why did you write the book?
After a large number of religious debates, arguments, and discussions it became apparent, even from an early age, that only very few people had read The Bible from cover to cover. In fact to this day, I believe I can still count on one hand the number of people that I have personally met who have earnestly read it in its entirety. By earnestly I mean read it and fully understood it.
This personal experience is also consistent with the best data we have today on Bible literacy, in which one public study concluded that whilst 93% of American households owned at least one copy of The Bible, those that could place its father figures, statesmen, heros, villains, commands, or history in any discernible order or coherency is in single digits (%). In my own discussions I have met fundamental born again Christians who have mistakenly asserted that The Bible is the biography of Jesus, the whole book. Whereas, in reality, Jesus’ part in the book is but a slither.
This Bible illiteracy leads to an absolute false caricature of God, and Jesus. The mistaken belief that God is salvation, mercy, love, justice, and compassion. The Bible doesn’t leave that with us. In fact there is hardly a single narrative within the book that could be used to demonstrate God being benevolent, but hundreds whereby he is an alpha-male capricious bully with a blood-lust greater than any despot we have known in human civilization. Jesus too doesn’t escape such claims. Examples of Jesus as an ill-tempered, petulant brat, with overtly racist tendencies are obvious conclusions we can make about such a man based on scripture.
Ultimately I’d like the reader to know what truly the Judea-Christian faith is based on, and what it is based on, according to the only book ever authorized by God, is an angry evil dude.
What do you hope it will accomplish?
There’s the million dollar question. To indulge myself in grandiose idealism I hope the book provides one small stepping stone, amongst other books that call religion into question, with man’s progress away from ancient beliefs. Beliefs that retard social progress, vis-a-vis stem cell research, and promote human conflict rather than solidarity.
Look for it soon, I will probably have a copy soon and will post a full review on the site. Also, follow him on Twitter! @Rationalists
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