God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction

God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction by Dan Barker and Richard Dawkins“God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction” is an expose of “God’s” true qualities based on the very book that attempts to describe “Him”. Taking a page from Richard Dawkins, former evangelist minister and co-president of the Freedom from Religion Foundation, Dan Barker takes the readers on a journey through the Bible and during this trip he clearly describes the “Lord Jealous”. This provocative 322-page book includes twenty-eight chapters broken out by two parts: Part 1. Dawkins Was Right and Part II. Dawkins Was Too Kind.Positives:1. Well-researched, well-written book. Barker takes glee in exposing the character of “God”.2. The fascinating topic of the characterization of “God” through analyzing the Bible. “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”3. The chapters are broken out by character traits. Each chapter begins with a biblical appropriate passage. “A jealous and avenging God is the Lord, the Lord is avenging and wrathful.” —Nahum 1:2”4. Barker knows the Bible with mastery and provides countless biblical passages that clearly supports his main points. “He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering.” (Genesis 22:2)”5. So many biblical passages that will make your head spin. “Leviticus 19:28 “You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh on account of the dead or tattoo any marks upon you: I am the Lord.”6. Traits of an unjust “God”. “Exodus 22:18 “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.””7. The concept of hell. “The concept of eternal Hell, a truly infinite lack of forgiveness, does not occur until the New Testament, thanks to Jesus.”8. Many examples of “God’s” Type-A micromanagement.9. Traits of a vindictive “God”. “Deuteronomy 32:35 “The Lord says, … ‘I will take revenge; I will pay them back. In due time their feet will slip. Their day of disaster will arrive, and their destiny will overtake them.’””10. The bloodthirsty lord. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you for making atonement for your lives on the altar; for, as life, it is the blood that makes atonement. (Leviticus 17:11)”11. Threatening nonbelievers, so cruel. “2 Chronicles 15:13 “All who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, were to be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman.””12. Ethnic cleanser of biblical proportions. “Go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. (1 Samuel 15:3)”13. Misogyny and plenty of it. “Deuteronomy 22:28–29 “If a man meets a virgin who is not betrothed, and seizes her and lies with her, and they are found, then the man who lay with her shall give to the father of the young woman fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he has violated her; he may not put her away all his days.” RSV (You broke it, you buy it.)”14. So anti-gay. “Leviticus 20:13 “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their blood is upon them.””15. The Bible endorses slavery, how terrible. “Leviticus 25:44–46 “As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are round about you. You may also buy from among the strangers [NRSV: “aliens”] who sojourn with you and their families that are with you, who have been born in your land; and they may be your property.””16. Examples of infanticide. “O daughter Babylon, you devastator! Happy shall they be who pay you back what you have done to us! Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock! (Psalm 137:8–9)”17. Examples of megalomania. ““So I will display my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.” —Ezekiel 38:23””18. Examples of malevolence. ““I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.” —Isaiah 45:7, KJV”19. Just a plain old bully. “But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go. (Exodus 10:20)”20. Examples of flame-happy “God”. “Leviticus 21:9 “And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire.” KJV (Notice that her “crime” is profaning her father.)”21. And so much more.Negatives:1. I wanted more expert commentary from Barker.2. I would have added a section on how the Bible came together and the different versions.3. No notes or links.In summary, I enjoyed this book. It will serve as an excellent reference when I debate my Christian friends. Barker has great command of the topic and even takes glee in exposing what are clearly difficult and realistic characterizations of the biblical “God”. Provocative and what must be difficult for Christians to digest, this is the word of “God”. I recommend it.Further recommendations: “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins, “The Religion Virus” by James A. Craig, “50 Reasons People Give For Believing in a God” by Guy P. Harrison, “The God Virus: How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture” by Darrel W. Ray, “End of Faith” by Sam Harris, “Faith No More: Why People Reject religion” by Phil Zuckerman, “Atheism Advanced” by David Eller, “Why We Believe In God(s): A Concise Guide to the Science of Faith” by J. Anderson Thomson Jr., “The Believing Brain” by Michael Shermer, and “Why I Became An Atheist” by John W. Loftus.

Dan Barker makes extensive use of bible passages to show that the God of the old and new testaments is not love. He is part abusive parent part sadistic dictator and complete monster. I don't understand how the bible can be held in high regard when it contains many stories praising religious terrorism, sex trafficking, misogyny, xenophobia, child sacrifice, etc. it's all supposedly OK because God ordered it. The 9/11 highjackers used the same excuse.

