New Book
Honest Criticism of Christianity
By: Billy Rojas
Contents
Chapter 1. The Value of Truth
Chapter 2. The Religious Left Uncensored
Chapter 3. What happens when people stop believing?
Chapter 4. Liberal Christianity is sinking fast;
Evangelical Christianity is sinking more slowly
Chapter 5. Pietism and its problems
Chapter 6. The Reality of Pentecostalism
Chapter 7. Crisis in the Catholic Church
Chapter 8. Ross Douthat's cri de coeur
Chapter 9. Catholic Catastrophe
Preface
Honest Criticism of Christianity began as an essay written in February of 2019;
the original intention was to write just that one paper. However, in the
process of
doing so it became obvious that criticisms which focused exclusively on
Protestant Christianity would be inadequate to the subject of overdue criticisms
of Christian faith more generally, something that really must include comments
about Catholic faith. And it became clear that to understand just how serious
the decline of Christianity in America really is, broad brush strokes that
paint
a dismal picture could not possibly do what most needs to be done. Therefore,
the book includes a good deal of detailed analysis about the issue of Christian
disintegration in the United States, a subject that has become very topical
across all denominations.
The decline is precipitous almost everywhere you look; America's dominant
religion
is falling apart. The primary reason is that the young are abandoning the faith
in
massive numbers and large percentages. To make matters worse, older believers,
for whom traditional forms of Christianity worked quite well, a faith in which
they
had confidence, are mostly bewildered at the large scale defection of their
children.
Hence efforts to retain youth memberships have mostly been failures. There is
only
so far that mature-age Christians are willing to go, to address the issues the
young most
want to discuss, and discuss in depth, with the result that most "solutions" to
the problem
are half-measures, not well thought out, and are largely ineffective. And so
the exodus
continues and gets worse.
Honest Criticism of Christianity is as thorough an analysis of the issue as I
was able
to put into words. But much more work could be done.
As things stand, this is a complete book, ideal for the paperback market. A
hardcover edition
is entirely thinkable but if possible it would be best to add an Appendix,
The text analyzes problems with America's largest religions, so-called
"mainline" Protestant
Christianity, Evangelical Christianity, and the Roman Catholic Church. But an
Appendix
could cover the following themes to good effect:
* Greek Orthodoxy's struggle to be relevant to modern-day Americans
* Mormon problems in seeking to become part of the religious mainstream in
America
* African-American religion, now losing its appeal among black people
* Does New Age Christianity have a future?
* Far Left Christianity, serious problems for the Unitarians and Quakers
* Royal Mess: The Decline and Fall of Anglican religion
* What kind of future is possible for Russian Orthodoxy?
There are several pages of discussion about the black Church in the United
States
in my book but a good deal more might be added which was not possible for me at
this time
because of my limited knowledge of the subject. That is, some things I know,
but there is much that I do not.
It might make the best sense for these topics to contract with writers who
already know
the subjects at a level of detail that would take me a long time to master.
Yes, I know
something about each of these varieties of Christian religion, but not at the
depth
which is true for me for normative Protestantism and for Catholicism.
Recently, in a paper entitled "Unfinished Synthesis," I made the point that what
is very much needed is an an encyclopedic volume to be called:
Criticism of All the Religions in the World
-including Atheism
After completing Honest Criticism of Christianity it now makes the best sense
to re-conceptualize this project as a series of books, each book devoted to
one religion, or to closely related religions like Sufism and the Baha'i Faith.
I could write the Baha'i section of such a book easily enough, but it would
require a lot of homework to do justice to the Sufi section even though,
it too, is something about which I already know some things reasonably well.
Still, it would be best for someone far more familiar with Sufism -especially
as it is known in America- to write the Sufi section. An appendix could
discuss Ahmadiya Islam which also is similar.
And it would make the best sense to turn a volume about criticism of Judaism
over to one or more Jewish authors; as cunning and barbed and piercing
as my comments might be, my supposition is that Jewish criticisms of Judaism
would be far more penetrating than anything that I might come up with
even with much new study of the subject.
Other volumes in the Criticism of All Religions series could be books about:
Buddhism in its various forms, including new American versions of the Dharma
Hindu religion, domestic and foreign, traditional and modern
Shinto and the New Religions of Japan
Traditional Chinese Religions, in China and among Chinese in America
Problems of New Age and Neo-Pagan religions in America
Wanted, Dead or Alive: The fate of Zoroastrianism
Can tribal religions survive in the future?
