Would You Read These Books?
Would you read a book that you knew would have at least one chapter dedicated to stressing the importance of faith and prayer? I'm mostly talking about autobiographies, but I do know some fiction books that would be overtly religious and spiritual.
So, would you? Why or why not?
Please vote in the poll, and leave your response in the comment section below. Don't forget to be awesome!
May 20, 2013
8 Comments • Newest first
I don't even necessarily feel inclined to read it if it helped them overcome something. People use a large variety of things to overcome things, doesn't lend any validity to it or mean the same thing that makes one get through each day will be remotely effective for the other. A single story will be very hard to convince me there is some universal truth at play here but rather a single case where something worked.
That's why I prefer to go on a little bit more general point of view. How does this relate to our psyche? Detailed account of a person's life seems more of an appeal to emotion in many cases. Statistics on the happiness/crime/w/e we're looking at would go farther for me.
I would skip that chapter, unless it was really related to their life and how they overcame something. Not if it was preachy.
If it is an essay about their feelings and emotions, I'll skim through it in a few seconds unless it is practical besides improving my vocabulary.
well i read two books for school that had relatively strong themes of faith/religion throughout and they're some of my favorites from assigned reading. i think in the right context it can work and not be obnoxious...but i think i'd be less likely to read something that was non-fiction and did it (unless like Darkwizzle said, it's not about glorifying faith and such).
Hey TrueAtheist, maybe we should have a discussion/debate about religion with Vicariously. <3
Yes, of course. <3
I read a book called 'The Shack', it's a book centered around the Christian faith and looks at how to make sense of suffering. It was pretty good because it takes a unique and unorthodox stance on The Trinity.
Depends on who wrote it.
If friggin' Dr. Lane Craig wrote it I'm going to burn it. If Rabbi Wolpe wrote it, I'd give it a shot.
If the stressing of faith and prayer is more simply the glorification of faith and personal stories of one or two people who survived due to faith, I'd be less inclined to read it than a general analysis of faith on the psyche.
Then again, most people have OCD and can't read a book. They persistently ask for tl;dr for a simple forum post, so... I dunno which to vote. Needs a 'maybe' option.