Great book, really shows the dark side of the "kind and loving god" we are all taught to believe in. I was a Christian for many years and never read the chapters and verses cited in this book. Anyone who calls themselves a Christian should read this book and prepare to defend their faith in light of what it reveals about the god they worship. Note that everything in this book is taken directly from the Bible, these are god's words in context, commands given to his loyal followers. They cannot be misconstrued or taken as metaphor. The book makes it abundantly clear that these orders were to be carried out and failure to do so meant death. I'm sure there will be negative reviews from Christians who have never read the book. Just the title alone will cause some folks to get angry. But if you haven't read it then go to the source. Read your own holy text. Any god who not only condones but orders his followers to commit rape, slavery, child sacrifice, murder, and genocide among other horrific acts is not worthy of my or anyone else's devotion, but in fact deserves our utter contempt, if he were in fact real. If pastors and priests were honest why do they not deliver sermons on the darker aspects of god. The god who made a man sacrifice his daughter to win a battle, or how after conquering a city everyone was killed except the young girls who were given to the Israelite soldiers to "do with what they wished". All on the direct orders of god.This book is well written, well researched and only reinforced my religious views. Even though it starts from the premise that god is fictional, it treats the god character as though he were real (in the context of the book) and that this god really did all of those terrible things. Each chapter is devoted to one of the aspects of god that Richard Dawkins described in his book "The God Delusion". There are chapters on how god is jealous, petty, genocidal, misogynistic, cannibalistic, etc all backed up by scripture. Indeed if you were to write a fictional book today that incorporated all of the negative aspects of god into one villain it would be ludicrous, laughable even. But the Holy Bible does just that, and these horrifying aspects of god are tucked away like dark alleyways in a bad part of town, never discussed crossed by quickly hoping not to be noticed. Dan Barker does a masterful job of hunting down these alleyways and shining a bright light on things rarely spoken of and never addressed from any pulpit.Even if you do not buy this book I implore you to grab your handy bible and starting at the beginning read it, I mean really read it, and think of the character of this supposed omnipotent, omniscient being, then look around you at the world and ask yourself "does what I see and understand about the universe match up with the collected stories of a small isolated group of Bronze Age nomadic sheepherders". And why out of all the people living all over the planet, some with vastly greater influence and power, why was this tiny isolated relatively powerless tribe chosen? As you continue to read ask yourself "does this make sense"? On your journey if you happen to buy this book things may become just that much more clear. Use those powers of reason and critical thinking that we all were born with take a small step out of your comfort zone.

Looking over the previous reviews, it seems that some reviewers are incredulous that anyone could take the Bible literally. Well, I can tell you from growing up Christian that many people do take the Bible pretty literally.I read the Bible entirely through many years ago, as a teenager. Even then, I realized that the Bible contained a lot of very strange stuff, like the endless instructions on how to carry out animal sacrifices. But for most passages it never occurred to me at the time to think about what the Bible really had to say about the nature of God. Barker makes a good case that the God of the Bible is far from benevolent. I wish I'd had a book like this when I was growing up. I would have become an atheist much sooner.

I am grateful to Dan Barker for spending the time to meticulously go through the bible and methodically highlight, adding his own analytical commentary, those verses and passages which show 'God' is not a god of love. Having a whole book devoted to this one task, really brings home the ridiculousness of people clinging to their deluded idea of a consistently, loving god. Unfortunately, such people, unless they are really seekers of the truth, will continue to dismiss the message of this book. A matter of days after the book arrived I had the opportunity to debate with two religious canvassers who knocked on my door. Their justification for 'God's' barbarity in the Old Testament was that they deserved it for disobeying him, there was no comment about the innocents who were slaughtered at 'God's' command.. They simply churn out the same old shallow arguments they have been taught in their circle of like-minded members and seem devoid of any genuine compassion or logic which would shake them out of their complacency and adherence to their deluded views. Some say things were different and necessary under the old dispensation or covenant. Do truth, ethics and morality change over time, such that it was acceptable for 'God' to behave like that in the past? Others wriggle out of confronting the unacceptable nature of their god by saying many of these elements in the bible were metaphor and not factual history. I am glad, after being raised as an evangelical Christian, I was able, after many years, to question what I had been taught and to break free from my religious shackles. I now pity those who are in bondage to religious delusion though, clearly, they willingly hold on to their views. Their source of happiness is not for me. I choose reality any day. This is one of many books I now possess debunking the Christian faith, many by ex-clergy, and I highly recommended it for genuine seekers of the truth.

... the failures and abhorrent 'behaviour' of what Bronze Age Goat Herders thought was their "higher power" and "moral guidance".A great example of how Man created gods in THEIR image. This character has less appeal than Hannibal Lecter, less of a social conscience than Idi Amin and worse morals than François (Papa Doc) Duvalier. The only thing this 'god' does not do is actually eat the Goat Herders rival tribes, though he does apparently like the aroma of them roasting on an open fire.Dan Barker's book highlights "God" for the despotic, amoral dictator the character really is.

Since Dan Barker spent years studying the bible and preaching, he knows what he's talking about better than most people. In this book he does his level best to make up for his earlier mistakes before he could see the reality. A brilliant, totally biblical portrait of what we unbelievers call the devil. Nor does he spare "gentle jesus meek and mild" in chapter 28, subtitled Whoever has seen me has seen the father. It could be that the worst of men created god in their own image. Or it could be powerful evidence that the devil does really exist. You have to try and work it out for yourself. Dan Barker deserves great credit for such a devastating book. Read it and you will understand why the history of the christian church is written in industrial-scale terror, torture and murder until modern improvements in law enforcement finally slowed them down. Could only give it 5-stars because there is no higher option provided!

If you have read The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, this excellent book is for you. The sheer amount of research required to produce such a work must have been daunting! I shall most certainly be buying more books by this author.

I thought this book was excellent. It can in places be a bit repetitive, but it certainly reveals how awful the character of the god of the bible is, and what an appalling book the bible is! Reading some of the bible quotes of "god" commanded mass murder, rape, ethnic cleansing, slavery etc, made me feel quite ill. It surely must be true, that the best way to cure a person of Christianity, is to encourage them to read the bible for themselves.