In the Author Spotlight ...
Carl Schowengerdt, author of
The Religious Subversion of Democracy

 

 

Born the son of a minister, religion and ethics were always a part of normal family discussion for Carl Schowengerdt. When his work load became a bit less later in life, he thought it time to answer questions in his mind about religion, which up to that time had remained open. In his new book. The Religious Subversion of Democracy, he shares his answers with us.

"My father was a minister and my second brother a bishop in the Methodist church, but my views were always different than theirs," Dr. Schowengerdt says. "I spent two years in Bible study, sponsored by my church, which allowed us to read through the Bible twice. I began a reading program which included more than 50 books on religion and ethics.  When my thoughts crystallized, I thought it important to fully express my beliefs." The result was his first book, Agnostic Deism, published in 2005.

In his second book, The Religious Subversion of Democracy, Dr. Schowengerdt relates how those beliefs, if adopted, would lead us to develop compassionate and tolerant ethics – as opposed to current, false religious ethics. "If Islamic true believers can fly airplanes into the World Trade Center towers, convinced that this is the most moral and gloriously 'right' thing they can do, it is clear that our ethics are horribly false," he explains. "Our born again Christian former president led the United States of America to war without just cause, destroying another nation, and plunging this nation into deep depression, just because his personal God told him to do so. We have based our ethics on religious myths. The book is a plea for religious expressions of compassion and tolerance, rather than religious intolerance and violence based on their mythology."

According to the book, there is no evidence that there is any personal "Superbeing" in the sky who has anything to do with our lives. The best evidence we have is that we live in a Universe of chance and probability, with physical laws that can describe only the interaction of large objects. "The only God we know is the God of Chance, which chooses, by natural selection, those who have adapted to their environment, and unceremoniously, without remorse, eliminates those who do not adapt, Dr. Schowengerdt says. "If we accept this apparent fact, we will make entirely different decisions about how we manage our personal lives, and the structure of our societies. We will see that blind allegiance to the wild mythologies of our major religions is ripping apart the fabric of our societies. "

Dr. Schowengerdt continues, "The religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam are schizophrenically bipolar. Each has a marvelous system of ethics and morals. Each also has a bizarre mythology, which includes deep intolerance for those who do not share their beliefs. The true believers in these wild mythologies have thrown us into violent conflicts. Jewish pride, Christian arrogance, and Muslim exclusivity threaten world peace everywhere. Until we realize we are blindly hating and killing each other on the basis of false myths, peaceful co-existence of all people on this planet Earth will not be possible."

Dr. Schowengerdt is twice divorced and has four grown children. A thoracic surgeon for 40 years, he is now engaged solely in the family practice of medicine. "Writing and publishing are my hobbies, now that there is time to do them," he laughs. Later this year he hopes to begin writing a third book, Ethics and Religion, which addresses these same topics more completely.

To purchase your copy of The Religious Subversion of Democracy, visit
http://www.atlasbooks.com/marktplc/02292.htm.

For more information, please visit http://www.y-citypublishing.com/.

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