A recent edition to the New Internationalist’s ‘No-Nonsense’ book series, Symon Hill’s short guide to religion is a readable introduction to an often controversial and misrepresented subject.
Hill, a Quaker Christian who is the co-director of the Ekklesia thinktank and former media spokesperson for Campaign Against the Arms Trade, argues “For every example of a link between religion and oppression, there is a link between religion and liberation”. To illustrate the former he includes a shocking quote from the Bishop of London in 1914: “Kill Germans. Kill them, not for the sake of killing, but to save the world. Kill the good as well as the bad, kill the young as well as the old, kill those who have shown kindness to our wounded.”
Throughout Hill is keen to emphasis the complexity and contradictions inherent in any
However, as with other ‘No-Nonsense’ guides I have read, I found there to be something slightly bland and lacking in his analysis. For example, although he concedes he was forced to leave much out due to space restrictions, the omission of any in-depth discussion of
Furthermore, I found his caricature and critique of ‘New Atheists’ like Richard Dawkins to be wholly unconvincing. For Hill this group has much in common with religious fundamentalists, including a literal approach to religious texts and the denial of “the complexity of truth” – that
With its brief survey of the world’s major religions and accessible tone, The No-Nonsense Guide to Religion will undoubtedly be a thought-provoking read for young people who are beginning to think about this unwieldy subject. However, I suspect more experienced activists and adults who have spent time mulling over this topic will struggle to find any new information or arguments here.
The No-Nonsense Guide to Religion is published by New Internationlist, priced £7.99.
*Ian Sinclair is a freelance writer based in
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