Is there a future for Sikhism, for Jainism?
What future is possible for Integral Yoga?
The uncertain fate of New Religions in America
Can African imports into Latin America survive? (Condomble, Voudoun etc)
What kind of future is possible for the New Atheism?
About Islam, I have already written at some length. But I am open to turning
over
a volume on this subject to someone who knows far more than me, thinking
especially
of Ibn Warraq, if he has the interest. My work in this area has mostly been
focused
on militant Islam and Muslim atrocities around the world, and intractable
problems
with the Koran, but the thrust of the series is intended to deal with Islam as
it has
been lived by Muslim multitudes in their day-to-day lives. I think I can
contribute fresh
insights to a paper about Shiah Islam but otherwise my knowledge base has real
limitations.
This volume should include, in its own appendix, a paper that discusses the
many failings
of the Nation of Islam, the so-called "black Muslims."
About this overall project, I insist upon creative control over my ideas, which
are
hereby copyright, 2019. To make this as clear as possible, nobody who might
edit or write sections of the project would be acceptable if he or she argues
against things that I regard as crucial for the rise of a healthy religious
system in
the future. My objectives include complete demolition of all (all) homosexual
gains in the political, cultural, or religious realms, and re-establishment of
an exclusively heterosexual social system with values that support a totally
heterosexual society. There will be no compromise about this whatsoever.
This said, I simply cannot do everything and am more than willing to work
co-operatively with others in many different ways. Insistence on creative
control
is not intended to interfere with candid discussions of graphic arts decisions,
with format decisions, with marketing decisions, or anything of the kind.
Its just that under no circumstances will I consider proceeding if someone
wants to carve out an exception for homosexuality, or wants to ague
on behalf of sodomy, or anything of that nature. Part of what I am all about
is total opposition to homosexuality in all of its manifestations.
This is not open for discussion at all.
Don't even think about it.
--------------------------------------------
You may agree that Honest Criticism of Christianity is a valuable new book with
best-seller potential. Or, anyway, a lot of potential. It is something I would
very much like to see published. However, about such matters, actually getting
a book into print is something about which I am adrift at sea
If anyone can help me locate a publisher he or she would have far more than
my gratitude. For this volume this person could act as my literary agent and
look
forward to a fee for services -equal to the going rate for any agent of a
successful
published book like this one. Exact details can be negotiated but, obviously,
it would be in my best interests to want to live up to my part of any bargain.
Everyone would know if I did not, and, more to the point, my credibility
as an author would be damaged unless I am as good as my word.
Possibly this is the only book for which I will ever need to seek an "agent's"
services. After this volume I would like to act as my own agent, which
successful
sales of the book should make possible. But here is a possibility for someone
to make a lot of money without even writing one word for publication.
This assumes an actual contract with an actual advance payment to me
of actual money, needless to say, but these considerations should be obvious.
I am open to discussion of my book with a professional agent -and listening
to his or her advice and recommendations. If someone like this would like to
talk with me, who knows what might be possible.
I would have preferred to have posted materials to a specially designed website.
But about about such things I don't know what I am doing. Yes, I have many
ideas -specifications- for a website, and want to do things my way,
not someone else's way, but actual construction of something like this
is currently out of reach. What I am open to is working with a website
designer willing to show me how it is done even if he or she does
the actual construction. The idea is that someone like this would then
be able to promote his or her services as can be seen at my new site
with all kinds of worthwhile features others might want for themselves.
-----------------------------
Copies of the book, chapter by chapter, will be sent as soon as feasible.
There are 9 chapters and 1: 1 mailings take time. All that may be possible
are a few book copies to start out, additional copies a few days later
for most people on my special mailing list.
---------------------------------
The whole point of the book is to clear the way for the creation of a new form
of organized Christian faith. There are comments to this effect in the book
where this is referred to as the "New Christianity." At some point in the
future,
hopefully fairly soon, it is a priority of mine to write a theology for the
New Christianity, a project towards which I have already collected a range
of important materials. Don't even try to guess what this will consist of
because you cannot possibly "get" what I am driving at and would not
be able to do so until the ideas for this theology now in my head
actually are "put on paper," so to speak, for review.
At time of publication a new Preface might be written-out to explain
the concept of a New Christianity in some detail so that the purpose
of the book can be better understood.
Billy Rojas
May 30, 2019
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