Is believing in gods actually harmful? How has Christianity for centuries served as an ideology of conquest and subjugation? Why is the “Bible Belt” in the U.S. also the “lynching belt”? Why is there a rise of religious fundamentalism throughout the world? In the intensifying conflict between U.S. imperialism and Islamic fundamentalism, is the only choice to take one side or the other? Why is patriarchy and the oppression of women foundational to so many religions? Can people be good without god? These are just some of the questions explored in this provocative work by Bob Avakian.
Bringing a unique revolutionary communist voice to the current discourse about god, atheism and morality, Avakian demystifies religious belief and examines how, even in its most progressive interpretations, religion stands in the way of the emancipation of humanity. A thread deeply woven throughout Away With All Gods! is the need to fully rupture with all forms of superstition, and to take up instead a truly scientific approach to understanding and transforming reality.
Whether you believe in god, or are an agnostic or an atheist, Bob Avakian will challenge you with his powerful critique of long-established traditions and his liberating vision of a radically different world.
Comments
“Whether readers enthusiastically embrace or reject its claims and arguments, Away With All Gods! is a book that cannot be ignored.”
—Peter McLaren, Professor, Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, University of California
“One needn’t be a Marxist to learn a lot from this work. I especially like the forthright critique of the obfuscating epistemology of religion, and of religion’s appalling consequences for women.”
—Laura Purdy, Professor of Humanities and Professor of Philosophy, Wells College
“Forceful, scathing, and timely. While I did not personally agree with everything Bob Avakian has to say in this book, I found his arguments cogently articulated and provocatively put forth. Angry, humorous, provocative, and hopeful in equal measure, this was an enjoyable and engaging read.”
—Phil Zuckerman, associate professor of sociology at Pitzer College
“Lots of people haven’t actually studied what that Bible says. Bob Avakian has. He exposes the hypocritical bullshit…this book is serious reading.”
—Eric G., former Black Panther member
“…may just spearhead a return to the Age of Reason.”
—Harry Lennix, actor, instructor
About the Author
Bob Avakian is Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA. A veteran of the Free Speech Movement and the revolutionary upsurges of the 1960s and early 1970s, he worked closely with the Black Panther Party. By the mid-1970s, he emerged as the foremost Maoist revolutionary in the United States. He has guided the RCP since its formation in the 1975 and is a major leader of the international communist movement. Over the last 25 years, Avakian has produced a highly significant body of work, and he approaches Marxism as a living, developing science that must be constantly interrogating itself.
Avakian’s writings are marked by great breadth-from discussions about religion and atheism and morality, to the limits of classical democracy, to basketball. It is often alleged that a vanguard party is incompatible with a searching, critical and creative intellectual enterprise. Avakian gives the lie to this claim.