Putting God Second: How to Save Religion from Itself – A Book by Rabbi Donniel Hartman
Led by: Rabbi Michael Berk
Wednesdays, February 8 and 22, March 1, 2017
7:00-8:30 p.m.

Book may be found in a library or purchased from a bookstore or online. If you purchase the book from Amazon, please consider linking your account to Amazon Smile.  Reading the book in advance is not required. 

The past two decades have seen religion emerge as a central force in world politics and a frequent instigator of global conflict. We have witnessed multiple manifestations of global Islamist terror and have seen both Muslim and Jewish religious ideologies increasingly mainstreamed into political governance in ways that tend to fuel and exacerbate conflicts. This re-emergence of God as a dominant force in world affairs, moreover, is not only relegated to the Middle East. Religion is also playing an increasingly influential and often contentious role in political discourse and public policy in the United States.

If religion is supposed to guard our best human virtues, why does it so often lead to war and injustice? When God enters the conversation and dictates human ethical and social norms, is this a force for good or evil?  For moral progress or moral corruption? What are the consequences of faith?

Join us as we examine Donniel Hartman’s radical and provocative notion that religion has an “autoimmune disease,” a critical flaw that leads to its misuse. We will discuss the “disease’s” two main symptoms: “God intoxication” and “God manipulation,” and Hartman’s “cure” for their pathology.

No fee, but please RSVP below at least one week in advance. For more information contact Program Director Ilene Tatro; itatro@cbisd.org or call 858 535-1111, ext.2516