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Away With All Gods!: Unchaining the Mind and Radically Changing the World

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As Allen Wood, author of Karl Marx and Kantian Ethics states:

"What most distinguishes Avakian's Away With All Gods from other much publicized books of this kind, such as those by Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens, is the direct connection Avakian makes between combating religious fundamentalism and promoting a radical political agenda. Avakian is also to be commended not only for combining his religious freethinking with an endorsement of the modern Enlightenment tradition, but also for providing a sober warning against 'the smug arrogance of the enlightened.' Anyone who has read any of the other books mentioned above should also take the time to read this one."

If you are interested in atheism, history of religion, and more importantly, a SOLUTION to the problems of religious fundamentalism (and religiosity in thinking)- this is a book you cannot miss.

Is religion far more harmful than it's worth? "Away with All Gods!: Unchaining The Mind And Radically Changing The World" certainly believes so. Calling out Religion as a roadblock to scientific, moral, and political progress that oppresses people on terms of race, beliefs, and gender, author Bob Aviakian makes a call to action against all belief systems that stand in the way of social progress and world peace, stating that religion is not a necessary element to solid moral values and peace of mind. "Away with All Gods!: Unchaining the Mind and Radically Changing the World" is a must for any who seek a dissenting opinion for religious studies shelves and for anyone who is disillusioned with their God or gods.

For those who believe that God is a creature of the human imagination, this is your book. Bob Avakian has done his research well. Drawing from history and theology, Avakian makes his case without the flaming rhetoric often heard from the Christian Fundamentalists.

He notes that under the Judeo/Christian/Islamic religions, exploitation, oppression, violence and poverty continue to be widespread, and that the concept of "sin" teaches the suffering that their misery is their own fault.

You may not agree with Avakian's solution - Communism - but the people who would buy this book probably have open minds, and no author could ask for more.

Bad Marxism: Capitalism and Cultural Studies

Bob Avakian has written the first book in years that makes me actually want to re-read the Bible, but this time as freaky horror show, weirded out fiction and gothic nightmare.

Everyone should read Away With All Gods because it is necessary, critical and timely, but also because it is a book written with joy and humor. Avakian has a whole lot of fun mocking the absurdities of those who should be called `god-botherin fools' - never better than when he retells old Richard Pryor routines about Cleveland or reminds us of the hypocrisy of Ronald Reagan as Christian leader while wife Nancy reads the tarot. The trouble is that the people who go in for this religious-fantasy foolishness are serious, and they must be stopped. Avakian shows how and why.

Pointing out that the myth that Zapata had not been killed and would return to fight again some day was flawed because it overlooked the fact that he was just as dead as was the resurrected Jesus; showing that Mel Gibson's 'Passion of the Christ' movie perpetuates an anti-Jewish slander that the mob killed the son of God; equally critical of contortions such as the one where the Quran is as fair to women thieves as it is to men (`cut off their hands' if they do not repent); and skewering Christopher Hitchens' whose critique of religion is just as much an anti-Muslim tirade ('God is not great') as is the US War on Terror; Avakian eviscerates all manner of soft thinking on issues that have a mysterious afterlife in popular thought today.

Avakian has answers as to why religious fundamentalism (Christian or Islamic) is on the rise, and he does this not with candles and mirrors, dark robes and incense, but rather a philosophico-political analysis and a program for change. These are things we really need to hear.

- Professor John Hutnyk, Academic Director, Centre for Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London. Author of Bad Marxism: Capitalism and Cultural Studies

Bold, wide-ranging, down-to-earth, provocative. 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, McCullough Distinguished Visiting Professor of Philosophy, Hamilton College, 2007-08; Ruth and Albert Koch Professor of Humanities, and Professor of Philosophy, Wells College

In Away With All Gods! Avakian points out the need for another look at what is dangerouly pushing humanity into a new dark age. Under the pressure of "sin" most people see their conditions in life as something they deserve because they have "sinned" or because of "karma".
By removing these illusions one is much closer to the reality of the world around them. Once reality takes on this new form of thinking its helps light a path toward a better world. Going into the contradictions between religion and reality. Avakian helps restore stucture to an ideology that has been distorted by the media and through generations of lies and cover ups.
Away With All Gods is one of many writings and talks by Bob Avakian on various subjects all aiming toward a truly scientific and revolutionary understanding of our world and how we can bring about real change. This book helps develop an understanding of humanity and why a communist revolution is necessary for true liberation.

i recommend this book for atheists and for religious people alike. one thing you don't get from the other atheist books out there is the fact that most of them don't have an alternative to this oppressive capitalist-imperialist system - bob avakian does...

Interesting title. However, the book is only tangentially related to such a concept. One has to wonder if the title was chosen intentionally to sell copies to readers of Hitchens, Dawkins, Demmett, et. al.

I did find the book interesting, but really wasn't planning on reading a rearranged text from speeches the author has given (the introduction states that that is what the book is). Given who the author is, the book of course is highly focused on issues of communism and economics. Again, not what I was really looking for.

Admittedly, when Mr. Avakian DID address the connection between religion and economics, he made some VERY interesting points; many of which I'd not considered. Sadly, those sections of the book amounted to only a few pages here and there. A good blog post could cover those concepts.

If I'd wanted to read about communism and religion, this would be a good book. I didn't, so I felt that I'd been intentionally mislead by the choice of title.

I wanted to like this book.

It's good that an American wrote a systematic critique of religion in general and Christianity in particular, seeing as how this country has been the launching pad for reactionary trends in Christianity for the past century or so.

However, Revolutionary Communist Party, USA Chairman Bob Avakian's book is severely flawed - and not just by his typically turgid, overly jargonistic and just plain boring writing style (and the fact that - as usual - his RCP editors apparently did not edit his book enough to make it readable.

Avakian - despite himself growing up in the Presbyterian Church's Sunday Schools - apparently does not understand the New Covenant with God that is the basis of Christianity.

He goes on at length with these ferocious rhetorical attacks on the first 5 books of the Old Testament - which are an easy target for anybody seeking to condemn the brutality of the ancient Abrahamic tribes of Israel.

But atrocities by patriarchs in old Judea have absolutely nothing to do with either the origins of Christianity or modern Christian practice in the world today!

Basically, Avakian wanted cheap "shooting fish in a barrel" arguments and he sacrificed accuracy to get them.

That's truly unfortunate, because that made what should have been a good book into something very lame and useless.

I do not recommend this book - in fact, Avakian does a real disservice to sincere Militant Atheists with this work!

I thought this old style Soviet Militant Anti Theist propaganda was discredited with the fall of the Soviet Union.

I mean, you gotta be kiddin me! LOL!