h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I agree that perhaps your article should be written more as a factual observation rather than a rhetorical/factual observation. And in all honesty this is something that wouldn't be all that hard to change!

I saw that you've read the Celestine Prophecy. Why not cite his work, and use it to back the article? What about the council of nicea? I think that the council is even referenced in the guide.? So in other words, don't lose hope with the article, just re-organize

I have to agree with Lucien on this one. Then again, all religions are theoretical and can't be proven, in a big way. How do you prove whether they are real, if God is real, etc. or not? It all comes down to experience. (And I'm speaking as a student of comparative religion and as someone seriously contemplating becoming a priest in the Anglican Church.)

I'd suggest restructuring your article using all the facts at your disposal. There is lots of information out there give your article substance (and only strict religious fundamentalists would argue with the historical facts). Then again, I've always wondered if a part of h2g2 should be set aside for editiorials.

My 2 cents: religions are man made creations in response to spiritual experiences. They can be good, bad or indifferent.

Great books to read:

"The Gifts of the Jews" - Thomas Cahill

"The Ancient Near East (Volumes I and II): An Anthology of Texts and Pictures" - James B. Pritchard (editor)

"Primal Myths: Creation Myths Around the World" - Barbara C. Sproul (one of my most challenging professors!)

"Mere Christianity" C.S. Lewis

Anything by Joseph Campbell. I think that Andrew Harvey makes a few good points from a (slightly new-agey) mystical point of view since he's tried lots of religions on for size as he's searched for meaning in his life. And ah yes.. Sigi Frood (Sigmund Freud), Carl Jung, Mircea Eliade...