Customer Reviews

Nothing Sacred: A Journey Beyond Belief

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After watching an interview with Terry Rigelhof, I was convinced his new book was nothing more than a dishonest foray into organized religious practice. At the outset, Mr. Rigelhof has left the Christian faith for what he calls the possibility of "living with a non-traditional faith." This amounts to a euphemism for atheism, and his distaste of Christian denominations is clear, and I would say tragic. In his own personal dilemmas, such as a recent stroke, he fails to realize some of the good that came out of his illness. He readily discounts the benefits that can arise out of difficult situations, opting instead for a materialistic bent on events. What others may call miraculous and providential, Rigelhof simply dscounts as "interesting." He doesn't really mention anything about the founder of the Christian faith, Jesus; should not any cosmological or ontological tests for who God is be based on the founder's claims? Yet, he lays at the feet of church leadership certain epistemological questions that can only be answered by God himself. What appears to be a honest heart felt expression of one's struggles with belief, ends up being a myopic and scattershot criticism of religion, and Christianity in particular. I found this book hard to read because it was too melodramatic, and often to the point of absurdity. Which further points out Mr. Rigelhof's obssession with emotion laden arguments against instutionalized faith, not realizing the subjective foundations of such arguments actually work against him. I certainly think people should read this title, but I would caution against its clever subterfuge of honest inquiry.